Borrowing Skins: Spending the Day with Cosplayers by Indigo Mapa

Borrowing Skins: Spending the Day with Cosplayers

Written by Indigo Mapa

The concept of costumes and dressing up has been around for thousands of years worldwide, dating back to ancient Greece. It then evolved to masquerade movements in Europe during the 14th-16th centuries, and then to fancy dress parties in the Victorian Era. Costumes are now associated with Halloween and cultural celebrations. These beloved disguises have grown in the modern era, allowing us to express our love for media and fandoms. But where did the concept of “cosplaying” come from?

Upon researching, I read an article on the origins of cosplaying. Luke Plunkett’s 2014 article draws on an excerpt from Cosplay World, a book by Brian Ashcraft; apparently, Japanese college students in the 1970s began cosplaying as characters from anime and manga. They’d attend school festivals and conventions. But fan conventions themselves had been around in 1960s Japan, starting as sci-fi conventions. Then, Comiket became popular around 1975, creating a cultivated environment for those who wish to express their interest in dressing up. The Japanese term for this was also known as “kasou.” The word “cosplay” was coined by Nobuyuki Takahashi, a Japanese film director. He had experimented with various terms to describe dressing up and playing the character; he wanted to find a way to simplify the terminology in a contemporary manner. That’s when he started combining words, resulting in the birth of “cosplay”, or “costume” and “play.” 

As a multi-fandom lover, cosplay has always been an interest of mine that I never got to commit much time to. I’ve always settled for what was simple, easy, and doable. So, though I don’t have a lot of cosplay experience under my belt, I had friends who were well-versed in the craft. I had the absolute pleasure of meeting with Ish Henry and Payton Meadors, two wonderful people with even more amazing personalities. I had met with Ish first at Cafe Upper in Koreatown; it was our first time meeting up in person, and we had a fruitful conversation about his career and love for dressing up. I got to learn about his work in the carny industry and how it melts into his everyday life. On the other hand, I had met Payton in Little Tokyo while she was dressed up as Clawdeen Wolf from Monster High. She is a former coworker and close friend of mine, whom I adore with my whole heart. We got to catch up on life and have a detailed conversation about her thoughts on cosplaying and what it meant to be a woman of color who takes part in the culture. 

To Ish and Payton, cosplaying means similar things to them. Payton says, “To me, cosplaying is not quite dress-up, but it's an opportunity to be someone else for a minute and just have a little bit of fun and see what it's like walking in somebody else's shoes.” Ish takes a more literal stance on it, saying, “Essentially what it means is dressing up as and often portraying, like behaving in character, you know, of something from some sort of fictitious media.” He also adds to his point that some people do cosplay as non-fictional figures (such as historical figures), cosplay truly knows no bounds when it comes to choosing who you want to portray. 

Our interests stem from childhood, rooted in ourselves at an early exposure to experiences that eventually lead to what makes us who we are as individuals in our work, education, artistry, etc. Ish mentions that his love for creating “stuff”, such as props and costumes, came from loving all things spooky and a book called How to Haunt a House by John Shephard. He would read it front to back, over and over again, learning how to make props for a Halloween movie. Similarly, Payton’s love for cosplay came from taking Halloween seriously. She became infatuated with the idea of discovering what she can make from what she already has in her closet or at home. I had asked them if they could recall their first cosplays, and I was not disappointed. Ish, at thirteen years old, had dressed up as Mark Hamill’s Joker from Batman: The Animated Series. Payton’s first cosplay took place in 2022, where she chose to become Maka from Soul Eater.

Overcoming hardships tends to lead us to our respective paths, showing us how to battle fears and low points in our lives. For Payton, the COVID-19 pandemic played a huge role in her decision to start cosplaying. We all know how detrimental it was to stay inside all day, every day. We had to find ways to entertain ourselves creatively. She took it as a sign to tap into her hobbies and interests and turn them into a full-fledged activity. Suffering from nightmares and a fear of what he loves now, Ish harnessed his fearful curiosity for all things horror and became attuned to what he once did not fully understand. 

Cosplaying has proven to be not only an interest but a skill. I asked Ish and Payton what skills they’ve gained over the years. As a former scare actor, Ish was inspired to stilt walk. His self-taught knowledge aided him in his cosplays, implementing the spectacular factor in his costumes. He also mentions how he’s learned “how to sculpt, mold masks, solder PCBs, and LEDs.” He mentions that even simpler tasks, such as dry brushing and painting, became imperative to his work as a cosplayer. Payton learned how to make makeup and props more customizable and appropriate to her specific facial features. When asking whether they make every costume and prop purely by themselves or outsource, both Ish and Payton explained that they do a mix of both, but make their own cosplays for the most part. Payton recalls when she had bought a Kirishima (My Hero Academia) mask, but it did not fit her face properly; she then took it upon herself to make the prop herself. She says she was “really proud” of what she made and had found a silver lining in the mishap. Ish explains that some clothing pieces he uses are outsourced because they’re made specifically for his stilts or the cosplay he’s doing. For the most part, Payton describes the process as a “marriage of both.” 

When it comes to feeling connected with the characters they cosplay, I received different answers from them. Payton enjoys picking characters she sees a little bit of herself in, opting for the ones that she feels connected to already. She goes in depth on how she heals her inner child by choosing characters she admired when she was younger, Clawdeen Wolf being a prime example. Ish doesn’t necessarily feel an intense connection with his characters in a way where he feels as if he is them, but he does say “he knows them very well.” He chooses relatively villainous characters (he mentions quite a few DC villains, such as Joker and Scarecrow) and doesn’t feel like there are a lot of similarities between him and them. I thought their opposing answers were fascinating. I often assumed that people mostly chose to cosplay who they thought they looked like or felt an emotional connection to, forgetting that some people like to keep it completely separate. 

For both Ish and Payton, community is what makes cosplay enjoyable to them. The ability to meet new people and have them interact with your character truly feels rewarding. But they both share their grievances with the hobby. Ish talks about how people feel entitled to harass or touch the person in the cosplay.  He says, “I’m still a real guy, please remember that.” In no shape or form does he (or in this case, anyone) condone ever touching a scare actor or a cosplayer. Playing a character does not invite absolutely ANYONE to put their hands on another person. Payton talks about the misconception that people immediately find cosplayers “weird, immature,  or like a kid playing dress up.” She says that we, as people, “need more whimsy” and should have fun with our interests, not be ashamed of what we like doing. 

 I had asked Payton, “Has cosplay given POC agency over their identities?” She claims that it has, especially with how the community has grown over the years. She herself has been inspired by seeing other Black individuals cosplay freely. Additionally, she says, “At the same time, I've also witnessed firsthand how many cosplayers that look like me are mistreated horribly. There was a person who, in 2025, took their own life because they were bullied online for being a black cosplayer and had a lot of really harsh comments made towards them. And they aren't the first. It hasn't been, that's not the first time I've seen anything like that.” She then delves into how the cosplay community has had conversations about “blackwashing” characters and how Black people have been excluded from the interest. She elegantly says, “So to me, I think that the act of cosplaying as, for me specifically, as a Black woman in itself, is me taking that agency back and being involved in my own joy and protecting that as I see fit.” 

Their advice for starting in cosplay lines up with a similar mindset: do not be afraid to try. You should go for it, as cliché as it sounds. Payton says, “There is no wrong way to cosplay.” Ish says, “If you're waiting for the perfect time or opportunity or character materials or whatever, like it's never going to be that. Just like do it if you want to do it. And you don't even have to go to like cons or stuff. Just like maybe do it in the comfort of your own home at first, and see how you like it. Thrift stores are great for finding clothing pieces that you can use, modify, or whatever. They're so cheap.” He also provides great advice about what tools to purchase, “if you want to get started with like foam work, which is what a lot of cosplay is, invest in a good heat gun, a good Dremel, and some kind of sharp razor. That’s it. You will be able to start with that. And you can make anything with foam. Like it's really affordable, all things considered. Yeah. And you can make basically anything with it. So it's a great material for people just getting started. That's how I got started.”

You heard them, there’s no one stopping you from cosplaying but yourself. There is a world of opportunities to become your favorite character and find your people. Don’t let stereotypes and negative opinions stop you from discovering what can be a part of yourself. It’s alright, and might I say, encouraged, to take baby steps when starting a new hobby or interest. Cosplaying is more accessible than one thinks, and it’s a great way to heighten your love for your fandoms, whether it be Dungeons and Dragons, anime, DC, Marvel, or even your own characters. 

FOLLOW PAYTON:

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nocelestialz/

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@luvphoriaz?_r=1&_t=ZP-955AfOZVrqx

FOLLOW ISH:

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/eldritchscoundrel/ 

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@s0rl0ck?_r=1&_t=ZP-955Aq7Xzifu