Canon vs. Custom Costumes

It’s probably safe to say that there are probably more #cosplayers & #costumers wearing canon #costumes than custom costumes. But, what is means by canon versus custom costumes?

Canon Costumes

A canon costume is any cosplay or costume that precisely recreates an outfit worn by a character at a specific point of time within a story. Modifications or variations are not permissible if the costume is intended to be canon.

This would include, for example, the recreation of all of the garments, head gear, footwear, armor and props worn and used by that character during a specific point in a story.

Bear in mind that it’s not uncommon for a single character to wear different attire at different points of a story’s timeline. Consequently, each of the different sets of attire worn by a particular character is, by itself, a distinct canon costume.

Canon Costume Examples: Leia from “Star Wars”

Let’s consider the various outfits worn by Princess (or General) Leia (as played by the late Carrie Fisher) in the 5 “Star Wars” movies in which she appeared, not including “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”.

1. In “Star War IV: A New Hope”, Leia primarily wears a silky white full-length gown with a silver belt and white boots. Her hair is iconically braided and rolled up on the sides of her head. But, in the final ceremony scene, she wears a more formal gown that has a lower neckline, a necklace and silver shoes.

2. In “Star War V: The Empire Strikes Back”, Leia wears several more distinct outfits at different points within the movie’s timeline:

• On Hoth, Leia wears a wintery white jump suit and jacket.
• On Cloud City, she wears a brown gown with a long beige sweater. Her still-braided hair is worn more loosely than wrapped around the back of her head.
• Her outfit changes again towards the end of the movie to a gown very similar to the one that she wore in “A New Hope”. Her hairstyle is also different.

Thus, in one movie, she’s wearing at least 3 different costumes.

3. In “Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi”, Leia wears multiple outfits again, more than in either “A New Hope” or “Empire Strikes Back”.

• In Leia’s opening appearance, she is disguised as a bounty hunter named Bosch.
• Shortly thereafter, she is briefly enslaved by Jabba the Hutt, who forces her to wear the infamous “metal” bikini slave outfit.
• After returning to a Rebel Alliance ship, she initially wears a lightly colored military-style outfit.
• Then, as part of a group of guerrilla fighters on Endor, she dons green camouflaged outfit that includes a helmet & poncho.
• She later wears a more relaxed beige outfit while talking with Luke before the movie’s final battle.
• She then returns to her military style camouflage outfit as seen earlier for the battle.
• At the end of the movie, she returns to wearing the more relaxed beige outfit.

4. In “Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens”, an older General Leia wears 2 different outfits: a vested military-style pant suit and a formal blue gown. The hairstyles with each outfit are also different.

5. In “Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi”, General Leia wears 3 different outfits:

• First, an elegant gown with a jacket.
• Then, a hospital gown.
• Lastly, her elegant gown with a heavier jacket.

So, if a cosplayer wants to cosplay Princess (or General) Leia, there are no less than 15 different costume choices from which to select from.

Now, if a cosplayer wants to do a variant of one of costumes worn by Princess or General Leia, that variant would no longer be a canon costume.

Custom Costumes

A custom costume is any cosplay or costume that is not a precise recreation of an outfit worn by an existing character of a particular story.

That being said, here’s a list of several different types of custom costumes.

A Customized Canon Character

When a cosplayer wants to cosplay a specific canon character from a franchise, but wants to alter the costume’s appearance while still being that character, it’s a custom costume. For this type of custom costume, the identify of the original canon character has to remain intact. Modifications that are common for this type of custom costume include the following:

• Use of different colors that aren’t part of the original canon costume.
• Colors from the canon costume applied differently than on the original canon costume.
• Other variations in garments, makeup, hairstyles; etc. that don’t detract from the character’s identity.

The challenge for any cosplayer wearing this type of custom costume is to ensure that the customizations aren’t so severe that the identity of the original canon character is lost, which would reduce the visual impact of this type of custom costume.

Some examples are shown below, each of which is a variant of the iconic “Star Wars” character Darth Vader.

A Customized Character Based upon a Canon Character Design

Some cosplayers enjoy creating new, custom characters based on existing canon characters. In this situation, the goal is a custom costume that bears some resemblance to the original canon character that inspired it, but is sufficiently different to be viewed as a unique character on its own. Modifications that are common in this type of custom costume include the following:

• Use of different colors that aren’t part of the original canon costume.
• Use of unique insignias or sigils not present on the original canon costume.
• Other variations in garments, makeup, hairstyles; etc. that don’t completely eliminate the connection between the custom costume and the canon one that inspired it.

A common type of this type of custom costume are the myriad cosplayers who create custom Mandalorian merc costumes that are all based on the original canon characters of Boba Fett and Jango Fett from the “Star Wars” franchise. It’s also common for Halo cosplayers who create their own unique Spartan and ODST characters.

Hybrids of Two or More Canon Costumes

Another interesting type of custom costume is a hybrid that combines two or more canon characters or a known brand with a canon character. To create a hybrid, a cosplayer typically does some of the following designs and applications:

• Select one of the canon characters to be the primary base of the hybrid.
• Apply the characteristics (such as colors, logos, sigils, etc.) of the other canon character(s) or brand with the base character.

Hybrids usually don’t incorporate colors or other things that are not part of the original character costumes (or brands) being combined as that would likely detract from the overall appearance of the resulting hybrid.

The most successful hybrid costumes are ones in which: The identities of the original characters (or brands) remain completely recognizable in the combined form. The combination of the original characters (or brands) is seamless. The original characters (or brands) originate from different franchises.

Several examples of hybrid costumes are shown below.

A Uniquely Designed Costume Inspired by a Generic Form

Some cosplayers like to create costumes and the characters that they represent after being inspired by a particular generic form. The form could be anything, but typically has multiple examples that share a common form, but are also unique unto themselves.

While this may sound similar to the creation of a custom character based upon an existing canon character, it is, but what makes this different is that the generic form isn’t specific to any one particular canon character. Instead, generic form is the basis for a  collection of similarly designed characters that aren’t necessarily from the same story or franchise.

The best example of this is fursuiters. Fursuiters are inspired by the generic form of anthropomorphic animal characters that have been used in multiple animated movies for different stories and by multiple franchises. When a fursuiter creates a character, the fursuiter typically follows the overall generic form for an anthropomorphic animal character, but the fursuiter has the freedom to base the character on any animal species, combination of multiple species, or create an entirely new fictitious species. The fursuiter also has complete freedom to use any combination of colors and patterns as part of the character’s overall appearance. Thus, each fursuit is uniquely created, but was inspired by the same generic form.

The fursuit parade from this year’s Antrocon is best example of this type of uniquely designed set of costumes.

Completely Original Costume Creations

The final type of custom costume that we’ll mention (and there are probably others) are completely original custom creations that are purely unique designs not based upon any particular form, existing characters or franchises.

Here, the cosplayer is free to do virtually anything since there are very few limitations on what the cosplayer can do.

A prime example of a completely unique costume costume is something that we shared a long time ago: a costume inspired by con-crud:

One cosplayer who specializes in original custom designs is TwoHorndedCreations. He features a number of his original creations on his YouTube channel.

 

 

His creations are both beautiful and bizarre, but entirely original.

So What Is the Difference between Canon & Custom Costumes?

Simple: cosplayers who like to wear canon characters want to recreate an existing character while cosplayers who prefer to wear custom costumes want to be entirely unique within themselves even when their costumes are inspired by something else.

References

• Cosplaying as Con Crud
• TwoHornedCreations YouTube Channel

DIY: How to Make a Santa Claus Costume

With #Christmas just around the corner, a very popular #costume at this time of year is a #SantaClaus (or #FatherChristmas) costume. While there are a variety of off-the-shelf Santa Claus costumes available, quality and cost can vary widely. There’s also the option of renting a Santa Claus costume.

Basic Components

The basic components that are needed for a Santa Claus costume are as follows:

1. A red coat with white faux fur trim at the bottom of coat, along the coat opening and at the ends of the sleeves. Ideally, the sleeves should be wide.
2. Matching red pants, ideally made from the same material as the coat. (There are common variations for the pants.)
3. A wide black belt with a large rectangular open belt buckle worn over the coat at waist level.
4. A red stocking style hat with white faux fur trim and a white cotton ball at the end. The hat should be the same material as the coat and pants.
5. One pair of black boots. Ideally, the boots should have round toes (not square toed or pointed) and probably 12 inches tall. The boots should also have black soles. The boots can be shiny or matte. (There are common variations for the boots.)
6. A long white beard and mustache.
7. A red toy bag.

Common Variations

Not all Santa Claus / Father Christmas costumes are the same. Some common variations are listed below:

• White gloves are a very common variant, but aren’t required. Red, black or even dark brown gloves are also possible.
• While it is common for the red pants to be tucked into the black boots, the pants can also be worn over the boots. If the pants are tucked in, white faux fur that matches the trim on the coat and hat can be used to trim the top of the shafts of the boots. If the pants aren’t tucked in, white faux fur can be used to trim the bottom of the pants legs.

• Coat length can vary from standard coat length (below the waist) to knee length or ankle length. Older versions of Santa Claus typically have longer coat lengths. Father Christmas is more common with a long coat length.
• Shoulder flaps on the coat are another possible coat variant. These are typically made of the same fabric as the coast itself and should also be trimmed with the same faux fur as the bottom of the coat and coat opening.
• Pudginess also varies quite a bit. While the traditional Santa Claus is seen as being rather pudgy, other versions (often with a longer coat) aren’t as pudgy. If you’re going for the traditional pudgy Santa Claus, you’ll want a fat suit or some other kind of stuffing to create that appearance. You’ll also need to adjust the waist & chest sizes of the coast to accommodate the amount of desired pudginess.
• Coat and pants don’t necessarily have to be red. Some versions of Santa Claus / Father Christmas show him wearing a green coat and pants. While any color can be used, red is the best, followed by green. Once you choose a color, make sure that the pants and coat are the same color; they should not be different colors or different shades.

• Another variation involving the coat has it kept open with a gold-buttoned red vest being worn beneath. For this style, the vest isn’t made from the same material as the coat and can be embroidered. Also, both openings of the coat should have white faux fur trim. In this variation, the belt should be worn beneath the coat and not over it.

• Gold embroidery on the coat can also be added.

Materials

• The best fabric choice for the coat and pants is velvet, but any cotton fabric can also be used. The fabric should be woven, not knit, which could stretch. Use the same fabric for the pants, coat & hat. A vest (if used) can be made using a different fabric.
• The belt can be faux leather, not necessarily real leather.
• White faux fur for the trim. It’s best to be consistent with the type of white faux fur being used throughout the costume.
• Patterns for the coat, pants and hat.

Pick a Style & Have Fun

The best thing to do is to pick a style for your Santa Claus costume and then follow it to create the desired look. Then go out & have fun!