How To Elevate Your Cosplay To Be Holiday-Themed
From Spider-Man to Black Panther, here are some tips to create your very own holiday cosplay.
Christmas is right around the corner, and we are loving all of the new holiday based content from our favorite creators! It got us thinking about how we would turn a regular cosplay into a Christmas-themed cosplay. Of course, you can go all out and become the Grinch for the holidays, or you could follow these easy steps.
We have three levels of how to make your cosplay holiday-themed. But before we begin, let’s remember our color scheme. These are Christmas-themed cosplays since Hanukkah ended on Friday the 18th. For Christmas, the primary colors are red, green, and white. Add a dash of silver, gold, or black as your color accents, and you are ready to go!
The first level is a bit on the pricey side or perhaps on the sewing side of the cosplay universe. Our suggestion is a red bodysuit as a base. That, and a few accessories can give you so many options to elevate a cosplay to the jolliness you desire. Cosplayer Elena Strikes used a red bodysuit to reimagine the villainous Spider-Man character: Black Cat. For the cosplay, she added a black choker, a black belt, black mid-calf boots, a white wig, the infamous Black Cat mask, and a Santa hat. Dare we say, it’s a purrfect holiday mashup.
Other characters that would work great with a red bodysuit base would be classic Harley Quinn, Camie from My Hero Academia, Baroness from GI Joe, and the Spider-Man homemade homecoming suit.
If the bodysuit wasn’t appealing to you, you could always invest in a Santa suit or elf costume and add elements of your character to make it a cosplay. A great example is from Ultimate Spidey adding a Santa suit to his Miles Morales cosplay.
Similarly, Yourfavoritesenpaii wears a Santa dress in her Mirko cosplay from My Hero Academia. The wig and the ears are all you need! Plus, this adorable pose is what makes the photo.
Instead of purchasing a whole Christmas outfit or sewing one, buying a Christmas sweater is a less expensive option. Several geek-wear stores sell them like Hottopic, BoxLunch, and Fundotcom. Most stores sell different fandom options with anything from Star Wars to DC Comics. Cosplayer Dahilanicole is wearing this Wakanda-inspired Christmas sweater accompanied by her flawless face painting skills to replicate Shuri from Black Panther.
Here is another example of using a Christmas sweater with Tangled cosplayer Lightninggoddess. Rapunzel looks especially merry with poinsettias in her hair and the addition of her friendly chameleon, Pascal.
Before we get to the final way to make your cosplay cheerfully seasonal, here is a pro-tip:
If your character carries a sword or a staff, wrap that item in wrapping paper. Accessories are your friend when it comes to theme shoots. If you are feeling skeptical, ask cosplayer Captcash as he models this pro-tip with his Wolverine “Santy Claws”.
Now, the easiest way to make your cosplay festive is to add a Santa hat. We know, mind blown! But in all seriousness, if you add a Santa hat, a scarf, or some wrapped presents, your cosplay has become something out of a Hallmark movie. Take cosplayer Ixtran, who transformed his Borderlands FL4K cosplay into a delightful sugarplum robot.
At the end of the day, find a Christmas tree to pose in front of to complete your look. You could wear a full cosplay with no notable additions, and you’d still have the holiday spirit because of the tree. All you need for that is your beautiful smile or a determined smirk, depending on your character’s choice of emotion.
Robertsecond53 wrote about his beautiful family in his Instagram caption, saying, “I don’t know Wakanda Christmas this would be, without these two”. Five stars for that perfectly timed dad joke.
If all else fails, grab a white tank top, some dirt, and an old phone from the eighties to become the classic holiday hero John McClane from Die Hard as Kazthequeenofglitter did.
Happy Holidays from all of us at Cosplay Central, and If you do head out to take your holiday-themed cosplay photos, make sure to mask up and social distance to keep yourself merry and bright this holiday season.