1. Introduction
[1.1] Costume fandom is motivated by intense affect for costumes and for the creative processes and material practices of designing and crafting them. International Costumers' Guild (ICG) members identify costumers as individuals sharing "a specialized interest in costuming—whether it be design, construction or display"—and define costuming as "an innovative, three-dimensional art form" (Flynn 1986, 89–90). Even if differences seem minor or nonexistent, especially to outsiders, not all costume-based fan practices are cosplay types or scenes. Nor do they always fit costume fandom's definition. Outside of science fiction, comic book, and other convention contexts, scholars position costumes people don for Halloween or Carnival, the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), historic reenactments, or heritage celebrations as enabling expression of "elective identities" (Shukla 2015, 250). A similar emphasis on identity in fan studies scholarship often frames other dressing up activities as types of cosplay (Affuso 2018; Brock 2017; Scott 2019). Cosplay developed from a fan costuming subcategory. Thus, many of its practices, motivations, and purposes still overlap those of costume fandom. However, they never have been entirely identical. Costumers choose to cosplay (Roche 2008) and cosplayers choose to costume. However, the points where these two distinct fandoms differ need to be explored instead of conflated.
[1.2] Costume fandom's underexamined histories and motivations illustrate how using cosplay as an umbrella term conceals and mischaracterizes rather than clarifies. Costumers continue to self-identify as their own fandom with distinct material practices, motivations, and purposes that sometimes might overlap with cosplay but significantly differ. It could be argued that scholars' usage of cosplay as a key term frames it as broad enough to include other forms of costume-based practices. However, as an overarching term its focus on affective identity play and performance flattens distinct costume-related fan practices that fulfill different functions. Fans' preferred self-identifications indicate differences that seem subtle or nonexistent to outsiders who might not understand why it matters whether they call a Trekker a Trekkie or a costumer a cosplayer. However, as ICG member Bruce Mai explains, describing any "act of dressing up in any kind of fantastic, fictional costume" as cosplay "intrudes on ground costuming had occupied long before cosplay…The divide between the terms may seem trivial, but it's important to those still active in the costuming scene" (quoted in Ashcraft and Plunkett 2014, 11; emphasis added). Accordingly, this article has two aims. First, it differentiates costume fandom (emphasizing craft) from cosplay (emphasizing identity). Second, it highlights costume fandom's own discourse about itself during the underexplored 1939–1984 period to address why fans participate in costume fandom then and now.
2. Methods
[2.1] I use archival research, discourse analysis, and autoethnography. To locate costume fandom discourse for analysis, I consulted online archives that compile fanzines, program books for fan-run conventions, convention photographs, and other primary sources by fans for fans. Multiple fan archival efforts preserve fannish history and output, like the Fancyclopedia published from 1944 onward. Its current online version references earlier print editions and encourages ongoing updates to its glossary, biographies, and histories and its entries on conventions, organizations, fanzines, and more. Fancyclopedia is only one part of the online FANAC Fan History Project (https://fanac.org/), which grew out of the 1992 Worldcon. It preserves information on fandom as well as original fan materials from the 1920s to the present: convention publications, photos, videos, audios, fanzines, and many other resources, which it makes available to all. Written commentary on how and why fans made their costumes often accompany archived convention photos. I also drew on the online THEN The Archive (https://www.fiawol.org.uk/FanStuff/THEN%20Archive/archive.htm) for research material related to Rob Hansen's history of science fiction fandom from the 1930s to the 1980s. These archives include material on convention costuming within their coverage of science fiction fandom.
[2.2] ICG's Pat and Peggy Kennedy Memorial Archives "is the largest existing collection of photographs, video and paper ephemera record of the costuming art in relation to Science Fiction conventions, but it also includes other events where costumes are worn," consistent with its mission "to collect and preserve the images of the costuming art form" and "to preserve our hobby's history" (ICG 2016b). It currently includes over 100,000 images and videos from the 1920s to the present and regularly acquires and posts new items. ICG's Costume-ConNections website documents Costume-Con from its 1983 founding through its latest events. It features masquerade rules, programming information, and an extensive Costume-Con Visual Archive. On YouTube, ICGArchives posts memorials and highlights from past and present Costume-Con, Worldcon, and other masquerades. ICG's online archive of back issues of its fanzine Costumers' Quarterly Magazine (1987–2001) provides access to costume fandom's discourse on its histories and motivations, as well as tutorials and how-to guides. ICG continues to publish newsletters on its website. In addition to these ICG resources, I drew extensively from articles in the APA zine Masquerade #1 (M. Resnick 1980b). In it, costume fans discuss why and how they make costumes, using examples from Worldcon and other science fiction conventions from 1939 to 1979. I also analyzed costume fandom discourse in fanzines available from the S. Gary Hunnewell Collection at Raynor Memorial Library at Marquette University and popular press magazine Starlog available from the Science Fiction & Fantasy Collection at Cushing Memorial Library & Archives at Texas A&M University.
[2.3] I focus primarily on Worldcon and Costume-Con masquerade competitions in the United States and Europe since it was predominantly their participants who during the 1939–1984 era invented practices and terminology still in use today at these and other conventions worldwide. Comments from recent Worldcons and Costume-Cons illustrate that many of the same principles still apply to modern versions of this ever-evolving costume fandom. Furthermore, many Worldcon and Costume-Con participants reflexively explain their own practices and motivations and actively preserve their fan history. I reviewed program books and other ephemera from Dragon*Con and several smaller fan-run conventions. However, many only list masquerade rules, often repeating discourse from earlier costume fandom sources. These costumers and conventions are not representative of all costume-based fan practices, nor do they claim to be. Studying such past and present discourse expands current understanding of costume fandom's distinctiveness and its many contributions during the underexplored 1939–1984 period. In consideration of ethical concerns relevant to online research (Popova 2020), I draw on public open online archives where fans add material knowing it is accessible by anyone. I use the names costume fans do, to reflect how they wish to be known in their community. Before the internet, fans often used wallet names when entering masquerades or publishing fanzine submissions, and many costume fans continue to use full names for their work. When fans alternate between wallet names and fan names, I note both.
[2.4] After this archival research, I analyzed the discourse that creates and maintains social identities as costume fans. I drew on my own insider knowledge to identify recurring tendencies like costume fandom's motivations. Consistent with definitions of autoethnography "as the practice of studying one's own culture" (Popova 2020, ¶ 2.7), I study communities where I already belong, with a home field advantage due to years as a costumer prior to my research. Material fan cultures are performed off-line. Even when fans share finished products digitally, their posts do not always explain how or why they did things in a certain way. Autoethnography fills in some of those gaps. Autoethnography reflexively "draws on and analyzes or interprets" a researcher's own "experiences and insights more directly into accounts of the scene being studied" to better illuminate it and its practices (Poulos 2021, 4). It draws on various qualitative "data gathering and research tools," like "artifact analysis [and] archival research" (5). Autoethnography provides greater access to the mental processes underlying costume fandom than already appears in self-reflective fanzine articles, online archives, and other primary resources of fan discourse.
[2.5] Finding primary sources can be difficult due to costume fandom's myriad terms and categories: costumers, costuming, costume fandom, costume, community, masquerades, costumes, hall costumes, presentation/formal/stage costumes, spontaneous costumes, assembled costumes, Original costumes, Historic costumes, Re-creation costumes, conceptual costumes, fancy dress, fashion folios, costume panels, masquerade seminars, future fashion shows, costume parades, costume competitions, costume contests, and hall costume contests (note 1). Cosplay inherited some of this vocabulary, further complicating efforts to search for and discuss primary sources about costume fandom. Researchers might not know every possible keyword. Although "costumers" and "costuming" are far more prevalent terms, "costume fandom" helps to avoid confusion with theatrical and film costuming. I also predominantly use "costume fandom" to highlight these fans' distinguishing affect for costumes themselves and their design and construction (note 2).
3. Expanding understandings of costume-based fan practices
[3.1] Cosplay definitions both online and in fan studies scholarship (Brenner 2015; Gn 2011; Hale 2014; Lamerichs 2011, 2015) specify dressing up and performing as fictional characters, typically from science fiction and fantasy visual media; cosplayers need not make their costumes. Many of those sources note the word's Japanese origins as a portmanteau of "costume" and "play." Some attribute the term's invention to Nobuyuki Takahashi. However, cosplay discourses often minimize or omit his original inspiration: the number and quality of masquerade and Hall costumes he saw at 1984's Worldcon in Los Angeles. Only a few scholars include this detail or indicate Takahashi encouraged similar activities in Japan (Mountfort, Peirson-Smith, and Geczy 2019). Japan had science fiction conventions from the 1960s, college students dressing up from the 1970s, and 1975's Comic Market/Comiket, which eventually led to what Takahashi dubbed cosplay (Mountfort, Peirson-Smith, and Geczy 2019; Ashcraft and Plunkett 2014). He invented that term because masquerade and other existing English-language costume fandom terminology from the 1940s onward did not translate well into Japanese. Eventually the word "filtered back to the US, and anime fans seized upon it as what they perceived as a uniquely Japanese tradition" (Roche 2008, 84; emphasis added). Unaware of its roots in "Western fan costuming…some cosplayers adamantly maintain that this bit of history cannot possibly be correct" (Roche 2008, 84). Indeed, cosplay "is still commonly claimed to have started in Japan, largely because the term was coined there" (Mountfort, Peirson-Smith, and Geczy 2019, 4). Cosplay discourse's focus on the word's Japanese origin obscures its Western inspiration.
[3.2] Fan studies scholarship defines cosplay as a specific type of performance or reenactment that uses a costume to express or explore a fan's own identity based on identification, devotion, and fandom for intellectual property (IP): narratives, characters, and traits associated with them (Brenner 2015; Brownie and Graydon 2016; Gn 2011; Lamerichs 2011). However, in recent research many cosplayers admit IP identification, devotion, and fandom do not motivate their cosplay. They only perform them when other convention attendees assume them (Mishou 2023). Instead, motivations can include how easy a costume is to make, how comfortable it is to wear, how it looks, a reason to stay or get fit, "the creative challenges of building a costume," and following a group or event theme instead of their own fandom for IPs, as well as "a fandom for cosplay itself," characterized as "a kind of fandom or investment in maker culture" instead of fandom for a specific IP (Mishou 2023, 191, 198–200). Cosplay scholars also discuss original characters as well as generic representation of character types like zombies (Hale 2014) and other alternatives to reproducing specific characters or texts. Such insights illustrate cosplay's underexplored similarities with costume fandom and its material fan practices.
[3.3] Yet costume fandom itself remains underresearched. One scholar notes that although the terms masquerade and cosplay are "in certain contexts used both interchangeably and together" there are "distinctions in terminology" (Gilligan 2012, 27) and discusses each separately. Others note costuming's options go beyond cosplay's recreations of visual media (Mountfort, Peirson-Smith, and Geczy 2019). Some cosplay scholarship acknowledges fan costuming's origins at US conventions. However, claims that fans started to dress up as fictional characters in the 1960s or 1970s (Lamerichs 2011; 2015) are off by decades. Fan costuming recreated visual media during 1939's Worldcon and in 1940's first Worldcon costume contest. The latter also included Original costumes inspired by written sources. Fan costumes have been part of every Worldcon since. Early fanzine and newspaper reports reference similar smaller fan events and examples before then (Ashcraft and Plunkett 2014; Hansen 2013d; Mountfort, Peirson-Smith, and Geczy 2019).
[3.4] Cosplay discourse's references to costume fandom and other costume-based fan practices frame them problematically. Scholars dub costuming "early cosplay" (Hansen 2013a; 2013b), a "precursor…not yet called cosplay" (Mountfort, Peirson-Smith, and Geczy 2019, 5), or "a similar craft" from which cosplay "inherited" many aspects (Ashcraft and Plunkett 2014, 9). Similar discourse appears in popular understanding online. Although cosplay grew out of what US and European costume fandom refer to as Re-creation costumes, most cosplay discourse does not mention this category or even costume fandom itself unless framed as early cosplay. Discursively, this positioning of costume fandom under an early cosplay subcategory problematically conceals its continued existence, as if it stopped evolving or died out after cosplay's origin. It also overlooks costuming categories other than Re-creation.
[3.5] In contrast, costume fandom discourse expands scholarly understanding of costume-based fan practices. It offers terminology that is more specific, nuanced, and inclusive in its identification and discussion of different costume-based fan practices on their own terms, rather than flattening them under umbrella labels. For example, ICG members define Re-creation costumes as copies, reproductions, or derivations of designs from visual media like paintings, comic books, animation, films, video games, manga, and anime. They are the most common choices, where most fans begin before advancing to the Historic / Historical and Original categories. Historic costumers research, document, and reproduce clothing design and construction from various time periods. This overlaps with garb worn for the SCA, Renaissance fairs, Dickens fairs, English Regency dances, living history, reenactments, and related events. Fans also wear or modify their historic garb for Hall costumes and masquerades. Original costumes come from fans' own imaginations or are inspired by literary descriptions (Flynn 1986; 1989; Roche 2008). What fan studies scholarship considers transformative, like mashups or steampunk versions of characters, costume fandom typically classifies as Re-creation costumes since these adaptations derive from existing designs.
[3.6] Costume fandom discourse makes space for multiple practices. It embraces cosplay's status as its own fan practice rather than flattening it into a subcategory of costuming or of Re-creation costumes. For example, the eventual Worldcon 76 chair and ICG President briefly notes cosplay's origins in visual media fandom could position most as Re-creations. However, he does so to illustrate "Cosplayers and Costumers (NOT 'vs')" (emphasis added) and notes his own early costumes similarly involved "making believe" he was a character, usually Originals from prose but sometimes Re-creations from visual media (Roche 2008, 84). Costuming and cosplay share some aspects but are distinct fandoms and practices with their own preferred terms and definitions, which he respects and uses. Consistent with costume fandom's emphasis on craft, masquerades welcome fan-constructed cosplay. They also accommodate cosplayers uninterested in constructing their costumes. For example, some masquerade rules allow purchased or rented full costumes or costumes assembled out of pieces bought from consignment or donation stores but specify they are "shown only Out of Competition" or eligible only for Presentation awards (Costume-Con 2022b). Some establish percentages for how much needs to be a contestant's own work rather than made by somebody else. Convention panels and workshops address both cosplay and costuming. Costume fandom's discourse recognizes commonalities between distinct practices without collapsing them into one another.
4. Costume fandom histories 1939–1984
[4.1] Archived costume fandom primary sources can expand understanding of this previously undifferentiated period, its fans, and their many contributions to costume-based fan practices. This contrasts with scholarly and online cosplay discourse that briefly notes fan costuming's earliest documented examples at a science fiction convention during 1939's first Worldcon, perhaps listing the fans' names. However, most then skip the next forty-five years as if nothing significant happened until Takahashi's 1984 invention of the word cosplay. Alternatively, they collapse this era and costume fandom itself into a problematic early cosplay subcategory. Such discourse conceals costume fandom's innovations from 1939 to 1984 and its continuation as a distinct fandom today.
[4.2] For many decades fan discourse often gave sole credit for starting convention costuming to Forrest J. "Forry/4E/4SJ" Ackerman. He wore one of the two futuristicostumes that Myrtle R. "Morojo" Douglas designed and handmade for them both to wear (https://www.icggallery.org/items/show/44899). Early fan accounts did not mention her presence (M. Resnick 1980a). Some positioned her as Ackerman's girlfriend or unnamed "lady friend" instead of as a fan in her own right who made those "clothes of the future" (Hansen 2013c; 2013d). One describes Douglas's costume as a Re-creation and Ackerman's as a "star pilot" (Flynn 1986, 89). This positions his costume within the more highly regarded Original category by not acknowledging both are inspired by the 1936 film Things to Come. Douglas's recognition as the Mother of Convention Costuming did not come until twenty-two years after Ackerman's Father of Convention Costuming award (ICG 2016c).
[4.3] Skipping from 1939 to 1984 leaves many costume fans and their contributions unacknowledged, much as Douglas was. Kathy Sanders "was one of the early costumers to use choreography and dramatic movement in her presentations." Due to "her use of music, dance and theatrical blocking, she is recognized as one of the pioneers of convention masquerades as they are known today" (ICGArchives 2013). From the 1960s onward, she developed presentations to enhance and showcase costumes' visual spectacle and artistry. Costume fandom discourse advises skits or performances should be brief (60 seconds maximum) or avoided altogether so as not to undermine well-made costumes (note 3). After all, "this is a costume show, not a talent competition. Never bore the audience" (Costume-Con 2022b). Presentations in costume fandom competitions continue to display design and construction, contrasting with cosplay's emphasis on performing or re-enacting IP characters and narratives.
[4.4] In the 1970s, Marjii Ellers (1993, 6) and Bjo Trimble defined Hall costumes as "everyday wear for alternate worlds." These costume fans established separate judging for Hall costumes to encourage recognition of originality and workmanship that can be overlooked onstage amid the spectacle of Display and Presentation costumes. It also shortened masquerade run times. From the late 1950s onward, costume events drew the largest crowds at conventions, ten times the number of attendees as a Guest of Honor speech. By 1974, Worldcon masquerades could run over four hours, with consistently over 100 costumes and sometimes more than 200 entries (note 4).
[4.5] To make competitions less cumbersome, Peggy Kennedy wrote the first book on how to run a masquerade: The Kennedy Compendium. To make competitions fairer, she also outlined the division system of novice, journeyman, and master first used in 1981; based on skill and experience level, newer contestants compete against each other instead of against experts with years of experience and multiple past wins (1981). It remains "a standard in almost all of fandom" (ICG 2016a). Competitions still use the divisions and Kennedy's other suggestions. Some add craftsman / artisan, professional, young fan, or other divisions. Cosplay sometimes renames these divisions levels. The ICG or Kennedy might receive credit, but often not. Kennedy also proposed an additional Media division for "costumes copied from films, plays, TV shows or comics" (1981, 6), reflecting decades' worth of media entries in previous masquerades. This was at least three years before the creation of the more well-known portmanteau "cosplay."
[4.6] Adrienne Martine-Barnes convinced fellow costume fans to help organize 1983's first Costume-Con after the same 1981 Worldcon masquerade that debuted Kennedy's division system. This annual convention specifically for costumers soon led to the ICG's founding (Marks, Schnaubelt, and Turner 2022; Roche 2008). Costume-Cons include multiple competitions, plus panels and workshops on how to design, sew, build, repair, and store costumes and how to modify patterns and garments to create costumes. Today, costume fans continue to share their skills and display their handiwork in many categories at Worldcon, Costume-Con, and other conventions. Exploring 1939–1984 rather than skipping or collapsing these years under early cosplay labels reveals costume fandom's extensive innovations and ongoing evolution.
5. Costume fandom's multiple overlapping motivations
[5.1] Like their histories, many of costume fandom's and cosplay's motivations are not unique to either and also are underresearched. Not all fans make and wear costumes for the same reasons. One ICG member's list establishes hierarchies. He frames escapism or make-believe as typical of fans' early costuming efforts, which often focus on recreations of visual media. Eventually "art and interaction" supplant escapism and awards (Roche 2008, 83). He thus positions these as more mature motivations. Playfulness, jokes, and puns inspire Conceptual costumes. Examples include the Hanna-Barbarians and a Klingon Elvis singing "Are You Loathsome Tonight?" (Chafin 1991). Costume-based play is not limited only to cosplay or to its emphasis on identity. Analyzing costume fandom discourse expands scholarly understandings of costume-based fan practices to include additional motivations that often overlap. These can include but are not limited to practicality, creativity, aesthetics, gaining or improving craft skills, identification, and other costume fans' creations or praise, as well as more problematic factors.
[5.2] Practicality. Pragmatic issues often motivate choosing certain costume projects. Fans document considerations like costumes' affordability and comfort and how easy they are to transport, to get on and off, and to maneuver around a stage or hotel while wearing. Additional practical concerns include finding and sharing sources for inexpensive raw materials, how to both carry and conceal hotel keys when costumes do not include a purse or pockets, how to communicate while wearing a mask, whether to wear glasses and if so, how to prevent them fogging under a mask (note 5). Practicality and creativity frequently overlap. After all, both these needs and a lack of funds, specialized items, or skills often motivate creative solutions.
[5.3] Creativity. Multiple costume fans detail creative design, construction, and display methods and note a sense of accomplishment and achievement from particularly creative problem-solving. For example, one costumer realized she could transform from one version of a character to another while onstage by spinning around to reveal a mask worn on the back of her head (Ellers 1980). A fundamental principle of costume fandom "is doing something original, doing the best with what you have, and doing it well" (Stopa 1980, 41–42). Fans praise creative techniques and materials like gluing, stapling, or tying together costumes, or using paper origami rather than sewing fabric or soldering metal. Repurposed coat hanger wire, picture hanging wire, fishing line, and other affordable readily available materials creatively connect and reinforce costume elements. Convincing alternatives for expensive, complicated, or impossible to find items require creativity. Costumers cover wooden swords and shields with reflective material, paint embroidery designs on fabric, and knit yarn on large needles then spray paint it metallic for chainmail. Hobbit feet were not manufactured in 1958, so fans made their own by sewing curly crepe hair to socks (note 6).
[5.4] Such creative techniques overlap with practical motivations by saving time and money. They also enable costumers to create items even if they do not have skills or equipment for metalwork, needlework, or other specialized crafts. Many of these creative construction techniques developed before the convenience of online shopping and readily available prefabricated competition-quality costumes and accessories. However, creativity's enduring presence and praise highlights its importance for its own sake. Altering patterns to fit and flatter diverse body types fulfills both creative problem-solving and pragmatic motivations. Additional modifications transform standardized patterns and mass-market fabrics into original and aesthetically pleasing costumes.
[5.5] Aesthetics. Costume fandom accounts frequently praise costumes as beautiful, stunning, spectacular, gorgeous, impressive, and similar adjectives (M. Resnick 1980b). "Most Beautiful" awards highlight exceptional examples from Worldcon, Costume-Con, and other conventions. Masquerade costumes often emphasize spectacle, like onstage reveals of elaborately decorated capes that double as photo backdrops. One ICG founder notes: "Some costumes are simply works of art, and the art itself is all the motivation one needs." Designing a costume "to showcase that beautiful fabric/beads/jewelry/object" and "the desire to wear something beautiful or elegant" like Regency or other Historic fashions (Roche 2008, 82–83) are additional aesthetic motives. A topic or material's visual appeal often motivates Original designs not based on any IP. For example, Ann Chancellor spent years trying to design costumes using either spiders or peacock feathers (https://icggallery.org/items/show/33010). Although a book cover eventually sparked an idea to combine both, she did not recreate or re-enact that painting (Chancellor 1980).
[5.6] Characters' or story worlds' aesthetics can motivate Re-creation and Original costumes when costumers have no identification or even familiarity with those sources. For example, images in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe inspired one of my projects. The character never interested me, only her attractive supervillain design and the creative challenges of crafting it. Likewise, steampunk is visually appealing even for those who haven't read the genre. Original steampunk designs build upon costume fans' detailed research into authentic Victorian and other fashions. As with gorgeous Historic costumes, no IP mashups, identification, or performance are required. Aesthetics overlaps with creativity and craft motivations when figuring out how to construct projects inspired by attention-grabbing images. Historic fashions might have no commercial patterns available. Re-creations of superheroes, aliens, monsters, and other idealized or nonhuman physiologies add the challenges of adapting them for ordinary human bodies (https://icggallery.org/items/show/42787).
[5.7] Craft skills. Figuring out how to do something, doing it well, and getting better at it are all intrinsically rewarding motivations. Costumers often mention learning new craft skills specifically to make costumes. Sewing is the most common. Costume fandom discourse identifies motivations "to demonstrate your skill" with certain materials and methods and "to create a costume just to prove that you can. To prove" you can figure out how to translate two-dimensional images or special effects into everyday reality (Roche 2008, 83; emphasis original). The Spontaneous costume category challenges costumers "to construct a costume out of rags, tin-foil, glue, glitter, and colored paper" within an hour, with judging emphasizing creativity and originality (Flynn 1986, 91). One costumer reports her reasons to "go into costuming" include "the thrill of visualizing a costume (or a presentation…) and then making that visualization a reality." The actual convention debut and onstage presentation is "all rather anti-climactic; I know long before then whether or not I've accomplished what I set out to do" (C. Resnick 1980, 37). A tribute to Kathy Sanders quotes fellow costume fans' praise of her extensive knowledge of costuming techniques and abilities, her "passion for new challenges," willingness "to try new things…outside one's comfort zone" and "to never be satisfied with good enough" (ICGArchives 2013; emphasis original). By making unfamiliar items and types of costumes, "I learned many things and made many mistakes, but I know the next costume I do will be the better for it" (Sanders 1980, 32). Other fans also note that previous challenges provide "valuable experience in trying more elaborate projects" (Miesel 1980, 6). Deliberately choosing projects to further develop craft skills involves creativity, another example of overlapping motivations.
[5.8] Identification. Identification is not a relevant motivation for many costumers and categories, like Historic or completely Original designs with no pre-existing characters or IP. This is one of costume fandom's key differences from cosplay and expands understanding of costume-based fan practices' material and other motivations. Archival primary costume fandom sources do not ask whether costumers identify with or perform characters. They offer costume construction techniques and tips, asking contributors about "sources, materials, problems, awards, etc." (M. Resnick 1980a, 3). Costume fandom discourse's rare mentions of identification or affect for IP characters or story worlds typically appear only in combination with other motivations for choosing projects, like designing and constructing aesthetic costumes, desires to challenge creativity or craft skills, or practical concerns about money or comfort. For example, one costumer chose Frodo not only because she identified "most strongly" with him, but also because of her petite stature and because she already owned certain items but not others (Berman 1962, 3). Sometimes identification only happens because of a costume, especially one worn many times, or in one's first masquerade. For example, I wasn't a fan of Marvel's Phoenix before my first costume contest. I only chose that character to fit a group theme, based on practical factors like my hair's length and color. After others praised my creativity solving the craft challenges of translating superhero costumes into everyday reality, my affection for Phoenix grew. Costume fandom includes references to costumes as "she," "her," "that lady," and "the alter ego" (Chancellor 1980, 24). Such nicknames represent affection for costumes worn and praised many times after a first competition rather than or in addition to identification with or fandom for characters they represent.
[5.9] Other costume fans: Their creations and praise. Fellow costume fans' efforts inspire new projects. For example, Kathy and Drew Sanders paid tribute to Original costumes she admired at her first convention with her own Original interpretation a decade later (Sanders 1980) (https://icggallery.org/items/show/30115; https://www.icggallery.org/items/show/42047). She never indicates any identification with the W. B. Yeats poem, Ray Bradbury short story, or various songs that include the phrase that inspired their "The Golden Apples of the Sun and the Silver Apples of the Moon" costumes. Instead, her tribute marks her ongoing connections to other fans and their costumes and her own identification as a costumer. A video tribute to Sanders quotes multiple fans who characterize her and her work as gorgeous inspirations they aspire to and emulate (ICGArchives 2013). This indicates overlap with aesthetic motivations.
[5.10] Successful themes inspire others but also motivate costume fans to succeed outside those genres. For example, popularizing "beautiful pairs" inspired costume fans to demonstrate alternative ways to succeed without having to "spend a lot of time and money and do a lot of elaborate detail" (C. Resnick and M. Resnick 1980, 17). Inspiration also includes reversing common concepts, like a peasant instead of "all the kings, queens, princess and sundry royalty" costumes (Chafin 1991, 65). Costume fans acknowledge that borrowing from one another is natural but compare "derivative" work that simply repeats what succeeded before to stealing or plagiarism (C. Resnick 1980, 37).
[5.11] Praise and appreciation from colleagues also motivate costume fans. Some convention masquerades include Contestants' Choice awards. Costume fandom prizes are often bragging rights, ribbons or paper certificates, plaques or trophies, and sometimes money or merchandise. Costume fandom discourse positions awards as much less important than the social capital of praise, recognition, and appreciation from other costume fans (Chafin 1991; Roche 2008). Although audience cheers and hallway reactions are appreciated, "the biggest thrill and most sought-after accolades are those that come from my fellow costume-makers. I think perhaps my proudest moment in costuming came…when our group came off the stage after our presentation, we were given a standing ovation from our competitors" (C. Resnick 1980, 37). Such expressions of joy rather than resentment at the quality of another's work are typical in costume fandom discourse.
[5.12] Unsurprisingly, one of the primary reasons for starting Costume-Con was so costumers could share techniques and learn from each other (Marks, Schnaubelt, and Turner 2022). To document past and inspire future projects Costume-Con continues to produce resources like Fashion Folios, Whole Costumer's Catalogs, and videos of its various masquerades (Costume-Con 2022a). The online archive of ICG's Costumers' Quarterly Magazine (https://costume.org/wp/the-international-costumer-newsletter-2022/costumers-quarterly-magazine/) continues to share tutorials and how-to guides for beading, applique, sewing, dyeing, wig making, and many other material aspects of costume design and construction to inform and inspire readers, as well as reflexive discourse documenting costume fandom's histories and motivations.
[5.13] Problematic factors. Sharing knowledge and techniques can take problematic turns. For example, although costume fandom welcomes cosplayers and praises their work, nonetheless there is "a perception of 'Us vs Them'" amongst cosplayers attributed to "a generation gap" and perceiving costumers as know-it-alls who want things done "their way," demand perfection, and "cruelly criticize and critique everything" cosplayers make (Roche 2008, 84). These perceptions contrast with costume fandom discourse's tributes to its members' kindness, helpfulness, supportiveness, and generosity. Desires to help others to improve craft skills can seem pushy or perfectionist, especially if such assistance is unsolicited or even irrelevant for cosplayers uninterested in making their own costumes.
[5.14] Costume fandom discourse also includes problematic assumptions about body type. For example, "chubby girls" and skinny men are advised to avoid scantily clad dainty or muscular characters and instead "type-cast yourself," limiting project choices based on "your physical type" (Stopa 1980, 41). No matter how creative or well made it is, "if your costume doesn't suit you, it will only make both you and itself look ridiculous" and earn only "snide comments" about the person wearing it (Jordan 1980, 4). Multiple motivations for selecting Frodo include "of course, because my height and coloring suit…a hobbit" (Berman 1962, 3; emphasis added), indicating perceptions of typecasting as somehow natural. Such problematic assumptions limit costumers based on their physical traits. Rotsler's Rules, which have been reproduced, amended, and added to online, offers advice to avoid problems. However, it can be "snarky to the point of cruel" as illustrated by its very first rule: "There should be a weight limit on the sale of leotards" (Roche 2008, 82).
[5.15] Costume fandom discourse documents weight, age, and other physical factors motivating both the choice and design of projects. Fans detail techniques to highlight or conceal physical attributes perceived as (un)attractive (Chancellor 1980; C. Resnick 1980). Examples include using a short skirt to show off "nice legs" to redirect attention from a supposedly "overweight" waist and covering "'old-lady' jowls and arms" with a feathered collar and long gloves (Ellers 1980, 11). Body positivity counters assumptions that certain traits are problems that need to be hidden. However, recent fan studies scholarship documents that "type" still influences choices because cosplayers "may face derision and harassment when their cosplays do not conform to gatekeepers' expectations of race, gender identity, body type, or ability" (Mishou 2023, 196). Body shaming, ageism, ableism, and other problematic motivations for why fans select, craft, and wear costumes continue to plague both cosplay and costume fandom. Although beyond the scope of this article, further scholarship could examine costume fandom's historical and current hierarchies and gatekeeping functions regarding body shape, race, gender identity, and disability.
[5.16] Ultimately costume fandom discourse foregrounds costumes themselves. Its emphasis on creative problem-solving, skillful crafting, aesthetics, and other motivations can shift the focus away from the appearance of the bodies wearing those costumes. Even if this ideal is not always realized, as evidenced by typecasting and Rotsler's Rules, costume fandom's material emphasis offers a potential for inclusiveness. Visual archives of Costume-Con, Worldcon, and other conventions both past and present (Costume-Con 2022b; https://www.icggallery.org/) document entrants' range of body types and ages. Historic costumes emphasize detailed research and an awareness "that most of the people did not look like fashion plates" (Reynolds 1987, 3). Such advice deliberately makes space for costumers with many body types to participate. For both Historic and Re-creation categories, accuracy refers to the finished costumes, not to the people wearing them. This reduces some of the pressure to look like celebrities or idealized two-dimensional images evident in some cosplay discourse. Also, costume fandom does not always require human bodies to display designs and constructions. Many exhibits, workshops, and competitions present items on mannequins or dolls or by themselves on tabletops. Tiaras, witch hats, Covid masks, and other competition entries must fit a person but need not be worn for fans to appreciate their creative design, skillful construction, and aesthetics. Costume fandom's discourse illustrates its commonalities with other material fan cultures that emphasize crafting, making, and building (like knitting, sewing, customizing, and DIY). They also involve fandom and affect for the items themselves as well as for their design, construction, and display.
6. Conclusion
[6.1] Going forward, this study encourages further scholarship on costume fandom and other previously underexplored costume-based practices to expand examinations of their own distinct motivations and functions. No individual publication or overarching concept can capture every possible motivation of every possible fan for making and wearing every possible kind of costume. For example, Barbara Adams wore her Starfleet uniform, phaser, and tricorder while serving as an alternate juror for the 1996 Whitewater trial. Her aspirational costuming to embody and promote Star Trek's ideals involves liminal merchandise (Godwin 2018; 2022). It does not fit cosplay or costume fandom definitions. Although beyond the scope of this article, plenty of noncostumer fans enthusiastically attend, photograph, videorecord, and otherwise display their affect for masquerades, cosplay, and other events with no desire to make or wear costumes themselves or to share their experiences in convention reports or by posting images online. The term "fan" does not automatically imply specific forms of productivity or participation. There also are enthusiastic regular attendees at Renaissance fairs who do not dress up or else add only one or two items to their everyday clothing. Yet their affect for Renaissance fairs and for watching, filming, and photographing shows, cast members, and playtrons does not make them any less of a fan. Playtrons at Renaissance fairs "are defined by their commitment to garb," with some eventually "creating entire personas to go along with the costumes" (Rubin 2012, 217, 213). These original personas present an underexamined reversal of cosplay's focus on affect for existing media characters leading to costumes. Lolita (cute Victorian- and Rococo-inspired clothing), JK uniform (Japanese girls' school uniforms), and Hanfu (traditional clothing of China's Han ethnic group) focus on clothing styles and designs. Fans' social media and online discourse indicate they do not consider their practices cosplay. After all, they are not role-playing, re-enacting, or referencing characters or narratives. These fandoms' preferences and pressures for buying premade items from certain designers instead of fans making their own costumes, an inversion of costume fandom's valorization of craft and DIY, also warrant examination. Additionally, early SF fandom included negative discourse about perceptions that fan costuming could undermine efforts to gain respect (Hansen 2013a; Roche 2008). This is an underresearched form of antifandom.
[6.2] Certain toxic fan practices illuminate how costume fandom perspectives expand and re-frame limited understandings of costume-based activities' motivations and functions. Criticizing costumers' or cosplayers' weight, age, and other physical traits prioritizes bodies' appearances while minimizing or ignoring the aesthetics, creativity, craft, and other material aspects of the costumes those bodies display. Skintight, revealing, or barely-there costumes are not invitations to objectify the people making and wearing them. Instead, they can be intrinsically rewarding creative design and craft challenges. Likewise, accusations of attention-seeking denigrate so-called fake geek girls who neither know nor care about the characters their costumes represent. Underlying these toxic dismissals are inaccurate assumptions that the only (or only acceptable) motivations for making and wearing costumes are cosplay's identification with or performance of IPs.
[6.3] In contrast, costume fandom's discourse dedicates far more space and detail to its many other motivations than to identification or performance. Costumers rarely mention identification or sometimes even familiarity with characters or narratives. When they do, it typically overlaps with other reasons for choosing a project. Instead, costume fans' affection and devotion are for costumes and for the creative processes and material practices of designing, crafting, and displaying them. Any IPs those costumes represent can be of little or no importance. Indeed, Historic and Original costumes do not need them at all. Although some costume fandom practices, histories, and motivations might overlap with cosplay, there are significant differences. This study's synthesis and analysis of historical and modern costume fandom discourse distinguishes its interest in craft from cosplay's interest in identity. It also highlights how using cosplay as an umbrella term erases rather than illustrates the very different functions costume fandom and other distinct costume-based practices fulfill.
7. Acknowledgments
[7.1] This work was supported by Prairie View A&M University's Mellon Center for Faculty Excellence [Mellon Grant Number: 1906-06895].