Disclaimer: I'm sure this is opening a big can of worms, but please note that anything written here is my opinion and is not meant to be offensive.
Over the years I have met many a cosplayer who claims to be a costume designer, and as someone who works in the film industry, I've met many a costume designer who gets super peeved when they hear about cosplayers claiming they are costume designers. Now I've also met costume designers who don't really understand cosplay and use the term interchangeably with "costume" like for a halloween or costume party...but that's another story. There is a HUGE difference between being a cosplayer who designs their own costumes of their favourite characters, to actually being a costume designer. Costume designers go to school for years learning to create patterns from scratch, learn how to tailor clothing to different people's bodies, learn sewing and draping techniques for all different styles and eras. They create costumes that are historically accurate, they create costumes from their own imaginations. While some cosplayers, also have these skills or have gone to school for costume design, many cosplayers have not, and those are the ones I'm talking about. When I started out on my cosplay journey, I learned sewing techniques and how to read a pattern from a very talented costume designer. She used to make cosplays for herself as well, but seeing as the film industry has extremely tight turn around time and long hours, she didn't have the chance to make a lot of costumes for herself any more. She explained to me how designers like herself were rubbed the wrong way by a lot of cosplayers, as they claim that they designed their costumes when they didn't. Most cosplayers take concept art from video games, anime and comic books and "design" their costume by using existing sewing patterns, tutorials, duct tape patterns, or salvaging clothing to transform from thrift stores. THIS IS NOT COSTUME DESIGN. This is turning someone else's design into a costume for yourself. If you were to create an original character, design all the sewing and armor patterns yourself (not based on existing patterns) and then create from scratch, THAT is costume design. One year at a convention, I had a cosplayer hand me her business card and tell me she was a professional cosplayer/costume designer. I looked at her costume and went...um NO. That costume you are wearing is something that someone else designed, for someone else, on a well known TV show and all you did was replicate it. You're not a costume designer. Be very careful when you are walking around a convention in costume and telling people you are a costume designer, it may be taken the completely wrong way, and especially if you are in a town known for its film industry. Please just be aware that while you may be super talented at sewing, or making armour suits, props and the like, unless it is an original character, you didn't design it. You are replicating someone else's design to show your love for that fandom. Be proud that you are a cosplayer, but don't claim you are a costume designer unless you actually are and it is your living.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
April 2020
Categories
All
|