It may be a core part of Japanese pop culture, but Cosplay actually began in 20th century America at the first World Science Fiction Convention in 1939.
It may be a core part of Japanese pop culture, but Cosplay actually began in 20th century America at the first World Science Fiction Convention in 1939, when Forrest J Ackerman and Myrtle R. Douglas strutted in sporting what they quaintly termed "futuristicostumes.” However, the actual term "cosplay" didn't appear until 1984, coined in Japan after the founder of Studio Hard attended the 42nd Worldcon in LA.
By the 1990s, this phenomenon took off like a caped crusader. Cosplayers can buy their apparel through manufacturers - or they can craft them themselves, a process which can involve months of planning and fabricating. That is, unless you’re artist Scott Shaw, who famously lathered himself in peanut butter to represent his own underground comix character “The Turd” at the 30th WorldCon in 1972.
