How Cosplay Has Changed in the Last 14 Years

Morrigan Cosplay

As cosplay becomes ever more popular, it changes. That’s what happens to hobbies when more materials are more widely available than ever before. Gathering supplies to make your own costumes has never been so easy. Cosplayer Lauren Faits has been crafting her own costumes for 14 years, and she recently wrote about 14 things that have changed in that time. The number of cosplayers and the supporting market — including photographers — has grown hugely since then. Faits touches on how much easier it is to gather reference materials now, how wigs are simpler to find, and how there are more conventions to attend. She also mentions Worbla:

Worbla wasn’t invented yet. …Or at least it hadn’t come to America, I dunno. Now, we not only have Worbla’s Finest Art, we also have transparent AND black variants. What did people used to make armor out of? Well, we had craft foam/funky foam/foamies, cardboard, spray paint… but frankly, there wasn’t a lot of armor.

Read her article on Chicago Now to see how much cosplay has changed since the early 2000s.

Top photo: Faits as Morrigan in Dragon Age by Matthew Sperzel Photography


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