Dressing up as your favourite cartoon character might seem like something only kids do, but the young people of Japan have brought dress-ups into the mainstream. It's called
Cosplay – a linguistic joining of forces of costume and play - and they're having an evening of it at the
Barbican this November.
The
Barbican warn you to get ready to party with princesses, drink with giant foxes and dance with superheros... And other characters you'd usually only meet on the pages of a Japanese
Anime mag., in scenes from a
Manga film, or on your Gameboy.
As well as being a club night with a difference, cosplay events are the closest you're going to get to spending an evening with you favourite character, whether that's
Hermoine from Harry Potter, Akira from
Akira or
Tails from
Sonic the Hedgehog. Because cosplay is not just about dressing the part – from having the right tail to having your hair exactly the right shade – it's also about playing the part, so great cosplayers will study their character and assume as much of their history and as many of their traits as they can.
In addition to being a gathering for like minded dressers, the Barbican cosplay night will be an opportunity to learn more about the 'art form' - in a talk by Helen McCarthy, and for strutting your stuff – in the parades of Britain's best cosplayers. And getting advice from them on how to improve your own costumes. There will also be a
Gothic Lolita parade - where in all the models will be wearing original Japanese brands, and Tania Tanzil will be giving the commentary - and stalls selling pieces to augment your costumes, as well as all the latest comics, DVDs and mags..
It will also host people who specialise in make up and jewellery, who'll be giving one to one tuition on how to improve the details of your look. And be an opportunity to try out some of the latest video games created by
Tecmo-Koei (who made Fist of the North Star, Dynasty Warriors and Dead or Alive.) - and it's not just playing games for pride, it's for prizes.
Later on things will get more lively as DJ Genkiboi pipes his tunes around the place. If you're not up for it head to the lounge for the Japanese chill-out set.
Whatever your plans are for the evening you gotta' dress to impress, photographers Rob Dunlop and Pete Lumby, authors of the book
Cosplay Fever, will be snapping away at the event.
