Love Your Cosplay Body

body image and body confidence in cosplay Panelists: Janis and Trisha

Amaya

Trisha

Introduction

● This panel is the northeastern division of Brichibi Cosplays’ “Love Your Cosplay Body” panel.

● The purpose of this panel is to emphasize the importance of body positivity and self love. This panel will discuss the idea of self confidence and give tips and tricks on how to get there.

● A lot of what we will talk about in this panel will be based on our experiences. We will talk about our personal stories and struggles with self confidence and how we learn to become more confident. This may not work for everyone.

The Story of Brichibi Cosplays“You can be a princess. You can be a

queen. You can even be a goddess. You can be

anything you want: to love your cosplay is to love yourself.” - Brichibi Cosplays

Let’s Talk Confidence!

Let’s Talk Confidence!

● Confidence takes time to develop and takes work to maintain.

● No one has 100% self confidence all the time.

● Even when you do gain confidence, there are times where your confidence waver.

●Gaining confidence is a journey, not a gift.

●Do NOT bash others to build yourself up.●Do NOT compare yourself to others.

Mental Notes

● Everyone starts somewhere. You will improve over time. Celebrate your progress.

● You are your own worst critic● This is YOUR hobby. YOU choose what you will wear on your

body. ● Wear the cosplay, don’t let the cosplay wear you!

●Do NOT assume highlighting one group is ignoring the other.●Do NOT put certain cosplayers on a pedestal and degrade

yourself.●Do NOT force your body through extreme change.

Cosplay Bullying

Bullying and Cyberbullying: How to Fight Back!

● Anyone can be bullied and the comments are not objective. ● People of all sizes and all colors can be bullied for their appearance ● Most of the time bullies do not target the actual costume but they target features

you cannot change, such as color or size. ● How to Fight back

a. Surround yourself with positive influences i. De-stress through friends or social media such as personal facebook, internet

groups , forums, and tumblr.b. Cut off bullies and hurtful comments

i. “block” and “unfollow” buttons are your friends. Do not be afraid to use it. If someone cause you significant distress and send insulting comments to you, cut them out.

ii. Turn off the “anonymous” option on your tumblr ask box. c. Respond to bullies in the way that makes you feel comfortable

i. Whether you deal with it with humor, respond with an intelligent argument, or block the comment out entirely. Do whatever is best for you personally so that the bullies don’t get to you and your self-esteem.

Bullying and Cyberbullying

●Do NOT give others a hard time for how they handle hate.●Do NOT discourage others based on yours/other’s

experience. ●Do NOT drag out someone else’s issue when they

do not with to continue it.

Respond with Humor

credit: Brichibi cosplays’ tumblr

Block comment or not respond

Respond with Argument

Outside Support

Outside Support●Family. ●Friends. ●Cosplay Friends. ●Cosplayers in general.●Photoshoot Meetups at Cons. ●Facebook pages. ●Facebook groups.●Social Media and Hashtags

Facebook Tumblr● Heroes United Against Cosplay Bullying● The Curvy Geek● Plus Size Cosplay (Only Sizes 14+)● Plus Size Cosplayers in the USA● Plus Size Cosplay Appreciation● Plus Size Cosplayers ● Minnesota Cosplayers● Just Love; Cosplay● Cosplayers Against Bullying● Cosplay Worldwide● Cosplay is NOT Consent● Cosplay: It Unites Us● All Cosplayers are Equal● Cosplay: All Shapes and Sizes● The Royal Sisterhood ● Love Cosplay Magazine● We Rise Mag● Cos Couture● Cosplay in America

Cosplaying While BlackCross-Race CosplayCosplaying in ColorFuck Yeah Fat CosplayCosfluff 101Cosplay for the Plus SizeCosplaying While TransAnyone Can Cosplay

Credit: Brichibi Cosplays

Recommended Cosplayers

●Brichibi Cosplays ●SnowCosplays●Kagome-chan’s Cosplay●Misa on Wheels●Jay Justice

Tools and Tricks

●Fit the costume to your body and your preference

●Cover up parts you don’t want to show or even make original design

●Make sure the costume is the right size●Add boning and interfacing to give your garment better structure

●Do not settle!

Self Confidence Tool: Costume

Photo Credit: aristocratictrash.tumblr.com

Costume Resources

●Corsets ●Corset-story (http://www.corset-story.com/)●Orchard Corsets (https://www.orchardcorset.com/

) Shoes and accessories ●Torrid (http://www.torrid.com/)Binders and Compression Shorts ●Underworks (http://www.underworks.com/)

Self Confidence Tool: Photoshoot

●Find your angle.●Find photographer you are comfortable with●Don’t be afraid to try new poses. ●Do it with a friend!●Have fun!

Credit: Jo Bevvy Cosplay and Photography

Self Confidence Tool: Makeup

●Contouring●Watch tutorials●PRACTICE PLENTY!●Find tips that are flattering to your personal features.

Summary ●Self confidence takes time. Your confidence may waiver

but DO NOT GIVE UP!●Everyone starts somewhere, celebrate your progress

and improvements. ●Anyone can be bullied and do not be afraid to cut off

the source of the negativity ●Surround yourself with positive energy. Have

supportive people and groups there for you. ●Use outside resources to make you feel more

confident. Ex: makeup, good photos, nice fitted cosplays etc.

●Finally, COSPLAY IS ABOUT YOU! YOU CHOOSE WHAT TO WEAR ON YOUR BODY!

Contact Information

●Janis ●Facebook Page: Amaya (

https://www.facebook.com/Amaya-121842971280610/)●Tumblr: theofficialharu (http://theofficialharu.tumblr.com/)●Email: amayashiro@gmail.comTrisha ●Facebook Page: Chaotic C.R.A.F.T.S and Cosplay (

https://www.facebook.com/ChaoticCRAFTSCosplay/?fref=ts)

THANK YOU FOR COMING!