Cosplay in America book video
Check out my YouTube page for videos I make while on tour.
NYC cult cable-access show Media Funhouse interviews Forrest J Ackerman. In 1936, he attended the 1st World Science Fiction Convention dressed in a futuristic spacesuit. Perhaps this was the first step in the direction of costuming at a convention.
Even in the 1970's, costuming was already becoming part of the convention scene. As you can see in this 1973 Star Trek convention, the use of a countdown to alert photographers to wrap up taking photos is seen - and is still used today at cons.
Here in these short clips from WesterCon 39 in 1985 you can see costuming and masquerade. There's even Ghostbuster cosplayers here with smoking ghost traps.
In 1990, Project A-kon (now called A-kon) was held in Dallas, TX and is America's longest running anime con. In 1992, Anime Expo began in Northern California before moving to Southern California in 1994. Currently Anime Expo is the largest anime convention in America with 47,000 attendants.
Here you can see a cosplay skit of Evangelion held at Anime Expo in 1998. ACP's Youtube channel has other early skits. Just type in the year into the search box.
San Diego Comic Con 2005 - Disney Princess' skit.
With the advent of digital photography, the amount of videos and images have exploded. This 2010 video is done by Ackson Lee at Otakon(established 1994) , the largest anime convention on the East Coast in Baltimore.
