I hate skirts. They’re too girly and they seem to eat away at my dignity. There’s just something about them that bothers me, but it may just be due to me not naturally being girly. I can wear leggings under a skirt, and as soon as I can, I’ll rip it off and shove it somewhere I can’t see it any longer. I don’t understand the “elusive dream” guys might have for the freedom of skirts; they make me feel overexposed. That point aside, what does this have to do with geekery?
Cosplay.
It’s magical if you have the time and patience to make/put on the costume; it often pays off. When I started cosplaying about 2 years ago, I won’t lie, I was a mess, but I enjoyed it and was satisfied with making my first crappy, yet
lasting, prop. So far all of my cosplays have involved skirts. “But I thought you said you hated skirts.” Yes, yes I do, but cosplay manages to change things.You don’t have to be yourself and you can forget about how other people view you. I have low self esteem, so anything that causes anyone to bother me about how I look will be a problem, therefore I generally don’t like looking girly in public. With cosplay, I’m not technically myself, as you have the costume portion and the play portion (most commonly associated with playing the role of the character)–which you shouldn’t let get to your head or you may earn some haters.
You might be one of those people who think cosplay is lame, for freaks, stupid, a waste of money, blah blah. Well, think of it like this, for the cosplayers who make their costumes, we learn things that are slowly dying out. Nowadays, sewing is a dying skill; people just rely on whatever they can buy or machines for everything. I can say I only know three, maybe four, people who can sew, and guess what? They’re all cosplayers. I’m not saying cosplayers are the only people who can sew (I know there’s a portion that can’t sew, themselves), but generally they think more towards learning how to make these things rather than shelling out hundreds of dollars on something that has a fifty-fifty chance of looking good. Besides, I would rather spend my money on something I can wear and say I made it, rather than on something silly, like a manicure or whatever it is normal high school girls like. As for those who don’t make their costumes…I can’t really say; they become more sociable?
Cosplay is a hobby — for some it can be a profession (which I think would be amazing to get into, but I’m probably not going to get anywhere in the cosplay world). It really can be worth it with the skills that you learn that can help you later on; sewing a top can lead to mending clothes, making a prop out of wood can lead to fixing something that breaks in the house, you can learn the different types of glues for more household fixes, you’ll know how to apply makeup for any occasion, hell, you can even make a clothing item that would cost you an arm and a leg for much cheaper price and the satisfaction of having made it yourself.
Face it, costumes aren’t only for Halloween anymore. Cosplayers are realising that, although it may seem weird to others, as long as it’s enjoyable, why hide it? I’m not ashamed to be a cosplayer; wearing a cosplay in public doesn’t bother me anymore (granted it’s not something overly revealing). Showing up to school in a pink, fluffy, girly cosplay has drastically increased my confidence, as going to school is nothing like a con. Heaps of people knows you, and they judge you, very much (though a lot of it was positive feedback). Plus, being asked for a photo, while in cosplay, is one of the larger confidence boosters I’ve experienced. Rambling aside, I can go on and on about my cosplay experiences and what I’ve learned for hours, but first, give me back my pants, and I’ll set you off into the world of cosplay.