It often takes weeks of one’s time and an abundance of talent to create a great Cosplay costume. Some of us aren’t gifted with such talents, nor do we have enough time, possess enough money, or procrastinate until its too late. If you’re affected by any of the last four things, then you are just like me. (You and I are basically conjoined twins if it’s the lack of time management skills that get you every time… every gosh darn time.)
With the Calgary Expo coming up along with the POW! Parade of Wonders there are some of us who are beyond ready. This is like going into battle and these four days are your days to show off all of the hard work you’ve done. All of those awesome cosplayers are part of what makes going to conventions fun and exciting!
I’ve thought up of some quick cosplays that can be done cheap and easy for those of us who just want to go in casual or didn’t find the time to prepare an elaborate one. Hopefully these ideas can start the cogs rolling in your own brain and they aid in expanding your available options.
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The Matchmaker, Mulan
Not only is this easy, it’s hilarious. Just slap on some generic blue eyeshadow, line the top of your lids with a thin wing, apply black mascara, lather your lips with red lipstick and you’re good to go. With a liquid eyeliner that you don’t really care about or black body paint, line your eyebrows rather heavily with it and plop a black dot near your nose like in the picture. With a black pencil you can do the beard. It should not be as heavy as the eyebrows because even in the movie, it’s suppose to be drawn on. To finish the look put your hair in a bun, draw some yellow flowery things on paper, cut it out, and then pin it on the bun a with a bobby pin. If you don’t have round yellow earrings, you can probably go without them. For the dress get an oversized purple shirt and tie it up with a blue scarf. Ta-da!
Key Elements: Makeup, purple dress, bun
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Spinelli, Recess
Most of what she’s wearing is actually fashionable now. A lot of girls have combat boots, and beanies. The black jacket is easy 
enough to get a hold of. The red dress can also be an oversized red t-shirt if need be. The tights I can see as being harder to get but as long as you get the key elements of any cosplay then you should be recognizable as that character.
Key Elements: Orange beanie, black combat boots, black jacket, red dress, ponytails
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Team Free Will, Supernatural
Plaid, Plaid, Plaid. Did I say plaid?
To cosplay either of the brothers (Sam Winchester and Dean Winchester) it’s basically the same thing: Blue jeans, boots, plain t-shirt, plaid open shirt on top of that, and a jacket like in the picture. Castiel has a different but very iconic get-up. Trench 
coats are popular this season so that shouldn’t be too hard to find. To complete his look just wear black dress pants, dress shoes,a white dress shirt and a blue tie. Underneath he has the the suit jacket which matches the black dress pants This part isn’t SUPER important as we can’t even really see it. This is a layered look and wouldn’t be ideal on a hot day. If it’s fairly warm out maybe you’d like to cosplay Castiel after he took on Sam’s mental state in the episode The Born-Again Identity. Much more room to breath I imagine.
Key Elements:
Castiel- Trench coat, blue tie, black bottoms and black shoes OR Trench coat, complete white “nurse” attire
Sam- Luscious brown locks, plaid, blue jeans
Dean- The necklace Sam gave Dean A.K.A. “The Samulet”, plaid, blue jeans, Sam or Castiel (joking… but really though)
With popular shows with a large fanbase like Supernatural, it is not unheard of to “gender-bend” characters. As long as you have key elements in your costume, you can still be technically be cosplaying your chosen character.
Best thing about cosplaying and dressing up in general? There are no rules when you create.
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The Doctor, Doctor Who
Look at all of these choices. Just wow. All twelve versions of nem are looking very spiffy and all of them are varying levels of difficulty. Which one is the simplest to do? I’d probably say the
ninth doctor. Black jeans, long black pleather jacket, a t-shirt underneath, a sonic screwdriver, and waves of unsquashable energy should do the trick.
Key Elements: Depends on the doctor. The ninth was given as an example.
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Belcher Family, Bob’s Burgers
Most cartoon characters are easy enough to replicate because of the simplicity of their design. You can easily replicate characters like Lisa Simpson, Peter Griffin, Turanga Leela, and Charlie Brown. I have come to love the show Bob’s Burgers
so it has made it unto the list. They’re all basically wearing something one might find in an ordinary closet and if not, they are still easily accessible.
Key Elements:
Tina Belcher- black “nerd/hipster” glasses (you can use 3D glasses I imagine), yellow hair clip, short dark hair, blue shirt/skirt, converse, high socks with red ring (basically everything for this one)
Linda Belcher- red rim “librarian” glasses, longsleeve orange shirt, half apron, 80s hair
Bob Belcher- White/grey t-shirt, full apron, mustache
Louise Belcher- Bunny ears hat, green dress
Gene Belcher- yellow t-shirt, blue shorts, hair (to make this character more recognizable you can use a prop like shown in the picture on right or do the full design including the red converse).
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Sim, The Sims Franchise
Probably one of the easiest things you can do is dress up like a sim. All that is needed is a crystal (a plumbob) attached to a headband and your everyday clothes. There are various videos on how to create one yourself on the internet. The one that I like the most would be the one done by Karen Kavett on YouTube. Just click “here” to be directed to it.
Key Elements: plumbob
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So there you have it! Those are some easy cosplays you can do. As you can see, cartoons and anime characters can be some of the easiest looks to replicate. Think about what shows or movies you like to watch and maybe even your favourite video games. Pick a character that you know doesn’t have a lot of intricate details and go with that. Maybe even pick an easily recognizable iconic character like Waldo or a member of the Flintstones family. You can also carry around props to make things more exciting. If you want to eventually one day do an elaborate costume, build up to it. Don’t take on a big project and expect yourself to finish it if you have minimal experience with sewing and crafting. Remember, cosplaying should be fun! If you haven’t done this kind of thing before, who knows, it can perhaps become your new hobby.
Just one last thing: Costumes Do Not Equal Consent! What does this mean? Emily Expo did a wonderful job of explaining this.
“Here’s a few tips for con-going that will make everyone’s lives a little happier.
• Avoid using degrading language. This applies to Expo social media as well. Commenting on someone’s body in a way that is derogatory is considered sexual harassment and our convention won’t stand for it.• Rape jokes, or jokes that are marginalizing to someone, are not funny. Please don’t make them, and if you feel that you have been the subject of such harassment, please come forward to Expo staff so that the issue can be dealt with confidentially.• Always be respectful of someone’s physical space. It can be pretty close quarters at the Expo during peak hours, but that’s no excuse for inappropriate behavior. “
