Casual Cosplay

I’ve been a fan of a specific kind of cosplay since I was a teenager: a kind of casual, closet-type cosplay, where I’m essentially walking around dressed as someone from a fantasy world or book might, but without necessarily looking like I’m in costume. 

Sometimes that’s historybounding, or whatever Mossy Socks does. (Fantasybounding? I’m not sure there’s a word for it, but it's fun.)

Most of the time it's as simple as my t-shirt collection. As long as I can remember, my taste in fannish t-shirts was about referencing what characters might wear in-universe: the first one I remember owning was the t-shirt with a pocket-sized logo for Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.

Official merch like this has gotten easier to find as fandom went mainstream. If I want to, I can find official shirts, jackets, even bags designed to look like the ones in a given show or movie instead of haunting the RPF Costume and Prop Forums to see if somebody's identified where something originally came from.

Most of the time for me, this was more about vibes via thrifting than sourcing screen-accurate props: my Indiana Jones hat is official but came from Goodwill, my heavy jacket is a canvas work jacket instead of leather, my satchel is a crossbody leather bag that also came from Goodwill… but my Indy hat is heavily decorated with pins that fit the vibe, and on warmer days I might wear the hoodie my wife made me that advertises Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar, or a Marshall College Dept of Archaeology t-shirt. It's definitely more of a disneybounding aesthetic, a combination of what he might have worn in the canon and what a "modern AU" of Indy might wear.

In the last few years as I learned digital art, I've gotten very into designing more of these shirts for myself (and sometimes my friends). I started out making logos that were references to my friends' fanfic, but I eventually starting making more direct references to exy teams and sportsbars owned by retired hockey players. I also have been working on a battle jacket for a couple of years now that's covered in references.

It's fun! In fact it's really the only kind of clothing I've ever found fun to shop for or wear. Plus it means that the people who get the reference and say something about my shirts are likely to be enthusiastic fans and not gatekeepers. (Not that I get much of that since I transitioned, but I think that feeling was definitely part of the draw in the first place.) I've also gotten to make designs requested by my friends and even my kid!

If you're curious, my teepublic storefront has Fourth Wing, Heated Rivalry, All for the Game and Stardew Valley references.

written for this month’s IndieWeb Carnival, on Masks, Identity and Cosplay.