Determining Budget and Timeframe
Create a budget. Each character requires a costume, so it's important to create a costume budget. Professionally-made cosplay costumes can be expensive, but that doesn’t mean you need to spend a lot of money to get the perfect costume. Buying a costume means you’ll likely obtain it faster, but you can also make one yourself, which keeps costs low. Decide on a costume budget that allows you to obtain key accessories (like head pieces or weaponry).
Find out your deadline. The timing of conventions, cosplay parties, and friend gatherings will determine how soon you need your costume. If you have a large budget, buying a costume from a costume shop or professional costume designer is probably the best and fastest option. For a smaller budget, consider renting a costume from a local costume shop if you need it in a hurry. If you aren’t in a hurry and you have a modest budget, consider making your own costume. There are lots of online resources for DIY costumes, and you could always buy the accessories that you aren’t able to create yourself. You could also borrow a costume (or buy it used) from a friend or fellow cosplay acquaintance.
Check convention guidelines for character restrictions. Some conventions are open to all cosplay, while others are genre or series specific. If there is a specific convention you are hoping to attend, check out its guidelines and character restrictions (if any). For example, there are some North American conventions specific to Harry Potter, Disney, Star Wars, and anime. These genre-specific conventions may deny you admission if your costume does not belong in the designated genre.
Brainstorming Costume Possibilities
Make a list of your favorite books, movies, and series. Before picking a character, make note of your current obsessions and long-term series favorites. This will help you narrow down your character choices.
Pick your favorite character or character design. Once you’ve made a list of your top favorite series, identify your favorite character among them. This could be a character you most identify with or most admire. If you have a few favorite characters, choose which character has the best costume, look, and design based on your personal style. Strength, beauty, magical ability, talent, status, and intelligence are examples of admirable character attributes you may want to consider. Bright colors, fashion accessories, hair style, outfit choice, and footwear are examples of character design you may want to consider.
Define your comfort level. If you still can’t choose among your favorite character designs, decide what costume you’ll be most comfortable in. For example, if you don’t feel comfortable wearing high heel boots, Batgirl may not be a good choice!
Talk to your friends. If you’re headed to a meet-up with your friends, find out what characters are already taken. Perhaps your friends could use you to go as a specific character to fill out a series cast, which might help you decide what to be, or maybe there are already three Sailor Moons attending, which might help you decide what not to be!
Selecting Your Character
Choose a character with a similar body type to win contests. If you plan to enter cosplay costume contests or adhere to cosplay social stereotypes, you’ll need to choose a character with a body type that matches your own and a costume you can replicate with exactness. Judges rate costumes based on accuracy and detail. There are no official cosplay rules outside of contests, so you should feel free to choose whatever character and costume you like. You can also add your own flare to the costume. Don’t be afraid to be unique.
Break your costume down into parts. Putting a character costume together can be intimidating, even once you’ve decided on the actual costume! Break your costume down into sections, such as wig/hair pieces, clothing items, footwear, jewelry, weapons, etc., to make it easy to gather all the components. Make yourself a costume checklist to stay organized as you gather all the components of your costume.
Have a test run. Take your character for a test spin around your room before you debut the costume to your friends and family or at a convention. Whether you buy, rent, or make your costume, the key to truly choosing you character is becoming your character. Take some time to get familiar with the wear and feel of your costume as you breathe life into the character. If you have trouble getting into character, consider taking a community acting class or watching online acting tutorials to better fit the part.
Choose two or more characters, if you can't choose just one! There is no rule in cosplay that says you can’t be more than one character! If you have two or more favorites, choose them all! Although it may take awhile to arrange the finances and components you need for several costumes, cosplay can be a lifelong pursuit. Develop one costume at a time until your closet boasts of all your favorite characters.
Use good judgement. Cosplay is a fun, exciting, creative world, but cosplay bullying, discrimination, harassment, and shaming are all potential dangers. Choose and embody your character with enthusiasm and confidence, but be sure to guard yourself against any potential risks, and never let being your character override your good sense to avoid danger. Even if it’s not accurate to the character or costume, always keep your cell phone with you in case of emergencies. At conventions, you can yell “security!” if you need immediate assistance.
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