There are two different types of cosplayers. There are people who make their own cosplays from scratch, and then there are people who buy or commission their costumes online. Simple enough, right?
But there’s a middle ground – closet cosplay. Closet cosplay is when you assemble a costume with articles of clothing that you either find in your closet (hence the term) or can buy at the mall (or online). Closet cosplay often gets a bad reputation for being cheap and lazy, but for those of us who go beyond simply throwing on a wig over a T-shirt, there’s more to it than you would expect. It takes a lot to be able to make good closet cosplays.
It takes research.
Like handmade costume preparation, closet cosplay takes some serious researching. It can take many hours and dozens of searches on Google shopping, Amazon, or eBay to find a piece that looks exactly right for your cosplay, and if it’s too expensive or the seller isn’t reputable, then the search continues for however much longer. For some costumes, you’ll have to do this for multiple pieces. It can be time consuming, especially if you’re a perfectionist like me (a lot of cosplayers are, even when they’re not competing). Sometimes you’ll also have to compare pieces to make sure everything looks good together.
It takes modification.
While there isn’t any painstaking hand sewing, closet cosplay is not just throwing some clothes on and heading out to the con (not always). Most, if not all, closet cosplays require at least some degree of modification, be it a shirt, a jacket, or a dress. Plus, even if the majority of the cosplay is coming from the closet, there might still be a few accessories or props that you would have to make yourself if they can’t be bought online. Even closet cosplay can have some real elements of “construction” to it, if you really want to create something awesome.
It takes balance.
It’s easy to pull out some clothes and throw an outfit together, but it’s important that everything sticks. Like with any regular outfit, in order for any closet cosplay to look good, all of the pieces have to work together for you to achieve the look that you want. Regardless of how many closet or homemade pieces you have in ratio to store bought pieces, everything needs to match well in order for the cosplay to look more polished, from the colors to the accessories. Pulling off a good closet cosplay requires the perfect balance among the right materials and pieces.
So closet cosplay is not “lazy” – and it’s not as easy as you think. Granted, it’s easier than hand sewing everything from scratch (much easier), but at the same time it’s a step above ordering the finished costume online. Closet cosplay may get looked at as being lazy because of the people who wear a wig and a pair of cat ears with normal clothes and call it cosplay, but when there’s more effort and passion put into it, there’s some hard work involved. There’s a lot of research. There are varying amounts and levels of modification. And finally, there needs to be balance. That’s what it takes to closet cosplay – and to do it well.
