Courtesy of @melaniatrumpworl.
Cosplay is a marriage of the words ‘costume’ and ‘play’, a sort of performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. When I think of this phenomenon, the first thing that comes to mind is a pack of nerds dressing up like video game or comic book characters. It is deeply uncool, but somehow the practice and associated terminology have entered pop culture’s lexicon. Maybe that is because when you take the anime and furries out of it, getting dressed up is something everyone does. Clothing, at its core, is a costume. The smart-casual office look, worn to seem professional but cool and relaxed; the Instagram-ready couple, perfectly coiffed and ready to snap a like-garnering photo at a moment’s notice – we all cosplay from time to time.
At this year’s Met Gala in May, rapper and designer Kanye West wore a jacket and matching trousers in all black, made by the classic workwear brand Dickies. His look was scrutinised in certain circles: was he letting his wife, reality television star Kim Kardashian, who was wearing a skintight nude Mugler dress, take the spotlight? Maybe. But, it was also, by definition, cosplay. Kanye, as he often does, was playing a character. It was understated and nondescript, but he had chosen this specific look because it screams “DON’T LOOK AT ME”. He was wearing a working-class costume at a charity event where a single ticket goes for $30,000. He still managed to get the attention that he desperately craves.
One can even apply the term to the First Lady of the United States, Melania Trump. It seems that cosplay has gone from Comic-Con to the White House. Despite the trappings of this role, the former model tries to dress ‘normal’ – a word that, in this case, is hard to define. In September 2017, Trump hosted a group of pre-teen members of the Greater Washington Boys and Girls Club to partake in some good old-fashioned manual labour in the White House vegetable garden. In an attempt to seem relatable and down to earth, she wore a pair of brand new Converse shoes and a red plaid flannel button-down from Balmain, a shirt that retails for $1,380. Still, this cosplay version of a regular American was more successful than her baffling choice of donning towering stilettos to tour a Hurricane Harvey-ravaged Texas in 2017. I guess you can’t cosplay all the time.
My mind also goes back to Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple. At the beginning of his career, his sartorial choices were often pronounced – he was seen in leather jackets and the occasional bow-tie. Inspired by a trip to Japan in the Eighties, Jobs saw the Sony staff in matching jackets, designed by Issey Miyake, made of rip-stop nylon with sleeves that unzipped to make a vest. He brought the idea back to his staff, and it was quickly shot down. They wanted to keep things casual. That didn’t stop Jobs from working directly with Miyake to create what went on to become an iconic black turtleneck that he paired with Levi’s jeans and New Balance 993 trainers, a uniform he seemed to wear every single day. This was a subtle form of cosplay used to make an eccentric and often brash and cruel billionaire seem more approachable and straightforward. The idea of escaping from reality through clothing can be done in more understated ways as well.
"Cosplay, in any form, is a fun way for us to escape from reality for a little while."
Traditionally, casual cosplay involves dressing up like a character without going all out and donning an exact replica of their attire. We see this in real life almost daily. Think about the rich suburban mother shuffling the kids from private school to ballet practice wearing an expensive vintage Iron Maiden t-shirt. She is in character, telegraphing a manufactured edge through a flimsy and grossly overpriced t-shirt. The high-powered Wall Street guy wearing an expensive suit and even more expensive watch, his boss-approved Hermes tie giving him the extra confidence he needs to take calculated risks with other people’s money. He switches into this costume like Clark Kent becoming Superman. The cool teenager wearing a Thrasher t-shirt, baggy jeans and Vans who has never stepped on a skateboard in his life. All of these examples aren’t dressing like a character from Disney, DC, Marvel or anime. They are dressing up like a more realistic character that they are trying to portray. Cosplay, in any form, is a fun way for us to escape from reality for a little while. All of it is fantasy – we use clothing to embolden ourselves and provide the confidence we didn’t think we possessed.
This article originally appeared in SLEEK 63, out now!