Just out of curiousity -

What would you rahter have?

loads of cosplays that aren't as good as they could have been but since you have loads you want to get through, you'll make do.

or a handful of amazingly done costumes that you spent ages on, even if it means you only have 1 or 2 to choose from for a con?

Just asking as i see more and more people with HUUUGE cosplay lists and tbh, most of them are closet cosplays or not very good *not being elitist here*

A few folk on my dA flist have about 20 costumes planned and they either never make them or when they do, they're not that great when they could have been if only they'd put the effort in rather than rushing on to do the next one.

At the same time though; sometimes when you've several cons to go to and you dont want to wear the same thing to every one, its tempting just to rush through

how do others feel?

this is another reason i havent made cosplay in a while, theres loads i wana do but, id rather do them in quality over quantity but i loose motivation very easily and just get lazy and end up with no costume

sounds like me.....
I've had 5 cosplays planned since summer
I have all the fabric.............my sewing machine broke and i lost motivation...i could handsew them easily as its nothign overly complex but......bah too much effort XD

So i'd rather wait till i get a new sewing machine or commission them from someone who i know will make a good job.............rather than have a half assed costume cause i couldnt be bothered XD

This is actually why I've cut myself down to only planning one new costume per con. In the past I've planned multiple costumes for events but have never had everything finished on the day, and this usually means either not bringing costumes at all or doing rush jobs on them so there are parts of them that aren't as good as others.

I'd much rather have one new costume that looks awesome than lots of costumes that are average or worse. And well-made costumes can always be worn again.

My list used to be huge, I'll be honest. I have commissioned 2 - 3 costumes per year in the past and had a friend make the others. Now that I've started making my own the list has gone way down. I would rather have a handful of costumes that I'm proud to wear than a closet full of crap.

I've got quite a few different plans for this year, having made only one cosplay last year. It was a rush at the end but I did it and I think it looks okay. I'd like to add/change a few things but I'm happy. As for this year, as I said loads of plans, and I've promised to do a few group cosplays so I will get them done.

But I also prefer quality over quantity, and if I can't make something good in time I just won't. Simple as. How can you feel any pride in what you've made if you have loads of okay/not very good stuff and nothing that is wonderful?

I do think though that the two aren't mutually exclusive. You can have both, but it takes a lot of effort and dedication and time (and money) to get a good cosplay, and I'm positive if you hunt around long enough on this site (or others that are similar) you'll find people who have made 20+ cosplays all of which are of a very high standard!

i prefer quality over quantity, any day.

This year I've decided to cut back on how many i'm doing for several reasons.

1) money
2) i really want to dedicate time to my costumes.
3) also making costumes for my partner and would like his to be to a really good standard.
(also i always end up rushing and making costumes in couple weeks before the con D: )

I have several on my planned list but those are costumes I do want to do over time and not right away. Hell my Queen Arshtat has been stuck up on here for like 2 years? but that's a costume i know I really need a lot of time/money/effort to give to it to make it how I want

I prefer Quality ^^

I do have one thing to say about closet ones though... Are they really so bad?
Because a lot of L or Misa cosplayers would end up being frowned upon since you only have to wear white top and jeans or anything lolita goth type...

And with Hitman Reborn! You end up in a suit and thats in Final Fantasy as well with Reno and all that.
A lot of well known characters are actually just normal clothes *When I think about it*

Is being Reno or Tsuna really that bad because you can just find them in every day stuff?

I agree some cosplays are a little annoying if ALL there list is just people in a suit. I have a fair few myself but I back them up with Refs of that character in a suit...Or do people see my list as a problem? I do find my own list a mess and I am tempted to take a lot off there...

So personally I would like some help for people to tell me about my list.
But half of me says why? I have proof that the characters are in that outfit... and I spend a lot of time picking the right versions of these 'closet' clothes. In fact most I specially go out and buy or edit.

I'm not wining I promise I'm trying to defend it a little as its an opinion not all Closet ones are bad but some are.

And I also feel people who have cosplays they made themselves that might look rushed to people who can do this stuff better but they might have spent ages on them since they are still learning how to make cosplays.

^^ Thanks for reading if you did...... Hope I don't offend.

(p.s cosplay is about fun so it don't matter if you have 1001 cosplays or just 1........made perfectly or make shift...... aslong as you have fun does it matter? does it matter if the whole world of cosplayers like it?)

Because I don't just cosplay at cons, but quite often with friends, most of us have a few "casual" variations on our characters, and I don't see anything wrong with that. The whole point of cosplay is to have fun, and you can't always get everything perfect. We tend to save "big" costumes for conventions, and put a lot more time, effort and money into them, since more people will be looking out for costumes, but if people want to wear a costume that they've put less effort into at a convention that's up to them.

On a more personal level, I'm currently averaging ten cosplays a year. Only one of them was a closet cosplay (and that was Misa, who I was only ever planning to wear for a meet). I've made costumes out of spare fabric, and crossed wigs/parts over (Chibi!England didn't cost anything to make because I already had everything I needed, but I still spent a couple of hours making his costume, and the cloak I wore for him took a full day when I made it because it's hand sewn). I don't think that that makes the quality any less. In fact, because of the quantity I've made my sewing has improved enormously, and the quality of my costumes have been getting better.

So yeah. I don't think that quantity means that quality is compromised.

Closet cosplay can still look nice as long as the pieces are chosen with care and thought. My Chuuko Nezu cosplay is completely store bought. The only actual work I did on her was to dye the pants purple. There is a real difference between closet coplay that looks like it came out of a closet and closet cosplay that looks like the character.

I would rather have Quality. I would rather have something look really good than have something shoddy and lots of it.

I'm a quality person!

But I love sewing, costumes clothes etc so I take great care and attention to detail, which means some of my costumes have taken up to 9 months. (anally retentive doesn't even come close!!!) But that's just me!

On the other hand I have knocked up a few 'quickies' in 6-8 hours, simple costumes that I wanted to do for the hell of it (briar rose, polka etc).

It's all about having fun tbh. If you can throw a closet cosplay together in 5 mins and feel great in it then go for it! likewise if it's your absolute favorite character and you spend 1 year working on it then why not if it makes you happy!!

I agree ^^

I've learned that I'd rather take my time over things, but it does depend how much time I have! Sometimes costumes have deadlines, and I suppose I'd rather have a lower quality costume than no costume at all.

I do like having a variety of costumes though...something to choose from for an event. I don't mind rewearing at all, and I like adding to costumes, even if they are "complete". I guess they're never really finished for me ^^

It annoys me a little if my friends knock closet cosplayers...I think most people probably try to do the best with what they have. Some people can't sew very well, some people can't sew at all, and many more people don't have the time to sew! "Then they should buy a costume." Is often the answer I hear, but I know that if I couldn't sew I couldn't cosplay, since commisioned costumes can cost a lot! I do always encourage people to give sewing a try if they can...I have no specialist skills! "Cosplay doesn't take skills, it takes a lot of patience and an unpicker," is one of my new favourite phrases ^^

Dont get me wrong, i wasn't bitching about closet cosplay;

for small events like uni meetups or GA meets that have a theme, i'll throw casual/non canon together but plan it so it does tie in with the series and suits the character.
Like since most of KHR is casual based, i may do Gokudera in clothes that may not have been in the manga but i can see him wearing - or something similar to what was in the manga.

one thing i do grate on is crossovers....some are ok but then you get the extremely ott ones that are just lazy eg.
"im sasuke if he was a furry emo and was in the final fantasy universe"
when its just a girl/guy in a black wig wearing a suit with some wristbands/chains and a tail/ears.......

Oh, I didn't think you were getting at it, more asking for oppinion! =D

Crossovers kinda bug me too, although it can be cleverly done...

More than 2 things at once though and my brain implodes. I can't think about 3 different things at once!

I prefer quality. I only try and make a handfull a year. I'm trying to cut down the number I make as I found out one point my 'planned' list too much.

I don't mind closet cosplay if it done well. Both my Jenova and Hojo were closet copsplays. I did take a little time withe ach one though to make them look like that it was a costume rather than just something I threw on.

i love closet cosplayers who do that - who actually make the effort.
Like adding on a patch or a logo to make it more accurate, or Turk cosplayers who might just buy a suit from Asda but add a zipper for accuracy

quality

Pretty much agree with the rest of everyone else here and try to go for quality over quantity. I like being able to have a different outfit for each day of a con if I can, but I know sometimes I can't do that, so I have to drop back a costume or some sort for one reason or another, besides, rewearing costumes and wigs is always fun.

I do do closet cosplay (my gallery is about half closet and half not!) but most of the closet ones are for random photoshoots and rarely worn at cons (unless for a part or something like my Mighty Max outfit cos I wanted something comfortable! ^^) I try and make the casual ones *actually* be casual outfits that a character has worn - ie. the Aidou one I did, I actually specifically looked out for the items to wear and suchlike, so even though the outfit was storebought, I tried to bother with looking as much like the character as possible!

But yes, I agree with everyone else here really, I would prefer to see a beautifully well constructed outfit that has had a lot of thought put into it then something hastily thrown together with a wig saying 'I am Sailor Moon' or whatever. Personally, it just seems a bit... meh. ^^;

As long as you put effort into an outfit - regardless of how simple it is (ie. bothering to try and style a wig right, getting the make-up to look good, or if doing a casual character putting some thought into what would suit a character, instead of just donning a white shirt or something - as that's universally a 'casual anime outfit' or whathaveyou...) it counts as quality.

Of course having fun is what cosplay is all about, but I think also portraying a character well is part of it too. You're showing your love for a character you and others enjoy, and people always prefer to see a well-done version of a character they love than a hastily done one, yes? ^^;

Sorry to sound horrid or rude, just stating my opinions I guess. I know I always prefer seeing characters that I like done well then seeming rushed in all honesty.

A bit of both. Sometimes I spend a lot of time & effort on a costume and sometimes I just throw stuff together for meets and suchlike. It really depends. Sometimes you don't finish a "proper" costume in time for a con or a group falls through so you end up replacing it with something you just threw together the day before.

We all have to start somewhere, start off a bit rubbish (egads, I would not even consider wearing some of my early attempts at cosplay nowadays), learn by making mistakes and get better as time goes on. Cosplay is about having fun and if you're not having fun then don't do it. You can have just as much of a good time at a con in a fabulously made, elaborate costume as you can in a closet made in 5mins job. It's all about your mates, the new people you meet and the fun events/memories.

Sometimes if you've not quite finished a costume, it's better to save it until you do and wear something silly or rewear an older costume instead though. You can always improve it for next time. That's how the Ayacon Fairly Odd Parents group ended up happening, cos none of us had time to finish our intended costumes and that was the most fun ever. Plus, sometimes I don't want to spend too much money/time/effort on something that isn't going to fit me by the time the next con comes around... As it is, I have to replace all bar one pair of cosplay trousers before rewears because my hips have finally realised that I am not in fact a 14-year-old boy. lol.

Closet cosplays are all about the details, as other people have said. Sometimes the simpler the costume, the harder it is to get it right because it's so plain and it's much more noticeable that you don't have the right kind of belts or lapel pin or sunglasses or whatever.

But, hey, what do I know anyway? I dressed up as a carboard toaster. ;P

I would much prefer quality over quantity any day. But as you can see from my gallery it's kinda hard to tell ahaha~

I do my best to plan far in advance so that I can buy fabrics early and I do try to stick to them unless a group falls apart or something. This means I can start early and try to make it to the best of my ability/time-limit and still make quite a lot of costumes. I make a lot of costumes because there are just so many characters I want to portray and I love them all, I don't mean to but I just end up planning loads of costumes >_<; (One day I swear to rewear more often!) Not to mention there are always groups I want to join in with popping up which often leads to a new costume xD;

Another reason why I don't rewear my costumes as often... Is because the older ones, are just too terrible to rewear, my sewing ability really truly sucked back then. That's probably why I'm remaking them rather than rewearing, so I'm remaking them to a standard that I'm happy with so that I can wear it more often. My costumes from mid-08 onwards however, have a much bigger rewear factor to them and have reworn them a couple times in the past when I either can't be bothered to make a new costume for the event or to get photos with a group!

I'd say I definately prefer quality, though I like quantity too. Thats just me though, I have a tendancy of never thinking my work is good enough, leaving me to only wear the cosplay once >_> Only in rare occassions have I reworn cosplays (like my An, Rabi~en~Rose, Link and Ciel Phantomhive), I have to be pretty proud of them, which doesn't happen often.

Some people say I take cosplay too seriously, and they're probably right. Don't get me wrong, I think cosplay should be about having fun, but I have OCPD and little details tend to get the better of me, so if I don't get a cosplay done just the way I want it I tend to get a bit disappointed ^^; although, despite all of that, I feel a sense of accomplishment after finishing that last stitch on a cosplay, and having people comment makes all the effort worth it. Even more so if it's something you've worked tremedously hard on!

I have done a couple of closet cosplays but I've always made at least one part of it so I don't feel like such a cop-out XD that's just me though, I commissioned like, 2 cosplays when I first came into the convention scene, but since learning how to sew and everything I've found it soooo much more rewarding to take the time and effort to make things myself ^^ Sometimes I'll even just go ahead and make things I could easily buy and modify, just coz I'm too much of a perfectionist ;D
(Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying closet cosplays are bad/lazy or that it's not good to commission cosplays [hey, I'd have no customers!], just for me personally, I prefer to make them so I can get them the way I want them.)

Bah! Cosplay will probably be the death of me! XD Good way to go though, ne?

Like most people in this thread, I am a quality over quantity person. Even if I have made about 28 costumes in the past 2.5 years. I've worked hard on each one though, and through the excellerated amount of challenging costumes I've improved a lot quicker than I would if I were just making costumes for myself.

I think you don't really have to choose from Quality and Quantity when making costumes. It's more about the time you can put into making things, and if you have more time (or like me you make the time because you love making things) then you'll get more costumes made than people who only get an hour to work on costumes a week, even if you're making stuff at the same quality level.

I personally don't closet cosplay because for me cosplay is a chance to leave the plain looking dork behind for a while and get to look interesting for once. I can't do that in a closet cosplay. I wore andriod 18 to minami '07, and I was pretty much miserable the entire time because I didn't feel like I was really in a costume at all. I just looked like someone who <3 TEH EIGHTIES.

Closet cosplay is fine, and I wish I was cool with doing it myself sometimes because pretty much all of my costumes are a shit to wear (most armour costumes you can't sit down in, let alone dork around) so it would be awesome to be comfortable for a change. Or not feel like a numpty when you raid the local supermarket for food before a masquerade.

-Tab

As with most people here, I prefer quality. I have even refused to wear costumes to events because I was unhappy with the results despite them actually being wearable, leading to my girlfriend commenting on more than one occasion that I am far too much of a perfectionist.

I don't do closet cosplay myself as I find cosplay a chance to do something I wouldn't ordinarily wear. This tends to lead to extremely difficult or complex costumes which take a lot of preparation and time, hence the quality rather than quantity.

There is nothing wrong with closet cosplay but I think there are two things that should be taking in to account when doing a closet costume:
1) It really needs to be recognisable. Costumes based on normal clothes can sometimes be difficult to tell given that most people are also wearing normal clothes.
2) Effort. Closet costumes need to be done well for the very reason its based on normal clothes. Just putting on a shirt and insisting you are a certain character doesn't really work, no matter how insistant you are. Small details count.

With regards most of my costumes, I wholly agree with tab You either can't sit down, or it acts like a straight-jacket, or it restricts your movement in some way (so forget going to the toilet), or in the case of Tron, gave me a splitting head ache after wearing it for 30 minutes due to the amount of electronics packed in to it. That was not fun. But one thing that they all lacked was pockets!

Having said that, I have done one closet cosplay, Marty McFly at minami 08, although trust me I didn't have these clothes in my wardrobe! It was simple, very comfortable and it was nice to have pockets in a costume for once. They are such simple things but oh so useful. It has made me think about doing more like this, but ultimately I like the challenge and closet cosplay doesn't tend to give me this, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be done.