Addressing Cosplay Vs. Costuming,...

Addressing Cosplay Vs. Costuming, and how it applies to gallery postings.

I write this knowing the topic is a hot-button debate at the moment between those who consider themselves cosplayers, and those who consider themselves costumers. The controversy starts over a word that is very ill-defined, as each individual has a different definition of what cosplay is. I am also not a member of Deviant Art’s GM staff, and the following is simply my take on the aspect of this issue and how it applies to gallery categories. If you agree or disagree, please feel free to post your thoughts, but do not start a hate war. We are all here for the same reason, and I and other costumers feel there needs to be some clarification in the costuming categories.

“Cosplay”, as a word, is a derivative of the words “Costume” and “Play”, or “Roleplay”, and started in the Japanese culture. As such, it usually applied to Anime and Manga costuming/roleplaying popular in that culture. The word eventually spread to the Western culture, and depending upon whom you speak to, is now being applied to all forms of costuming.

According to ^Myntkat’s Intro To Costumery Week article, the official stance on the ‘Cosplay’ category in the costuming section is thus:

"Costume > Cosplay & Fantasy
Costumes made for the purpose of cosplay or fantasy role-playing.

Cosplay, short for "costume play", is basically describing a performing art of behaving like and dressing up as a character with corresponding costume, accessories and/or parameters.
This gallery is for picture showing off cosplay costumes made by the deviants themselves, this gallery is NOT for costumes bought or made by others, general cosplay photographs or snapshots from conventions, which all belong into the Photography > People & Portraits > Cosplay gallery.
Fantasy costumes, like Steampunk inspired garments or other costumes not intended for Cosplay are also appropriate for this gallery.
For more information on what belongs into this gallery and what doesn't, please read `Kitten-of-Woe's journal about the addition of the Cosplay gallery."

Now addressing the first issue on where to post pictures; the main purpose of the Costume Gallery is to showcase the art of costuming by those who do the actual crafting. Those of us viewing the galleries are interested in seeing what has been created, such as detailed shots of embroidery or maskwork, work-in-progress shots, nice shots of finished pieces where details can be seen. When modeling final shots of finished pieces, making professional pictures with appropriate hair, make-up, backgrounds, and character appropriate poses are wonderful for showing off costumes and still belong in the costuming category. However, when one takes 30 pictures showing off different character poses, the focus shifts from the costume to the character. When the focus of the photographs changes to the portrayal of the character, the more appropriate place for these photos is the Cosplay gallery under the photography section. Also, costumes not made by the wearer belong under the photography section as well (think of it as deviating someone else’s art, whereas a shot of you portraying the character is a picture of your art)

The second, and most controversial issue, is the application of the term ‘cosplay’ and its relevance to the Costume categories. Some people believe that costumers and cosplayers are one and the same thing. However, it is possible to be a cosplayer without having made the costume yourself. It’s possible to be a costumer and never wearing the costumes you’ve made. So you see, they can be considered two separate things. There are those of us that consider themselves Costumers and those that consider themselves Cosplayers, so I will refer to them as such.

The current categories are as follows:

-Cosplay & Fantasy
-Period & Historical
-Theatrical
-Miscellaneous

Now I have heard different opinions from Cosplayers as to what they believe the term to apply to. Some say Anime costumes. Some say it’s any form of role-playing or larping, and some people now are referring to any type of costuming to be Cosplaying. It’s so ill-defined by the community that it is hard to nail down a category. This being the case, especially if every costume was considered a cosplay, the ‘Cosplay and Fantasy’ category could be seen to be a ‘Cosplay and Cosplay’ category.  It seems rather redundant. However, one might cosplay as Princess Leia, and I might costume Mara Jade. The cosplayer would put their costume under “Cosplay & Fantasy”, and mine would go under “Miscellaneous” because there isn’t a proper category. It could be argued that if everything was cosplay, that one could cosplay a sci-fi costume, one could cosplay a steampunk costume, etc. If there were categories that focused on the actual genre that the costume belongs to, that cosplayer could put their Princess Leia cosplay under a Sci-Fi/Fantasy category, and the costumer can file their Mara Jade costume under Sci-Fi/Fantasy, and everyone is happy.  

There are many different types of costumes that can be both costumed and cosplayed, many of which cross over, and I’m interested to hear what categories people think are appropriate. The types of costumes I see are as follows and may or may not overlap:  Theatrical, Period & Historical, Sci-Fi, Comic Books, Video Game, Fantasy, Steampunk, Anime, Furry, Pop Culture, Conceptual.

I am interested in hearing thoughts from both the Costuming and Cosplaying community so we can find a way to work together.