Fabernick Teaches Us How to Skimpy Cosplay

Author: Tania Escobar

A panel that piqued my interest at ALA this year was “A Beginners Guide to Skimpy Cosplay” by Fabrickind. Fabrickind is a queer cosplayer from Northern California and has been cosplaying since 2003. A as of late, has been educating the community about how to skimpy cosplay safely and comfortably. As a cosplayer myself, I was eager to listen to any pointers this panel had to offer with the ambition of being able to cosplay skimpy someday. 

Making a cosplay from scratch is already challenging, to begin with, but having to create your own skimpy cosplay from the core inside out seems like even more of a challenge and almost intimidating. As a cosplayer who only cosplays as a hobby, I felt like I was out of my league, but Fabrickind assured us that we could still buy our cosplays and alter them as needed for comfort or character accuracy. More importantly, all bodies are great and can wear any cosplay. The main focus of this panel was achieving your desired look and how to get there.

Fabrickind walked us through three important points: the first two being making a skimpy cosplay and buying a skimpy cosplay, and the last point is about wearing the skimpy cosplay.

Making a Cosplay

Do you need stretch or structure when making a skimpy cosplay from scratch? Or both? Bodysuits and leotards come in handy for stretch. Corsets and boning are good for structure; there are several different types of materials, like plastic and metal, that help for structure and comfort. It’s important to use a stretch stitch if making the cosplay by hand, and for structure, you’ll need tightly woven material.

Fabernick gave us a list of commonly used fabrics in cosplay and recommends springing for good quality spandex that always goes back to it’s original form.

Common Fabrics:

• Spandex types (Milliskin, Rachel knit spandex, foiled spandex, like mystique)
• Faux leathers (PVC, PU coated, knits) stretch mesh, coutil or duck cloth, or twil

If making from scratch you want your cosplay to be fitted. Fabernick recommends to draw your costume on a photo of yourself to see if you would need to raise a waistline or alter the length of something compared to a cosplay sold online. Making a cosplay from scratch is recommended with a sewing machine but there are a lot of talented cosplayers that are able to achieve their looks without it. As a crafter myself I personally recommend to do as much research as you can. 

Buying and Altering

What you do need to look for when searching for a cosplay online is nice fabric. Don’t cheap out on fabric. Avoid foil spandex and look for stretch. Some pictures on the internet can be totally fake or poorly edited, make sure you look at several sellers. Look for close up photos of the costume and review photos from buyers. Fabernick recommends looking for fabric over foam parts vs printed on fabrics or foam, specifically for bras. Look for more built in structure so you don’t have to alter. An example would be something cheap that’s just spandex versus something that has boning or a bra already in it. They say more expensive isn’t always better but sometimes it is.

Tips that I thought were great advice for altering costumes were:

• Buy a size up and then take it in due to most costumes being made for one tube-like body type. You have more leeway taking in fabric versus pulling out something that’s tight. 
• Always double-check the crotch and make sure the fabrics match if you have to add them.
• Adding crotch openings, invisible zippers, or adding hooks, and eyelids, or attaching bra clips.

I learned in my experience with cosplay that safety pins are your best friend.

If you don’t want to show skin or body, altering for added coverage,  you can always add skin tone coverage that’s more opaque fabric. You can always swap out pieces if the costume is too revealing if you’re not used to showing skin. If a skirt is too short, get a piece that adds decorative detail to the costume.

Sometimes you need to alter the structure, some costumes come with bra straps or bra cups but sometimes swapping out those removable pieces with a better quality version of that item can help with comfort and make the cosplay look better. Thigh highs can stay up with straps attached to the costume, silicone elastics to stick, or make-shift thigh highs on tights. Many premade costumes come with strings and straps that will be uncomfortable but can be easily replaced. Premade costume details like this can be uncomfortable for the body and may also damage the costume itself. It’s important to be comfortable.

Some cosplays call for your underpants to be on the outside. And important tip Fabernick gives us is always wear underwear under your undergarment cosplay, go for skin tone. No matter how skimpy the costume is, you want coverage. 

• Dance tights are a great skin toned piece, wear the costume panties over this. 
• Bodysuits and tights. 
• Dance belts smooth out gentiles or padded panties. 
• Pasties and stick on bras so nothing falls out, wear under the actual bra.
• Enhancing bra, two types, push ups and expansion bras that add more to the side of breasts to give that little waist look, breast plates, foam, fabric, and silicone. Same for padding for the butt.

If you’re wearing foam body parts you can just pin certain areas and pieces of the costume onto the foam. You can also sew tights to briefs. Sometimes we have tan lines that may throw off a certain look, use skin tanner to even out tan lines. A darker shade can be used for body contouring, like for abs and cleavage, as well as make up highlighter. Keeping your costumes on is important. Attaching to skin with skin safe adhesives only when needed. Test out for no reactions, and always shave.

For hair removal, you must plan accordingly to the convention or event you plan on cosplaying to. It’s also important to time and to experiment with how your skin reacts to doing hair removal. Promptly exfoliate and moisturize before a con. Cleaning the self and costume is very important; treat your costume like lingerie and wash it by hand to not ruin it. It’s important to take care of yourself as well due to costumes causing sweat, or maybe even a con or event being held in cold weather.

The biggest takeaway Fabernick wants us to have from all of this is to have confidence and comfort. Wear your cosplay ahead of time to get used to it. Work up to it, wear slightly revealing to more revealing. If it’s a hobby you love, challenge yourself and learn this new skill of building to your body. At the end of the day, cosplay is fun and makes the wearer happy as well as the people that appreciate the character you’re cosplaying as.

Learn more from the links below:

Fabernick panels

A Beginners Guide to Skimpy Cosplay Pwp

Are you interested in cosplaying? Have you wanted to find more ways to feel empowered in skimpy cosplay? Share your thoughts in the comment section below, and consider donating to support more panel reviews like this!