coffee with a creative: christina
I am full of chaos. Gratifying chaos, but chaos nonetheless. I’m proud of it.
It has been a minute. I had to get my life together a little bit but we are back with a brand new Coffee with a Creative! I am very excited about this interview because I’m showcasing a talent a lot of you might not think about as often as you should: cosplay. I hold it close to my own heart because my sister is somebody that participates in this creative hobby and I’ve loved seeing her grow as she created more and more costumes and understood which characters she loved to emulate the most. As somebody that did theater but also loves film costumes, cosplay was always intriguing to me because it intertwines the two. So I am excited to share with you Christina and give you all a better understanding of cosplay, its community, and the sheer creativity and passion that goes into it all.
A twenty-eight-year-old native to a small town in New Jersey, Christina’s love for cosplay wasn’t something she discovered until she was in her early 20s. While she’s always loved anime and manga, it wasn’t something she realized she could do until she was given the right push. “I’ve been cosplaying for about 6 years,” she tells me, and I can hear the joy in her voice as she talks about it. “I really just fell into it and ended up loving and becoming slightly obsessed with it. I began to improve my craft and all the ways I create my costumes and props and materials.” It wasn’t like this was something Christina had known she wanted to do forever. It was simply an idea that manifested itself in bigger and more incredible ways than she could have imagined. “There is just a huge sense of satisfaction when I put a costume on that I’ve created, or hold a weapon that I’ve constructed myself. There's a pride I feel that I can’t get from anything else.”
“I was sitting with my brother and we were talking about a convention we had been going to for a few years,” Christina begins to tell me about how she first got into cosplaying. “At the time we were obsessed with an anime called Attack on Titan and all of our friends were too. So we said: ‘why don’t we take the dive.’” The two of them had been thinking about getting into cosplaying for a while but weren’t quite sure where to start. But like with most creatives, they decided to just make the leap and not look back. “We debuted the costumes with about six of us and it was wildly popular!” Christina recalls, and you can practically see the smile on her face just from hearing the way she says it. “By the end of the day, we had amassed a crowd of about...15 to 16 people that were cosplaying the same anime. We ended up making friends, and some of which we are still friends with to this day.”
A cosplayer isn’t something that is often thought about when somebody is considered a creative. However, there if you consider a fashion designer creative, or an actor creative, then why wouldn’t you consider cosplaying creative? Christina breaks down the definition of cosplaying for me so that anybody reading can get a better understanding of it. “Cosplay is taken from costuming and roleplaying. The costuming aspect is exactly what it sounds like: creating a costume. whether that is sewing it yourself or getting it commissioned from somebody else! The roleplaying aspect is adopting the character's mannerisms, the way they speak, and sometimes if you’re really dedicated, the way that they act.” Cosplayers often love something dearly, and the opportunity to become the character is not far off from actors being cast in Marvel films. Instead of film sets though, cosplayers attend conventions. “Conventions are just a gathering of a bunch of people that like the media that is being presented (anime, manga, graphic novels, movies, tv shows, sometimes fan-fictions and originally arts and works),” Christina explains, although there is more to it than that. Conventions are a place for people with similar interests to come together and attend panels on the things they love, meet celebrities they take inspiration from, and buy merchandise and art related to the different media. For Christina, it’s an opportunity to also show off the costumes she’s created. “I primarily go and do photoshoots in my costumes! Or have discussions and debates with new people that are into the same things as I am, and that part is really exciting. There are also parties you can attend, and create original character outfits for them. Really, conventions are just a huge conglomerate of fun and excitement and entertainment!”
A lot of people hold a biased idea of what cosplay is, and it’s often rooted in a lot of unfair judgment and misunderstanding. Many people see cosplayers as “weird” or “strange,” and refuse to change that belief simply because they don’t understand it. Christina explained cosplay earlier and likened it to acting, which is what it is. “I want people to understand that it isn’t as weird or foreign as you might think,” she tells me, hopeful that as cosplay becomes more mainstream people will begin to see it differently. “The way I liken cosplay is to people at sporting events. The people that dress up in jerseys of their favorite players, or paint their faces in their team’s colors. Sometimes they even create original and elaborate outfits to show their love for the team and the players. Cosplay is a lot like that.” I’ve heard that analogy before, during my years as a hardcore One Direction fan. We were often made fun of by adults because we liked the band and went to concerts and dressed up, but in reality, it was no different than the world of sports fans. People are just quick to judge something they aren’t personally part of, instead of finding a way to understand it. “We dress up as the characters because we love them, and we appreciate what they have done for us and the impact they have had on our lives. We meet in convention centers, just like sports fans do. And we show our support for these characters and the people that made them. We just celebrate how exciting it is to love this media or show, or this comic book or artwork!”
“I don’t stick to one character and tend to like different styles. The costumes don’t end up being the same...some are complicated some are simple,” Christina informs me, cluing me in a bit on the type of costumes and character she likes to cosplay as. “I tend to like boy costumes over girls, but lately I've been really into cosplaying women. Really, I’m just drawn to strong, slightly arrogant, brash, and confident characters. That’s easier for me because it's close to who I am as a person outside of the costume. It's less difficult for me to emulate the character.” Christina is a confident and strong woman, and I could tell that just by listening to her. It is so uplifting and inspiring to hear about her passion for what she does in the cosplay community, as well as outside of it. She is working towards a professional where she saves lives. She’s a nursing student, and spends most of her time studying, watching Powerpoints, and reading supplementary books. Cosplay is her outlet, and it’s something she does in her free time because she loves it. A lot of her free time goes into creating these character’s costumes and displaying them for others to also love and be excited about.
These costumes that cosplayers create take a lot of work, and a lot of talent to do. This isn’t just your average Halloween costume, but they are a love letter to a cosplayer’s favorite characters. These costumes take time and patience, and a lot of attention to detail. They want to make it accurate, and they want to do it justice. “You feel that you put a part of yourself into the process of making the costume. I think that’s what makes it so gratifying...that this is a product of your skill. Your hands are responsible for creating this, and even though there may be flaws and things you aren’t happy with, there is an overwhelming sense of pride.” Creating these costumes isn’t just done on a whim, but (like with any designer), it is a testament to the time put into refining these skills. It is months, or years, of practice to perfect their craft...which is, essentially, designing a character’s costume. “Knowing that given my skill set and my ability, I can look at something that is 2d (in an anime or show) and I can bring it to life. I can physically hold and touch it, and it’s as real as I can get it. There is something so cool about crossing that realm into reality and it adds to making a costume...it’s all so incredibly worth it.” These costumes are no small feat either, as they can take often months to create. There is a whole process to it, that is broken down into parts that span over months (sometimes years).
“I don't have a wish to be “cos-famous.” I would just like to be able to continue to do this because it brings me joy and makes me happy,” Christina admits to me. The idea of “fame” in the cosplay community isn’t something that interests her. Instead, her dedication to her costumes comes from the chance to impact others. “You can do it for yourself, and it’s great...but I love to cosplay for other people. I’ve had so many different experiences where others come up to me (cosplayers and not) and say that just by seeing my costume and the work I’ve put into it, I’ve made them so happy. Because they love the media just as much as I do! And just as the character has changed my life, it has probably changed theirs as well.” A lot of people underestimate the power that so many shows and movies and comics have. The way they have changed people’s lives because they see themselves in it, or because it was a form of escapism for them. “I’ve been able to meet people from all walks of life that have appreciated this media for so long, sometimes from before I was even born. I haven’t experienced this in any other facet of my life. To be able to be a beacon of confidence others can look towards because they might not feel confident themselves, or be scared to do this too but I might give them that push to do it. I just love that I can positively impact their life just by wearing a costume.”
“I do wish there was more acceptance in the cosplay community, though,” Christina tells me, as I’m curious what parts of the community aren’t so wonderful. “There are all types of people throughout the cosplay community, but there is a lot of discrimination as well. Some believe that a character in the media can only be cosplayed by somebody with the same build or skin color or even the same gender.” For something built on love and appreciation for a specific media and with such a heavy emphasis on community, it is unfortunate that there are people that ruin that. “I’ve seen a lot of criticism and a lot of hateful comments being thrown around in the cosplay community because of that we can’t change, and shouldn’t have to be able to cosplay! Cosplay is supposed to be for everybody. It’s supposed to be an inclusive thing for anybody that wants to do it. We aren’t trying to look exactly like these characters. We’re just having fun and appreciating the characters. Besides, it’s quite difficult to look like a 2d character...that’s unrealistic. And all it does is turn people away that want to try it, but are too afraid because of the ridicule.” There are always bad eggs that will ruin something, but it is important to stay hopeful and optimistic...and to surround yourself with people that aren’t like that. Christina does just that. “Cosplay has been my biggest hobby for so long. and I enjoy the art, the process, and my specific community I've chosen to be a part of within the cosplay community. They are so full of acceptance and love and fun and don’t ridicule others. And that is the most rewarding thing I can take away from cosplay. I hope that anybody that wants to get into cosplay will find the people that uplift them and support them and let them have fun. The inclusion is what makes cosplay so wonderful.”
Christina is a cosplayer, but she is so much more than that. Her love for cosplay is inspiring, and her passion to help others is so clear just by listening to her. It was a joy to interview her, and I hope that others have learned a little bit more about cosplay than they originally knew. I hope that those reading have found a new appreciation for it, or even might be interested in it. “As a parting gift, I don’t know who said it originally, but I know my mother says it and it's something I grew up on. “Everything happens for a reason.” I got into cosplay for a particular reason and of course, it's fun. But what I love the most is the impact I have on people’s lives because of my costumes and my attitude and positivity. I am 100% me and I just put on a persona when I take a picture, but then it comes off. I’m always Christina at the end of the day.”
Thank you all for your continued support of my Coffee with a Creative initiative. Bringing Christina’s story to light and showcasing her incredible talent is such a blessing and I really hope you consider keeping up and supporting these wonderful humans. As explained in my original post, I have created a Ko-Fi account for this series. On there you can donate (literally just buy a creative a coffee if you’d like) and express who the donation is going to. All the donations will go to the creative you name, and help support them and their arts, as well as simply a way to show them you believe in them!