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Character Bounding and Casual Cosplay

When you want to dress up as a character but it would not be appropriate to cosplay at the event,  character bounding or casual cosplay may be the solution! Or if you just don't have as many chances to go to cosplay events. 

Personally, I just like the idea and think about Character Bounding or Casual Cosplay in everyday life a lot. But let's clarify what we mean by character bounding and casual cosplay.  

What is Character Bounding?

Typically, character bounding involves using a character's color schemes or motifs in your everyday clothes to portray the spirit of a character. This is popularized by Disney characters since you can't really cosplay at any of the Disney parks (because that is a job at the park.) However, you are not limited to Disney or fictional characters. I've also seen people use historical figures or fashions as a form of "bounding". (I honestly don't know why it's called bounding. If I were a good blogger I'd probably look that 💩 up. But I'm not good. I'm lazy.) 

Your outfit, makeup and accessories are all part of bounding to a character.

The three main design elements you look for are: 

  • Color scheme
  • Fabric Shapes/Cuts
  • Character Motifs/Symbols

Ursula the Sea Witch comes to mind for me (surprisingly). And to be fair, I made a swimsuit inspired by her. But if I were to make further considerations here are the things I think I would look for in an outfit: 
Colors - Black, Purple, Silver, White
Shapes - Sweetheart Collar, Mermaid skirt, Tentacle Shapes
Motifs - Nautilus Sea Shell, Beauty Mark, Octopus

I did make a swimsuit with a sweetheart top and a tentacle skirt in purple and black. I call it my Ursula swimsuit. 


I think fanart helps a lot. People drawing characters in modern-day wear often use color schemes and motifs to make it look more believable. I really enjoy hipster versions of Disney characters. But searching the term character bounding (insert character name) will also give you inspiration or examples...maybe. 

What is Casual Cosplay?

This is my term for wearing costumed everyday wear based on a character's outfit. 
A lot of franchises have t-shirts or jackets that are already inspired by their characters. You can get a UA gym t-shirt from the official site. I have a jacket based on Morrigan from Dragon Age and one inspired by Cullen. I also have a Mass Effect Tank top with the N7 logo and stuff. And this is casual cosplay to me. But it's not always "character bounding". 

Casual Cosplay is more about adapting an actual piece of clothing or accessory a character wears and either recreating it or adapting it to something common like a t-shirt, hoodie, shawl, scarf, hat or socks. 

My Demon Slayer Sweater and shawl are recreations. But the Demon Slayer knee socks are an adaptation.  

Hopefully that all makes sense and maybe inspires some ideas for you. I am making some knit patterns for casual cosplay adaptations. Still testing those and testing is SLOW (because I swear I only knit like 2 rows a week for a 300 row belt. 😭)

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