What do a catsuit-wearing model, a hirsute man in a miniskirt and pigtails, and a family in matching superhero costumes have in common? More than you might think! Cosplayers, individuals who make and don costumes from their favorite works of fiction, are becoming more recognizable to people who operate outside the fandom subculture. Succinct and straightforward, Therèsa M. Winge’s newest work, Costuming Cosplay: Dressing the Imagination, provides an excellent overview of the craft of cosplay.
Divided into six chapters, Costuming Cosplay illustrates the origins, social structures, values, motivations, acts, and perspectives of those who participate in this rich expressive practice. Chapter 1, “Let’s Cosplay!,” provides an introduction to the world of cosplay, including an exploration of its origins in American sci-fi fandom. In this chapter Winge offers her research as a “framework for understanding cosplayers’ experiences with costumes and characters in social situations and competitions at fan conventions” (19) and describes her ethnographic research methodologies.
Demonstrating the specific parameters of what cosplay entails, chapter 2, “Cosplay Fan Subculture,” examines the influence of fandom subculture and associated spaces (both physical and virtual) on the genre. Ensembles may be simple or elaborate, and may be valued equally for accuracy in replication and for often-humorous variation. Winge also makes a point here to distinguish formal differences between cosplay and other varieties of community-driven costumed performance such as participation in the Society for Creative Anachronism and historic reenactments.
Paying attention to significant topics repeatedly reported by her informants, Winge provides ten important themes in chapter 3, “It’s Not Just a Costume: Cosplay is a Way of Life.” Winge examines how these themes add to a fuller understanding of the significance of cosplay to participants and shows how costume is shaped by performance, social interaction, and representation of other cosplayers.
Chapter 4, “Dressing the Part,” focuses on costume, dress, and appearance; it will be of particular interest to students of material culture. Costume design, production and problem solving, character selection, and the ritual of transformation are all addressed along with examinations of emic values such as authenticity and a preference for Do It Yourself (DIY) construction (bagged costumes from the Halloween store are not viewed as acceptable by seasoned cosplayers).
Subcultural dress, intersections of dress and identity construction, and DIY and sustainability ethics are all areas of Winge’s scholarly expertise which support her ethnographic investigation into this subject. While the author is not personally a cosplayer, it is obvious that she has become a member of this community. The author’s familiarity with this realm is personal: she has acted as a judge at cosplay competitions and engaged in various other elements of the fandom subculture (20-1). Winge is additionally a maker—a professional costume designer—and a woman. These identities provide her significant points of relation to her informants (who are chiefly crafty women) and make her a valuable source.
Throughout the text Winge engages with a variety of issues seated within the realm of cosplay. External exotification and exploitation of cosplayers are common since media outlets use costumed individuals as symbols of fandom spaces, and popular franchises, such as Marvel’s Avengers, capitalize on cosplay representations of their characters as a form of free advertising. Most notable, however, is the way Winge examines issues relating to gender in this subcultural space.
Chapter 5, “Girl Power to the Rescue,” examines gender issues in cosplay. As cosplayers are overwhelmingly women, their spectacular presence in male-dominated spaces means navigating a world of harassment and objectification. They inhabit a precarious space where female cosplayers often recreate on their bodies the hyper-sexual and hyper-feminine ideals commonly represented in the source material. As a result of this culture, many convention spaces have had to start implementing campaigns reminding visitors that “Cosplay is not consent.”
Crossplay, a genderbending subgenre of cosplay, can be understood both as a direct response to some of these gender troubles and as an opportunity for fans to celebrate characters they love regardless of sex or gender. While cosplay is not equivalent to drag, I would have liked to see Winge engage more with intersections that do exist between these genres, as it is quite common to have drag queens—like Oriana Perón who travels throughout the Midwest to such conventions as Ohayocon and GenCon—host and judge cosplay events.
Indeed, Winge seems reluctant to engage with generic overlap between cosplay and any performance that might further exotify her subjects. Winge clearly states that her concern with the conflation of Cosplay and drag has to do with the fact that external parties already hypersexualize cosplayers and other them (161); I can imagine it is this same perspective that keeps her from engaging extensively with the overwhelming popularity of cosplay-inspired pornography.
Chapter 6, “Worlds of Cosplay Future,” restates and summarizes many of the arguments made by Winge throughout her book. As she looks toward the future of cosplay, Winge examines how economics, social media, and popular culture are dynamically entwined with the subculture.
In addition to providing a sturdy foundation for those interested but not yet versed in the subject, Costuming Cosplay also gives insight into a variety of topics for those searching for a deeper understanding of the creation and significance of these ensembles. For scholars who are not inherently drawn to the fandom subculture, this work may still be of value as a case study of how subjects as diverse as gender, embodiment, pop culture, identity, and economics can exert influence over the creation of costume. Winge brings up theoretical concepts such as “cynosure recursitivity” (46) and fan “prosumption” (49), which could be of direct application to those interested in the realms of costume, identity performance, and DIY culture.
Costuming Cosplay celebrates the creative power of cosplay, illustrating the significant effects of play and fun. Winge demonstrates time and again how this practice provides cosplayers with a chance to construct and embody new identities, manifesting their fantasy worlds in the scope of the physical. It is likewise a genre where skills that have been historically gendered as feminine (and thus often viewed as frivolous), such as sewing, styling, and makeup, are respected as necessities. Cosplay offers a chance for participants to create real human connection through their craft, using shared interest in a fiction as an entry point into social communities.
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[Review length: 1044 words • Review posted on January 30, 2020]