Because cosplay is an artform there are completely different ways of making the same costume and even if they ARE made the same way, one adds their personal artistic flair to the piece by simply wearing it and having a unique face, or features that are just them, personalizing the whole piece in an instant.
I've had this issue running through my head for a while... There are two strong routes you can go in creating a costume and putting tons of effort into it--Embellishment VS. Accuracy.
When putting all your effort into the accuracy of the costume you're really capturing the essence of the series and character--as if you popped right out of the TV screen or graphic novel--which generally is a very good compliment for a cosplayer to recieve. I always feel enchanted when coming across cosplays like this because they really make me feel like I'm talking straight to the character themselves.
At the same time...There are those who take the costume design and put their own artistic flairs and efforts into it creating masterfully crafted pieces of inspired artwork. Pouring their efforts into designing and crafting these cosplayers seem to step out of the series and into the real world where there are much more details than a frame of animation can portray.
In competition the ones with the embellishments continually win top awards even though the name of the game is cosplay--which is looking like the character. Some could argue that it is a craftsmanship competition and that they show the most knowledge and skills in the craftsmanship area. But it could be argued that in keeping constrained to the design from the series makes it harder and more difficult to create the inspired costume based accuracy therefore showing off their skills in craftsmanship by being able to mimic?
What do you guys think about this situation...?
If you were a cosplay judge, and you had to pick the winner of an award from these two cosplayers who both did spectacularly in their artistic interpretations of the character of choice....which would you choose and why?
Images found on google, sorry I don't have proper credits.
I personally always lean towards accuracy and who portrays the character the best!
ReplyDeleteHonestly I do feel the same. Mimicry is impressive. because you can see how exact their ideas are executed. without a proper outfit sketch, most costumers that embellish their cosplays could mess up or not be able to complete their costume as planned and play it off as an artistic freedom, ya know? Doing things and having them go as planned shows a mastery in the craft, I'd say...
DeleteTo be honest it needs to be both. The character and the person should be similar, but there needs to be a creative licence. Not everything from anime and manga necessarily look good in real life, so people should be praised for a more aesthetically pleasing cosplay; within reason of course.
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