Have you ever done cosplay? And what characters did you do?
No, I don’t like cosplay. In fact, I hate dressing up. It’s one of the things I dislike the most in life. Even when there’s an explicit rule that I have to go to a costume party, there are basically two options: either I don’t go, or I tell the organiser I’m not going to dress up or, at best, I go with the least “costume-like” costume possible.
Basically, if I can dress up in a way that doesn’t really look like a costume and I have to give a lot of explanations, I’d rather be explaining my outfit than actually wearing a costume. I just can’t stand it. It makes me feel very personally uncomfortable to be dressed up as anything, any kind of character, anything at all. I genuinely can’t deal with it.
I’m lucky that my friend group is made up of people I’ve known all my life, so they understand that I don’t like it, but I’ve had to go out into the world and deal with situations where a costume dress code was mandatory. I’ve had a really hard time with it. Even when I’ve put together costumes that didn’t feel that extreme, when I looked in the mirror and felt too “dressed up,” I’ve felt really bad. It gives me intense second-hand embarrassment—but directed at myself.
I don’t mind seeing other people in costumes, whether it’s Halloween or cosplay done really well. I actually think it can be amazing. But for me personally, it just makes me feel really uncomfortable. I don’t like it.
