If you noticed that the kids' costumes who knocked on your door last week looked better than ever this year, you're not alone. Thanks to the spread of geek culture, pretending to be someone else has become so commonplace that it's raised the costume game -- to everyone's benefit.
[h=3]It's Not Just Your Imagination[/h]Tabletop gaming and Live Action Role-Playing (LARP) have been conflated since they were invented. The belief that dressing up as your character is somehow a part of role-play was ingrained in the public's consciousness with the disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III, who reportedly was reenacting a game of Dungeons & Dragons in Michigan State University's steam tunnels. The made-for-TV movie, Mazes & Monsters featuring a young Tom Hanks, cemented the idea that the two types of play synonymous. Of course, tabletop gamers do occasionally dress up as their character, especially for Halloween game sessions -- but it's not nearly as common as the media portrays it:
There's a reason gamers of all types dress up on Halloween and play tabletop games. It's more socially acceptable to dress up on Halloween and, since tabletop role-playing usually involves hanging out with friends and eating snacks, it's practically a Halloween party. Gamers are not alone in this -- it's become increasingly acceptable to dress up as characters for Halloween and beyond, and for good reason: Halloween is big business.
[h=3]This is Halloween![/h]The Halloween industry - including candy, costumes, decorations, and greeting cards -- is on the rise. According to the National Retail Federation’s annual survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, total spending for Halloween reached $8.4 billion in 2016, a long way from the $5.1 billion when the survey was first launched in 2007. More than 171 million Americans celebrate Halloween, with an average increase per consumer of $10, up from $74.34 to $82.93. Of that $5.1 billion, $3.1 billion is spent on costumes. Which brings us to another geek-adjacent form of imaginative play, cosplay.
In cosplay, participants dress in costume for any event not tied to a specific holiday. In comparison to the ancient history of Halloween, cosplay is a relatively recent phenomenon:
The cosplay market is even larger than the Halloween market. According to the CRI Report:
Or to put it another way, Halloween costumes generate about $3.1 billion, but all told (inclusive of Halloween) cosplay generates an approximately additional $20 billion. Companies are noticing.
[h=3]Upping Our Costume Game[/h]There are a confluence of events that have led to the rise of wearing costumes. For one, kids don't trick-or-treat like they used to, as parents grew concerned about what their kids were taking from random strangers. As a result, costume events -- local parties at work and parades at school -- have been on the rise, where costumes will be worn for longer and more visible in better lighting.
Halloween costumes now live forever on social media, where they can be shared broadly with folks who might otherwise never see the person in costume. And social media is also influencing who we dress up as. Pop culture -- from movies and anime to comic books and video games -- provides more choices than ever before. With officially licensed products on the rise, those costumes are way better than what TV personality Adam Savage wore in the 1970s (pictured up top).
Devin Rubinik, spokesperson for HalloweenCostumes.com, one of the largest commercial producers of Halloween costumes, said that pop culture is driving costume sales:
HalloweenCostumes.com even uses cosplayers as a focus group:
With cosplay on the rise, imaginative play -- including Halloween -- can only benefit. Says Rubinik:
Savage summed up cosplay and its relationship with costuming best in his TED Talk:
Whether it's gamers dressing up at the table, cosplayers at a con, or kids trick-or-treating on Halloween, the rise of costumes in popular culture is good news for imaginative play of all types.
Mike "Talien" Tresca is a freelance game columnist, author, communicator, and a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to http://amazon.com. You can follow him at Patreon.
[h=3]It's Not Just Your Imagination[/h]Tabletop gaming and Live Action Role-Playing (LARP) have been conflated since they were invented. The belief that dressing up as your character is somehow a part of role-play was ingrained in the public's consciousness with the disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III, who reportedly was reenacting a game of Dungeons & Dragons in Michigan State University's steam tunnels. The made-for-TV movie, Mazes & Monsters featuring a young Tom Hanks, cemented the idea that the two types of play synonymous. Of course, tabletop gamers do occasionally dress up as their character, especially for Halloween game sessions -- but it's not nearly as common as the media portrays it:
The reason costumes are often used in movies and TV shows depicting roleplayers has to do with how visual media uses visual shorthand to get ideas across quickly to its viewers. Think how the stereotypical "nerd" is usually depicted as skinny, hunched, and wearing thick glasses; how the stereotypical "jock" is usually depicted wearing a sports jersey; how the mechanic usually wears overalls, has grease stains on their face/hands, and carries a wrench; how the magic user typically wears robes and carries a staff or wand. These are cultural stereotypes which directors and crew can tap into to quickly convey the essence of a character, without having to spend a great deal of time explaining to the audience that yes, in fact, the burly guy who drives a Jeep is actually a huge geek who can take apart a piece of hardware or software in five minutes flat.
There's a reason gamers of all types dress up on Halloween and play tabletop games. It's more socially acceptable to dress up on Halloween and, since tabletop role-playing usually involves hanging out with friends and eating snacks, it's practically a Halloween party. Gamers are not alone in this -- it's become increasingly acceptable to dress up as characters for Halloween and beyond, and for good reason: Halloween is big business.
[h=3]This is Halloween![/h]The Halloween industry - including candy, costumes, decorations, and greeting cards -- is on the rise. According to the National Retail Federation’s annual survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, total spending for Halloween reached $8.4 billion in 2016, a long way from the $5.1 billion when the survey was first launched in 2007. More than 171 million Americans celebrate Halloween, with an average increase per consumer of $10, up from $74.34 to $82.93. Of that $5.1 billion, $3.1 billion is spent on costumes. Which brings us to another geek-adjacent form of imaginative play, cosplay.
In cosplay, participants dress in costume for any event not tied to a specific holiday. In comparison to the ancient history of Halloween, cosplay is a relatively recent phenomenon:
The best supported origin story on the Internet says that in 1984, Nov Takahashi, founder and writer for the anime publishing company Studio Hard, was sent to Los Angeles to cover the World-Con science fiction convention. He was impressed by the fans' costumes and the elaborate displays at the masquerade, and when he returned to Japan, he coined the term to describe what he saw.
The cosplay market is even larger than the Halloween market. According to the CRI Report:
...the market size of the cosplay costumes and costumes wigs in global market by revenue reached approximately US$11.7 billion and approximately US$561.5 million in 2014, respectively, and are expected to grow to approximately US$23.6 billion and approximately US$1,129.4 million in 2019, respectively.
Or to put it another way, Halloween costumes generate about $3.1 billion, but all told (inclusive of Halloween) cosplay generates an approximately additional $20 billion. Companies are noticing.
[h=3]Upping Our Costume Game[/h]There are a confluence of events that have led to the rise of wearing costumes. For one, kids don't trick-or-treat like they used to, as parents grew concerned about what their kids were taking from random strangers. As a result, costume events -- local parties at work and parades at school -- have been on the rise, where costumes will be worn for longer and more visible in better lighting.
Halloween costumes now live forever on social media, where they can be shared broadly with folks who might otherwise never see the person in costume. And social media is also influencing who we dress up as. Pop culture -- from movies and anime to comic books and video games -- provides more choices than ever before. With officially licensed products on the rise, those costumes are way better than what TV personality Adam Savage wore in the 1970s (pictured up top).
Devin Rubinik, spokesperson for HalloweenCostumes.com, one of the largest commercial producers of Halloween costumes, said that pop culture is driving costume sales:
Though the generic staples like cowboys and cheerleaders are still sold, it’s the iconic movie and TV characters that attract more dollars. So to capitalize, and to survive, the company has spent the last few years reaching out to cosplayers who, in effect, field-test the products.
HalloweenCostumes.com even uses cosplayers as a focus group:
The exchange between HalloweenCostumes.com and cosplayers is more about product feedback and exposure than employment. While some cosplayers do work at the company’s Minnesota headquarters, there is no roster of cosplayers who make costumes on a conceptual or production level. Instead, the retailer sends out product to various cosplayers, who offer input or even use the items in tutorial videos and Instagram posts.
With cosplay on the rise, imaginative play -- including Halloween -- can only benefit. Says Rubinik:
Cosplay is becoming a norm. That’s provided a boost for Halloween. It’s become more inclusive and more a cultural thing. This year is set to reach a record high, and that just attributes to how popular it’s become. We’re always looking to work with the cosplay community, and hopefully they’ll be willing to work with us.
Savage summed up cosplay and its relationship with costuming best in his TED Talk:
This isn't a performer-audience relationship; this is cosplay. We are, all of us on that floor, injecting ourselves into a narrative that meant something to us. And we're making it our own. We're connecting with something important inside of us. And the costumes are how we reveal ourselves to each other.
Whether it's gamers dressing up at the table, cosplayers at a con, or kids trick-or-treating on Halloween, the rise of costumes in popular culture is good news for imaginative play of all types.
Mike "Talien" Tresca is a freelance game columnist, author, communicator, and a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to http://amazon.com. You can follow him at Patreon.
