6 Things to Consider before you Start your Cosplay

This blog details some of the advice I give at panels for cosplay beginners such as "Cosplay 101" or "How to start cosplaying" since not everyone can make it out to Canadian events. I hope you find it useful.

More blogs in the 10 year Cosplay Retrospective Series:
Week 1 -Wigs | Week 2 - Make-up | Week 3 - Armour | Week 4 - Cosplay Closet Purge | Week 5 -Planning | Week 6 - Inventory | Week 7 - Cosplay on a Budget

Temperature
What event do you plan on wearing the costume and what is the weather like? Is it in the winter or the summer? Are you going to be inside or outside most of the time?

Try to plan heavy costumes with many layers for winter events and light/skin baring costumes for summer events. If your costume is a full length fur coat, you might want to reserve it for winter cons.

But if you insist on bucking the trend then be sure to plan accordingly. Use ice packs, fans, and stay inside air conditioned rooms in the summer with warm costumes. Consider booking a room in the event hotel to wear the lighter costumes in the winter.

Cruella is no doubt a winter con costume

Shorts and crop top means I'm only wearing Ms.Fortune in the summer.

Tera - Castanic cosplay worn at Katsucon

Transport
How are you getting to the event? How much luggage or trunk space do you have available while accounting for your travel buddies? How much extra will it cost to ship an item to the event or to pay for additional luggage while flying?

This is an important factor for non-local events. Parts of the costume may have to be made detachable to fit in luggage. Certain props may have to be made in multiple separable pieces. Keep this in mind while you draft out patterns and plans your props.

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All the elements on Hana's headpiece were removable for easy transit.

• Take my TERA costume as an example. I brought this with me to Katsucon 2014. The most of the costume fit in one small carry-on bag but the swords had to be brought down by car by a friend. I had two friends that I knew would be driving down that year, so I made them accurate to size and larger than my luggage.

Tips

• Know your luggage measurements before building big props.

• Know the weight requirements and luggage policies of your airline/bus/train service.  For example: Air Canada international checked luggage: $25 for 1st piece, $75 for 2nd piece for one-way. Max weight is 50lbs. Via Rail allows for 2 checked pieces up to 23kg for free.
  

• Consider investing in a snowboard bag for easy airport transport but be sure to check your airline's policy. Air Canada now considers ski/snowboard bags as a checked item, meaning you are getting charged for 2 bags if you have another checked piece of luggage. $25x2 for the 1st item and $75x2 for the 2nd item, equals to $200 in luggage fees for the round trip.

• Be sure to account for additional weight from items you buy while on your trip.

• Safely secure delicate props/pieces by packing clothing around them or getting some bubble-wrap.

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A great sales associate helped me get all the materials for this costume in one trip.

Materials Choices
Knowing the properties of the fabric you need to buy for a costume will help you narrow down which one  you need to purchase. Here's what I consider before I settle on a fabric.

• Matte vs Shiny
• Light vs Heavy: does it billow in the wind  or does it barely move?
• Sheer vs Opaque: is it see-through or not?
• Smooth vs textured
• Non-stretch vs Stretch
  
• Solid vs Pattern
• Do you need to dye it?
• High budget or low budget

Some examples:
Charmeuse silk would be classified Shiny (somewhat)> Light > Opaque > Smooth > non stretch > Solid and/or pattern (depending on the costume) > dyeable > high budget.
Compare to satin which can be heavier, have slight texture, can be stretchy, can be dyeable (only with polyester dyes), and low budget.

If you can determine which attributes best describe your fabric, someone at the fabric store can probably help you pick something out. Having a reference photo handy always helps, especially if you have a hard time naming fabrics.

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Armour + harness, many accessories, bodypaint, and a finicky headpiece meant this costume took a while to put on and almost made me late for a shoot.

Dressing / Undressing
How do you get in and out of the costume? How will the costume stay on your body? How long will it take to put on? Will you need assistance getting it on? How long will it take you to remove the costume?

These questions are linked to your material choices and determine how your costume is held together. You need to decide on the right notions to pieces you costume together: zippers, snaps, buttons, grommets and lacing, hook and eyes, elastic bands, etc.

Keep in mind that the fasteners you choose can alter to look of your costume. If your costume is based on a certain era (historical) consider using the fasteners available for that time period.

If you need assistance be sure to get a friend to commit to helping you ahead of time so you are not inconveniencing them or looking for someone at the last minute. Also, budget your prep time accordingly so you are not late for important events (masquerades, shoots, etc). If you can manage it, do a test run before going to an event to determine the time it takes to  put on and take off the costume.

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All the feathered trim could be removed from the cape for easy transport. The coat had wing extensions that were also removable so I could go through crowds. I also brought some flats because I had towering painful heels.

Comfort & Assistance
Is your costume comfortable or uncomfortable? Will you need assistance getting around the event? Is your vision limited?

The comfort of you costume will determine how long you can wear it, so you should budget your time accordingly. Prioritize your events (gatherings, panels, etc) to make sure you can attend and enjoy them.

Inconvenient or awkward costumes may require you have an assistant (aka handler) to help you navigate the crowded con floor. Be sure to check the convention policy on large costumes, as some events require you have an assistant for large or vision impairing costumes.

Consider some back up options to deal with uncomfortable costumes. I often bring a pair of flats if I'm wearing painful high heels. Also, you can make certain costume parts easily removable for maneuvering through crowds, such as wings or armour. I sometime bring a tote bag with me to carry certain costume pieces from one event to another.

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Bladder buster costume

Bathroom
Can you go to the washroom in this costume? How much time will it take you to go to the bathroom in this costume?

This is very important because with cumbersome cosplays where you need to set time for washroom breaks. Respect your bladder and go to washroom whenever you have a window of opportunity.

My Shiva costume was 30+ minutes ordeal to go to the washroom and that's not including putting everything back on again.  I made sure to capitalize on some free time while waiting in the greenroom when I was competing in the masquerade.

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