Willow* and her friends know they are always the first to be spotted in a crowd. They don\u2019t mind the stares.<\/p>\n
Sitting at the steps of Sydney\u2019s town hall, the trio are an island of pastel pink, lavender and fiery red, the intensity of their wigs matched by the extravagance of their makeup. Willow\u2019s face is artfully made up, her eyes embellished with bright blue eyeshadow, thick winged eyeliner and spiky false lashes. A pair of platform Converse lifts her an extra 5cm above ground.<\/p>\n
Today she is cosplaying as Rainbow Dash from the television series My Little Pony. For an evening on Earth, Willow stands out, but in Equestria \u2013 the land Rainbow Dash hails from \u2013 she blends in.<\/p>\n
Willow cosplaying as Rainbow Dash from My Little Pony. Photograph: Bec Lorrimer\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
Cosplay, a portmanteau of \u201ccostume\u201d and \u201cplay\u201d, is simply dressing as a favourite hero or character from a piece of media, says the Japanese literature, popular culture and cosplay academic Emerald L King. It\u2019s different from other kinds of dress up, because there\u2019s \u201can element of gathering with other people,\u201d says King. The play often involves others, either as collaborators or audience, and photoshoots are central in this.<\/p>\n
Dennis, who asked to be referred to by his first name only, is a Sydney-based cosplayer and appreciates the way costumes allow him to embody characters he already sees in himself. \u201cThe way they\u2019re written really mirrors a lot of my qualities and also my faults \u2026 They\u2019re sort of like a distant clone of myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
This sentiment resonates with Willow, who says cosplay is central to her self-expression: \u201cSometimes I\u2019ll be like, \u2018I need to cosplay them because they\u2019re literally me in a different medium.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Dennis says it \u2018feels like we just popped out of the screen and jumped right into real life\u2019. Photograph: Bec Lorrimer\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
Around twice a month, Willow and her friends pose in high-concept photoshoots around the city. There\u2019s no crew, nor formal camera gear, just them deciding on which locations and poses match the characters they\u2019re cosplaying as on the day. Roaming around the city in full cosplay is an average day for Willow, one of a growing group of people who are cosplaying outside large-scale comic convention events.<\/p>\n
King says she has observed this return to \u201csmaller, more casual meets\u201d, which were a mainstay of the Australian cosplay scene in the early 2000s. Nocti*, a Melbourne-based cosplayer, has also noticed an increase in fan-hosted events. \u201cIt\u2019s a way of escapism. So they just want to dress up as a character that they really like for a day and hang out with their friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
Says King: \u201cPeople are moving away from convention spaces because they\u2019re crowded \u2026 and you can\u2019t do as much of the creative storytelling work that people are now turning to in their shoots.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dennis says it\u2019s satisfying when his character is recognised by a stranger. Photograph: Bec Lorrimer\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
In Australia, there are four main anime and pop culture conventions. While they are spread out across the year, Shelley, a cosplayer based in Canberra, who asked to be referred to by her first name only, says people no longer want to wait for conventions to cosplay and meet with friends. She is the admin for an Instagram page and Discord server that promotes cosplay meet-ups around the country, and over the past two years has received more requests from the community to share their events. Since taking over the page in 2021, she says the group of cosplayers and photographers has grown from 40 to over 1,000.<\/p>\n