Cosplay , a blend word of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Any entity that lends itself to dramatic interpretation may be taken up as a subject. Favorite sources include anime , cartoons , comic books , manga , television series , rock music performances , video games and in some cases, original characters.
The term has been adopted as slang, often in politics, to mean someone pretending to play a role or take on a personality disingenuously. Cosplay grew out of the practice of fan costuming at science fiction conventions , beginning with Morojo 's "futuristicostumes" created for the 1st World Science Fiction Convention held in New York City in A rapid growth in the number of people cosplaying as a hobby since the s has made the phenomenon a significant aspect of popular culture in Japan , as well as in other parts of East Asia and in the Western world.
Cosplay events are common features of fan conventions , and today there are many dedicated conventions and competitions, as well as social networks , websites, and other forms of media centered on cosplay activities. Cosplay is very popular among all genders, and it is not unusual to see crossplay , also referred to as gender-bending. The term "cosplay" is a Japanese blend word of the English terms costume and play. Masquerade balls were a feature of the Carnival season in the 15th century, and involved increasingly elaborate allegorical Royal Entries , pageants, and triumphal processions celebrating marriages and other dynastic events of late medieval court life.
They were extended into costumed public festivities in Italy during the 16th century Renaissance , generally elaborate dances held for members of the upper classes, which were particularly popular in Venice. In April , Jules Verne sent out almost invitations for an elaborate costume ball, where several of the guests showed up dressed as characters from Verne's novels.
Costume parties American English or fancy dress parties British English were popular from the 19th century onwards. Costuming guides of the period, such as Samuel Miller's Male Character Costumes [ 8 ] or Ardern Holt's Fancy Dresses Described , [ 9 ] feature mostly generic costumes, whether that be period costumes, national costumes, objects or abstract concepts such as "Autumn" or "Night".
