Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Costume + Play = Cosplay

A couple of the earliest-known examples of fannish cosplay:

BELOW: 1912, Mr Skygack, from Mars (from comic strip)
BELOW: 1939, Morojo (Mildred R. Jones, later Douglas) designed and made costumes based on the 1936 film Things to Come for herself and her boyfriend Forrest J. Ackerman to wear to the First Worldcon. (Until recently, only he got the credit as first cosplayer.)

The skirt of her long gown converted into a cape.
photos via

Ackerman went on to sci-fi fame. Morojo didn't and has only recently gotten attention--she's going to be my next Wikipedia article. A couple sources:

"The First Lady of Cosplay" (2014)

"Meet the Woman Who Invented Cosplay" (2016)