Let’s admit it; no matter how old we get, it’s always fun to be a kid for a little while, and especially to play pretend. After all, who wouldn’t want to be a fairy or a superhero for a day?
Catherine Schuller AKA “The Fashion Fairy Godmother”, has not only granted our secret costume wishes but has combined them with the most haute couture fashion on the runway! As president of Catherine Schuller Enterprises, LLC, she has produced innumerable diverse, inclusive, and sustainable fashion events in the past 40 years, including the Fashion + Tech platform called hiTechMODA: Fashion Forward Innovation, which gave her the inspiration to produce CosMODA: Cosplay Runway, with the tagline “if Comic Comic had a baby with Fashion Week, that’s CosMODA!”
What is Cosplay?
What exactly is cosplay, you ask? “Cosplay” is a marriage of “costume” and “play” and is a performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character from a movie, book, or video game, such as the famous Batman, Wonder Woman, and Captain America.
In fact, Captain America stories were actually written by Catherine’s late husband, Mark Gruenwald, Marvel Comics’ acclaimed Senior Executive Editor. CosMODA is a labor of love with her co-producer Dan Hort, and this year they’re honoring not only Mark but several industry icons who have passed, including comic artist Bill Sienkiewicz, known for his influential work on Marvel’s MOON KNIGHT, LEGION and NEW MUTANTS, as well as Sci-Fi and Civil Rights pioneer Nichelle Nichols.
CosMODA Rocks
The third season of CosMODA kicked off at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square on September 10th, where guests were treated to the wacky and wonderful wardrobes of designers such as TigerBear Shoes, Fira X SwimWear, Cookie Wear, and My Dogs Think I’m Crazy, in addition to CosMODA’s very own brand of “Cosplay Couture”, which is a beautiful blend of comic book and fantasy costuming, worn by cosplayers of all shapes, sizes (with more plus sizes than any previous events), genders, and races who had flocked to this uber-unique fashion show from all over the country.
Why Cosplayers?
As Catherine told Curvicality Magazine, “The cosplayers are passionate and I feel how palpable their conviction to exactitude is. They identify with the character they are playing and have a reason why they choose that particular character to embody. The cosplayers see themselves as outliers and live the fantasy fields that this represents. They are diverse in background so size plays into it because of that. They have complete control over the making of their costume and answer to a higher power (their internal geek) when making the costume. And they do present at Comic Cons — albeit in the lobbies where they are constantly photographed. I wanted to give them a true runway experience during fashion week!”
Want to check out the crazy couture of cosplay next February? Follow CosMODA on Instagram and visit Cosplay Runway for more information!
Until Next Time …
The Cultured Curves Team
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