Some of us costume ourselves exactly once a year, on or around Oct. 31. But for cosplayers — people who dress up as a characters from movies, books, TV shows and video games — taking on other visual identities is a year-round lifestyle. The vast majority are hobbyists who spend anywhere from a few weeks to the greater part of a year working on outfits in advance of giant conventions (or “cons”). In cosplay, a good costume is as much about creativity with materials and construction as it is about the outcome. So while some people spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on custom outfits for cons, many more invest in time, using cheap materials and household items to transform themselves into characters of superhuman, mythical proportions.

Source: New York Times October 29, 2018 16:41 UTC