Disclaimer: Submissions may be edited for clarity of reading and comprehension.
Dear Magic Rain team,
Hi there! My friends and I are new to cosplay at the age of secondary school students. We picked up the hobby mostly inspired by others. and well, for fun. But some things came to concern us lately. We’ve made future cosplans, but we know well that we won’t be able to do it nicely.
For example, my friend’s skin is quite prone to break out and he prefers not putting makeup as the consequence is really bad. As for my case, it’s the height and body problem. Characters I’m interested in mostly have really perfect curves and busty sizes. For height I can wear heels but I’ve tried heels half the height of the character’s (e.g. 2B from nier automata) and it’s uncomfortable.
In the community, there’s something called “clothes hanger” where you just wear the costume without makeup which is said to show no respect. For my case, I’d most likely to be claimed as unrespectful too because my body curves aren’t that “big” and perfect, even more if I don’t wear heals.
Should we still continue? We are still students and we won’t be able to do much about our natural bodies, but in this way, it will be really inaccurate and most likely really disrespectful. Hope to hear your opinion on this. Sorry for the long post!
Thanks~ ^^
Sincerely,
Konno
Dear Konno,
Welcome to the world of cosplaying ! *hugs*
I am aware of the term “clothes hanger”. If I’m not mistaken, it refers to individuals who simply cosplay characters that they do not know of. In you and your friend’s case, most people would see it as cosfXXX. I’m sorry for the use of vulgar language.
First of all, kudos to you and your friend for trying your best to portray the characters as accurately as possible. I admire both of your efforts and thoughts for doing so. What I’d like to make clear is that whatever you do is fine as long as you’ve tried your best, and that you had fun in the progress of doing so.
In this case, you’ve educated yourselves in understanding the importance of makeup in cosplay. For now, since your friend has frequent breakouts, I think it’s fine and understandable for him to stay away from it. It is your skin after all at the end of the day. You have to take good care of it. What I can suggest your friend to do if he does want to try to makeup without flaring up his acne is to try a product called “Second Skin Makeup Shield”. What this does is it creates a protective layer over your skin to allow you to apply makeup like usual without touching your acne. You can look this up on Youtube and try it out.
Moving along, I don’t think your size matters when it comes to cosplay. You are beautiful no matter what shape your body is. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Sure, there will be people who will put you down. Prove them wrong with your efforts. Style your wig, your makeup, or even your costume to the point that it looks like the anime or series. Your efforts will speak for you.
If you’re still insecure, working out isn’t a bad thing. I know many people who do so for characters they want to cosplay. I can’t say much about this since I’m a couch potato (hehe). For your heels, if it really hurts then please don’t wear it. You can try finding a lower heel and it’d still be fine. It’s not an extremely noticeable change to me if you wear a lower heel. What I suggest you to do now as you’ve already bought it is to try the ice water bag trick. If your shoes are too tight, try this technique: (https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2014/09/stretch-tight-shoes-with-a-ziploc-bag-of-water-in-the-freezer/)
Adding on to that, you can try slipping on some shoe insoles to make the shoes more comfortable. If you’re getting blisters, what I always do Is to put plasters or layers of tape on the areas I tend to get sore or bleed. It really solves the issue and the shoes do not dig into your skin. I too had difficulty walking in heels and felt uncomfortable so I settled for flats and slowly moved on to heels with practice and a combination of the techniques above.
Do what you can at your own pace and enjoy yourselves. There’s much to learn and so much more to explore so don’t give up! All the best Konno and friend <3
Sincerely,
Ms. Scrumptious
Have you ever felt that the world weighs down heavily on you, more than it should? If you need support or advice on your personal relationships, working life, or anything at all, don’t hesitate to write in to us at https://goo.gl/forms/RsybO34Khkic902
Don’t worry, the form protects your identity so you are safe to share your story with us.
