Interview with Paris
Bringing Fiction to Life
I am Paris, I am an Emirati. I started cosplaying in March 2018 as 2B. I’ve always admired cosplayers since I was a teenager and wished I could cosplay too. I had friends who had been in the cosplay scene and they encouraged me to enter cosplay events with them.
My first experience in cosplay was at Nipponbashi Street Festa in March 2018 in Osaka, cosplaying as 2B. It’s a street festival where cosplayers appear on the streets. It was interesting to see how Japanese cosplayers do their cosplay. They are extremely talented. Costumes look bought but are made by the cosplayers themselves! We also had to walk to a changing tent that could hold hundreds of people changing costumes and putting on makeup.
I believe it is growing. Each event you meet new cosplayers who remind you of yourself when you got into cosplay. What you need at that time is acceptance and support from cosplayers who were there before you. Fortunately, I received that! Support for newcomers exists. However, the events aspect is difficult; it will take time to have large-scale events like in Europe or East Asia.
It looks new and has a lot of potential. I am sure the website will grow bigger with time.
I have never entered a cosplay competition because I am not a competitive person. However, I really enjoy watching them and you would always find me there to see how talented cosplayers are on stage.
