What is Cosplay?

Wiki : "Cosplay (コスプレ, kosupure), short for "costume play", is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea."

Cosplay simply put, is fans recreating their favorite gaming/anime/comic/tv characters outfits in real life. Cosplayers can create outfits for commission to make money, for collectors, for photo shoots in things like anime magazines, for the purpose of anime conventions, for advertising, for the challenge, for charity, just for the heck of it and mostly above all for fun!

Seeing somebody dressed up as a fictional character can be pretty funny and lame but not everyone understands the full scope of 'cosplay' when seeing it for the first time. It's a highly competitive (and often expensive) art wherein people's skills range from recreating real functional weaponry and blacksmithing to giant fairytale ball gowns, neon colored hair that defies gravity and futuristic anime hover bikes! And that's not even mentioning the talented professional photographers involved.

A costume can cost from $10 up to over $5000+. And as insane as those prices may seem, fans WILL pay for them for the chance to look like and represent their hero.

Most fans of a cartoon have looked at the series and thought 'How would that look in real life, or in a live action movie?'. Well that's what cosplayers do. Bring fantasy to life! Sometimes jawdroppingly well, sometimes really badly, but the point that matters is that they care enough to try in the first place. And to be a cosplayer takes a LOT of guts. (Being a bit crazy helps too).

I used to be quite snide towards cosplayers in general (well come on it IS weird), I'd only ever seen BAD examples of cosplay, until i decided one day i was going to try and create a costume myself to see if i could give it some more credibility. Boy! Is it a challenge! And that's from someone with experience doing theatre wardrobe. The amount of hard work and logic planning that goes into each costume is remarkable. Seriously, try it before you diss it. I also discovered that cosplay and fantasy fashion modeling was a very lucrative glamorous business. Not only that, but i found the cosplay community to be even more absorbing, friendly and helpful than the typical art community. It's a highly competitive area. It also helps you as an artist understand what you're drawing more. So i gained a huge respect for cosplay and set out to hunt down every NiGHTS cosplayer i could find.

Many people see cosplay as being a seedy Japanese adult industry thing were pretty girls dress up as half nekkid characters from the likes of Streetfighter and mud wrestle on video! (We only do that on Friday nights ;P ) There is a huge stigma surrounding cosplay but at the end of the day it's just another side to costume design. I can honesty say i really enjoy cosplaying. Annnnd i never thought i'd say that.

Some cosplayers can take things a little overboard such as bleaching their skin, extreme dieting, obsessive and jealous convention behavior, much comparable to the youths who look at celebrity magazines and get plastic surgery to look like their idols. Just a different area of the media that's all. Some cosplayers often lose it a bit and end up as 'lifestylers'. Which is all fine and dandy but i think when you lose that notion to take off the costume at the end of the day you really gotta re-evaluate why you don't like yourself more than the person you dress up as. But fans are fans, and fans will always have quirks.

Sometimes i'm browsing cosplay photographs and I walk away stunned. Not all cosplayers use detergent bottles hotglued to their head. Real and unique wearable clothing that frankly I wish was available in shops. Since I started getting into cosplay i've also been designing and making my own clothes and textiles. It's a useful skill to have.

Whatever your opinion on Cosplay, i'm sure you can appreciate the fact that some people want to recreate the costuming from NiGHTS into Dreams. The game was inspired by the famous world of Cirque du Soleil which is world renowned for its incredible visual artistry. So colorful and pretty, i hope you enjoy our galleries. I recommend joining the communities in the links section to get you started.

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Dale North
[website]
Dale North – Merry Little Christmas

DistantJ
[website]
DistantJ – NiGHTS into Euphoria
DistantJ – NiGHTS into Euphoria 2007

Elfonso
Elfonso – DREAMS DREAMS LiVE 2006

Elson 'Darkspeeds' Wong
Elson Wong – Love At First Flight
Elson Wong – Heavenly Dance

Klace
Klace – DREAMS DREAMS Piano

Musashi_HUmar
Musashi_HUmar – High Flyin' Dreamer (guitar)
Musashi_HUmar – High Flyin' Dreamer

Skrypnyk
[website]
Skrypnyk – Celebration Remix (2006 edit)
Skrypnyk – Going Home Remix
Skrypnyk – Escape Into The Twilight Remix

SpinningCannon
[website]
SpinningCannon – DREAMS DREAMS (Broken Soul Remix)

Strike911
Strike911 – Dreamer

Whirlwynd
Whirlwynd – DREAMS DREAMS Reflection Remix
Whirlwynd – DREAMS DREAMS Eternal Lullabye
Whirlwynd – Only A Dream
Whirlwynd – Nightlight