One of my favorite subject in high school was history so it is no wonder that I gravitated to the historical aspects of cosplay. The past three years of my life, I've spent just poking around the internet, talking to cosplayers at cons and generally learning as much as I can about cosplay. Though I did a photo book on cosplay, I only really started going to cons in 2008 (not counting my first con back in the 1990's).
Many folks have the impression it was the Japanese that came up with cosplay and in a way, they are right - the term cosplay was coined by the Japanese though the costuming aspect has been in the United States for decades.
I found a clip from this documentary called Almost Famous - Cult to Culture on CNA that you can see Nobuyuki Takahashi being interviewed ( 1:50 mark) . For those who read up about cosplay, Nobuyuki Takahashi is credited to creating the term 'kosupure' - which of course, we know call cosplay.
If you want to watch the rest of the documentary Almost Famous, here's part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5.
In 1984, Nobuyuki Takahashi attended WorldCon in Los Angeles and witness Americans dressing up in costumers. WorldCon, short for The World Science Fiction Convention is a yearly sci-fi convention that's been kicking around since 1939 (except during war times). The convention moves to different cities each year and each city has a unique name such as in 1951 when it was in New Orleans, it was called Nolacon or MidAmercon when it was in Kansas City in 1976. Last year it was held in Reno, NV and called Renovation. This year marks their 70th year and will be held in Chicago, IL on Aug 30-Sept 3, 2012 - Chicon 7 .
Yes, compare to anime cons, this is the grand-daddy of the convention culture here in the United States. For anime cons, the oldest one is A-kon in Dallas, TX which just celebrated their 23rd year this year.
If you want to watch the rest of the documentary Almost Famous, here's part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5.
In 1984, Nobuyuki Takahashi attended WorldCon in Los Angeles and witness Americans dressing up in costumers. WorldCon, short for The World Science Fiction Convention is a yearly sci-fi convention that's been kicking around since 1939 (except during war times). The convention moves to different cities each year and each city has a unique name such as in 1951 when it was in New Orleans, it was called Nolacon or MidAmercon when it was in Kansas City in 1976. Last year it was held in Reno, NV and called Renovation. This year marks their 70th year and will be held in Chicago, IL on Aug 30-Sept 3, 2012 - Chicon 7 .
Yes, compare to anime cons, this is the grand-daddy of the convention culture here in the United States. For anime cons, the oldest one is A-kon in Dallas, TX which just celebrated their 23rd year this year.
Yup, some people credit Forrest J. Ackerman to be the first cosplayer when he wore the first futuristic spaceman costume to the 1st Worldcon in 1939. Perhaps technically not a cosplayer per say but this is probably one of the first recorded mention of costumer in a convention environment.
I decided to go through YouTube and gather some masquerade clips from the past few decades of conventions - both sci-fi, anime and comics. The earlier videos are much harder to find. Even for anime cons, it is difficult to find anything in the 90s. Luckily ACParadise has a huge library of masquerades from most of the 00s and a few in the 90s
In this clip from a Star Trek convention in 1973, you can people dressed up as different aliens, characters - yup, sounds familiar ?
In this trailer from Back to Space Con , a recent documentary that tells the story of 70s sci-fi con in California called Space Con. If you listen closely, some people talk about "... it was okay to like this stuff, you weren't a weirdo, but a normal people." - which sounds familiar to what I hear at anime cons today - that it was okay to like anime and you could be with people who had the same passion as you do !
Footage from Westercon 39's masquerade in Los Angeles 1986. Yes, Westercon is still going on at 65 years old. As with WorldCon, they shift to different cities each year. This year it was held July 5-8, 2012 in Seattle, WA. You can also find some Westercon 25 (1972) masquerade footage on YouTube.
Although at that time it is mostly original costumes, you do see pop culture references such as Ghostbusters, Star Wars, Star Trek, etc.
Here we have Lum cosplayer at A-kon 6 (1996) .... attendance at this time, 800 people ! Yes the title does read 2005 but if it was 2005, then it would A-kon 15. At one point, the camera pans to the audience it it is mostly male. I remember my early cons - I didn't see much gals there back then.
Anime Weekend Atlanta #3 (1997) Here we found some masquerade footage as well as the judge's process of decisions. If you check the 15 minute mark, you'll find interviews with the judges. Back then, the attendance is under 1,400.
At 24:30, another interviewee mentions that AWA #3 masquerade was the largest costume contest he has been to. He refers to a Dallas convention 5 years ago where the masquerade had 5 people and was over in 30 minutes. I can only assume he meant A-kon as it is based in Dallas.
At 29:38, it looks like they talk to one of the organizers of Anime Weekend Atlanta about how the con started.
Check out this Oh My Goddess skit from Anime Expo 1998 ! Back then, AX had attendance of 4,800.
And this Yu-Gi-Oh! skit from A-kon in 1999. At this time, attendance was around 3,000 people.
Pokemon masquerade skit @ San Diego Comic Con 2000
Here's a short documentary done at Otakon 2001 - you can hear various cosplayers talking about cosplay and anime. Funny thing ? You can substitute 2011 for 2001, and although the cosplay quality may improve, the stories are very similar. Back then, Otakon had about 10,000 attendees.
And Final Fantasy skit from Anime Expo New York in 2002. Yeah, Anime Expo had a short-lived East Coast con that lasted one year. 2002.
Otakon 2004 cosplayer interviews. This I posted before - there's four videos with a total running time of 75 minutes or so.
Disney Princesses skit @ San Diego Comic Con 2005
Well, we end up today with better camera techniques and viedographers using image stabilizers to do Cosplay Music Videos. In addition, there's been a lot more student documentaries on cosplay and a few feature length attempts. The latest I've heard about it My Other Me which according to their Facebook page has been completed. Hopefully they'll start screening it at cons across the country.
