Let's Talk About Historical Inspiration for Non-"Historical" Cosplays
When you hear "historical clothing," what do you think of?
If you're like most people, you will think of fashions from the 19th century and before (likely in Western Europe, but that's another can of worms).
If you're like most people, you will think of fashions from the 19th century and before (likely in Western Europe, but that's another can of worms).
The thing is, especially if you cosplay from a lot of series that are now considered older, you might want to take historical inspiration. This includes even eras in living memory that we may not consider "historical" as such, such as 2000s series. (I must be old if my teen years are now historical!) Everything is of a time and place, and that includes media, meaning that the aesthetics of the media you are cosplaying draws on the aesthetics of the time it was created and is part of a continuum of inspiration and aesthetics that had led to that aesthetic of that time. The media that is coming out now? This is also historically situated in the same way, but you may not notice it, like the way you may not notice the air around you, since it's something you are simply used to.
So if you're cosplaying from a series that was made at some point in the past where aesthetics have changed since, or even from something released today that takes inspiration from or takes place in a past era (Spy X Family comes to mind as an obvious example, as it takes from midcentury European aesthetics), your cosplay can look a little more authentic or have that little bit of something extra that most people may not even notice why it stands out, but it does.
So if you're cosplaying from a series that was made at some point in the past where aesthetics have changed since, or even from something released today that takes inspiration from or takes place in a past era (Spy X Family comes to mind as an obvious example, as it takes from midcentury European aesthetics), your cosplay can look a little more authentic or have that little bit of something extra that most people may not even notice why it stands out, but it does.
Why might you want to use inspiration from the era?
Obviously, all of this comes down to personal taste. If you want to imagine a character whose design was made in the 1990s as a contemporary version, go right ahead. It can sometimes be fun, though, to use 90s cuts on the clothing, or 90s makeup, or 90s photography styles to really sell the 90s look. Even without going as far as trying to sell something as being from a specific era, the designs were made to look like things from that era, and will look more cohesive or more like those elements belong, since they mesh visually with the rest of the aesthetics of the costume. Using aesthetics of the era can sometimes give a cosplay a little something "extra" that people may or may not be able to define but that they will notice. I'm the kind of person who loves vintage aesthetics and loves adding a bit of challenge in trying to sell a bit of nostalgia alongside my cosplays, but I also tend to love older series, so it's a natural fit for me. I also find that it can help to get into the character better to do things like they would have, but I'm also the type to go down research rabbit holes over a small detail hardly anyone else would notice!
Obviously, all of this comes down to personal taste. If you want to imagine a character whose design was made in the 1990s as a contemporary version, go right ahead. It can sometimes be fun, though, to use 90s cuts on the clothing, or 90s makeup, or 90s photography styles to really sell the 90s look. Even without going as far as trying to sell something as being from a specific era, the designs were made to look like things from that era, and will look more cohesive or more like those elements belong, since they mesh visually with the rest of the aesthetics of the costume. Using aesthetics of the era can sometimes give a cosplay a little something "extra" that people may or may not be able to define but that they will notice. I'm the kind of person who loves vintage aesthetics and loves adding a bit of challenge in trying to sell a bit of nostalgia alongside my cosplays, but I also tend to love older series, so it's a natural fit for me. I also find that it can help to get into the character better to do things like they would have, but I'm also the type to go down research rabbit holes over a small detail hardly anyone else would notice!
Types of "Historical" Inspiration
Makeup, clothing cuts, materials, foundation garments (yes even things like bra shapes), shoe shapes, hairstyles, posing and photo styles
Makeup, clothing cuts, materials, foundation garments (yes even things like bra shapes), shoe shapes, hairstyles, posing and photo styles
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Foundation garments
Put in: Yor in her red sweater and a midcentury sweater girl |
You don't have to go quite to the extremes that some did at the time, but taking inspiration from the high, firm, pointed bustlines of 1940s and 1950s "sweater girls" (here, Marilyn Monroe) could help well the fictionalized Cold War era setting that Yor Forger is part of, especially in her red sweater outfit.
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Where to Find Inspiration and Information
One issue with looking for inspiration is that there are a lot of modern takes on vintage looks that are either modernized and just inspired by the era or that are caricatures of the era, such as someone doing a modern "80s inspired" makeup look that uses modern shapes and application but neon colors or only finding modern shirts with arcade carpet print and "I Love the 80s" printed on them rather than makeup or clothes worn in the era.
Your biggest friend here will be vintage magazines. Yes, these are aspirational and may not accurately reflect what people actually wore, but generally, cosplay is also idealized. Vintage advertisement images are also a great resource, especially for makeup. If you are looking for a particular item, try adding "magazine" or "advertisement" to your search keywords, such as "1985 lipstick ad" or "1998 fashion magazine" to help narrow your results to those types of sources.
If you want to go more in depth, see if your local library system has access to databases with magazine scans in them. That way, you can page through the magazine archive rather than only being able to access whatever was indexed by your favorite search engine.
If you are looking for photography inspiration, fashion magazines are also great inspiration, but also look at art photography of the era and other types of photography. Looking at film stills from the era can also be great inspiration for cinematic shoots. This will depend on the type of shoot you want to do, but finding something in a similar genre can help a lot, and you can use reverse image searches or similar keywords you pick up from the results you liked in order to find more inspiration images like it.
One issue with looking for inspiration is that there are a lot of modern takes on vintage looks that are either modernized and just inspired by the era or that are caricatures of the era, such as someone doing a modern "80s inspired" makeup look that uses modern shapes and application but neon colors or only finding modern shirts with arcade carpet print and "I Love the 80s" printed on them rather than makeup or clothes worn in the era.
Your biggest friend here will be vintage magazines. Yes, these are aspirational and may not accurately reflect what people actually wore, but generally, cosplay is also idealized. Vintage advertisement images are also a great resource, especially for makeup. If you are looking for a particular item, try adding "magazine" or "advertisement" to your search keywords, such as "1985 lipstick ad" or "1998 fashion magazine" to help narrow your results to those types of sources.
If you want to go more in depth, see if your local library system has access to databases with magazine scans in them. That way, you can page through the magazine archive rather than only being able to access whatever was indexed by your favorite search engine.
If you are looking for photography inspiration, fashion magazines are also great inspiration, but also look at art photography of the era and other types of photography. Looking at film stills from the era can also be great inspiration for cinematic shoots. This will depend on the type of shoot you want to do, but finding something in a similar genre can help a lot, and you can use reverse image searches or similar keywords you pick up from the results you liked in order to find more inspiration images like it.
If you're doing a cosplay from genre fiction of a particular era (such as 1970s scifi or 1990s fantasy), look at what genre fiction made in that era looked like.
Training Your Eye
One issue you may run into is that you might not know what you are looking at and what makes it different from modern aesthetics. This is something that can be trained, it just takes practice!
Depending on what you are planning, how this looks will differ. If you are looking for inspiration on materials and cuts, look at images of the garments you want to imitate. What style lines are there on the example garment, such as seams, neckline shapes, hem lengths, and fabric volume? What textures do the fabrics have? Try to find a sewing pattern for a similar type of garment from the era (even just an envelope scan) to see what materials they recommend and what the flats (the technical drawings that show the shapes and stylelines of the garments) show in terms of cuts.
One issue you may run into is that you might not know what you are looking at and what makes it different from modern aesthetics. This is something that can be trained, it just takes practice!
Depending on what you are planning, how this looks will differ. If you are looking for inspiration on materials and cuts, look at images of the garments you want to imitate. What style lines are there on the example garment, such as seams, neckline shapes, hem lengths, and fabric volume? What textures do the fabrics have? Try to find a sewing pattern for a similar type of garment from the era (even just an envelope scan) to see what materials they recommend and what the flats (the technical drawings that show the shapes and stylelines of the garments) show in terms of cuts.
If you are looking at makeup styles, look at makeup advertisements. What colors and finishes are shown? If you don't quite know how to look at makeup shapes and colors, see if you can find a magazine or similar from the era that has a makeup tutorial, which is fairly common. Same with hairstyles, which you can use as wig inspiration for your character. This is a lot more common with typically feminine styles than masculine, but hairstyles should be easy enough regardless of gender.