How to Choose a Cosplay Character Costume
Attending your first anime convention or Cosplay parade can be a very exciting experience, especially if you choose to wear a costume yourself. If you keep in mind your budget, time frame and how complex you want your Cosplay outfit to be, you should be able to choose something that will suit your personality and your resources.
Instructions
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Decide if you are going to buy your costume or make it from scratch. If you choose a really complex costume with a lot of parts and layers, it may be difficult and time-consuming to make. You will want to give yourself plenty of time to not only sew and buy accessories for it, but also extra time in case something goes wrong and you have to start over. If you are going to buy a ready-made costume, it will be more expensive to purchase a fancy costume made out of nicer materials than it will be to purchase a simple one that is made out of cheap materials.
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Decide if you are going to Cosplay with a group that shares a theme, or if you are going as an individual character. If you are going with a group theme, you will need to choose a costume to match that theme. Many times groups will all go as characters from a specific anime movie or series. Each member of the group will go as a different character, so you will need to discuss with your group which movie or series you are going to dress up as, and what characters are available for you to choose from.
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Decide what kind of character goes best with the event that you are attending. If you are heading to an anime convention, you may want to stick with an anime or manga character costume to match the spirit of the event. If you are going to a convention with a science fiction/fantasy theme, then you can go with a costume based on a character from a fantasy movie, a science fiction TV show or maybe a character from a related book. If you are attending a comic book convention, you might want to stick with a comic book character costume, from a comic book or a graphic novel. There are some conventions that cover multiple genres, from anime to high fantasy to video games. In these cases you can choose to wear a costume from any medium.
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Decide how much money you wish to spend on your costume. Whether you are buying a ready-made outfit or buying supplies to make an outfit, the cost of a Cosplay costume can grow very quickly. Besides just the clothing for your costume you will also need to buy accessories such as wigs, shoes and weapons. If you do not wish to spend a great deal of money on a costume, choose something simple that only requires a few items of easy-to-find clothing and a minimum of accessories. If the cost does not matter to you, you can choose a costume made from special materials such as latex or nylon, or a costume that will require a variety of accessories such as a wig, contact lenses and weaponry.
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Decide how complex of a costume you want to wear. Soul reapers from the anime series "Bleach" have very simple outfits that consist of a sash, kimono, and hakama. You can accessorize them with sandals, swords, wigs and badges, but they still don't take much effort to complete. If you want to dress as a female character from a series such as "XxxHolic," however, there will be a lot more effort involved in assembling all of the pieces as these outfits are more complex. You may need a robe, corset, skirt, ribbons, fans, tights and boots, plus specific kinds of undergarments to hold everything in place and then accessories to complete the ensemble. If you are working with a small budget and little time, choose a Cosplay costume that is simple and contains easy-to-find pieces. If you are working with a larger budget, have lots of time and really want to make an impression, go ahead and try for a more complex costume choice.
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