Should I Be Wearing This Now?

I went to an anime convention this past weekend. During one of the slow periods, my friend and I went to get some food at a fast-food place near where the convention was being held. Of course, the place was packed with otaku from the convention. We decided to use the drive-thru, and while waiting, we talked about how ridiculous some of the people cosplaying looked. One person was dressed as Inuyasha, and I swear, he even had the ears still on. I'm talking about people in the restaurant, a public place, not the convention itself. This got me and my friend talking about self-respect and knowing what you should wear at certain times.

To get to the point, do you think that there is a time and a place, or is it okay to wear what you want, when you want?

Is it okay to wear a shirt that says "I Like Porn" to your friend's birthday party, when his relatives are going to be there? If you accept that you like porn and don't mind telling people that, isn't it okay to wear a shirt that says just that? Or should you only wear that shirt when with friends, or in an environment where the shirt will be appreciated?

More related to the anecdote above, if you cosplay for a convention, should you try to remove the outfit before going to a public place, like a restaurant or Wal-Mart? What do you think are some reasons for removing an outfit before going into a store, as well as some reasons for not removing an outfit?

Honestly, I do believe there is a time and place for dressing up cause there is in a sense an unofficial universally accepted attire for eating out at a ffr or not. Hell even when i see these ppl, even if theyre just wearing a naruto headband, i tend to feel ashamed cause they present themselves as a bunch of dumbfucks that really might fit into a stereotype where anime is for children and we're still immature so we watch this.

But of course I'm not cosplay friendly since i hate most of them. I doubt many would want to go back to their rooms from walking around in the con anyway cause theyre a bunch of lazy fucks. Ya know? Some of the reasons as well probably are that theyre proud of their costume(seems like regardless if they made it or not) and really love to show it off. Sadly i wished being naked was more acceptable than this anyway but sadly its not. There also could be a possibility that someone's "prop" might be able to hide some explosives(really stupid amirite?) and thus causing some stupid shit.

TL;DR - Cosplayers are an embarassment to the anime community by being retarded in public outside of a con.

my opinion on this subject is basically whatever floats your boat and if somebody is
offended Meh, You can't please everybody.

I try to tailor what I wear if need be.

For example, I have a shirt that reads 'You look like I could use a drink.'

That's not the kind of shit you wear to your grandmothers birthday. (Which was recently for me) But if you're going to chill at your buddies house, have at it.

Well, I did some larping when I was younger, and after the ordeal we usually filled our stomaches at the nearest McDonald's. 50 guys dressed like orcs (think LotR, they are that good) fighting over cheeseburgers is quite a sight.

I think during that time of the year with the convention, workers are used to seeing it now. I remember when I was 13 I was still in my cosplay outfit going to a fast food joint, and I remember walking across the street with tons of other people in cosplay as well walking across as well. So all the cars were seeing tons of people just walk out in front of them in cosplay.

I don't think you need to worry about areas that are real close to convention centers, because believe me - they're used to it. Business picks up, and odd balls pop out.

In my case, I should have changed, but I hadn't/ I was Lulu from FFX while my friends were Rikku and Yuna (all day we were called chibi's ~.~) and the skirt I was wearing was about 20lbs from all the large belts I had on it. Needless to say my legs were killing me at the end of the convention.

~*~

But in cases like the I like porn shirt, yeah there's a time and place. It's not appropriate.

Wearing a specific outfit in a specific location/specific event is important for us to consider the people around us. I don't see any problems with you wearing the costume in the food court unless the costume really restrains you're movements. But in the other hand about the I love porn t-shirt is to be really taken considerably. There are very few occasions that you may wear that outfit but it really depends on the individual.

Myself I'm pretty tactless when it comes to my clothes. I'm the guy that wore a Taylor High School football sweatshirt, which happened to be one of my school's rivals during a game that happened to be against Taylor that day. I swore that wasn't intentional. It just happened to be a sweatshirt I got as sort of hand-me-down and I just always wore it because it was comfortable. Heh.

Anyway, yeah there is a time and place for certain clothing. Freedom of expression and all that jazz is good and all, but that is really becoming a horrible scapegoat with our generation. Has no one ever heard "everything in moderation"? I think that applies here as well.

Yes there is time and place where you could wear shirts like that, but I don't think it was a really good idea to talk behind people wearing costumes.

I respect them for liking something so much to actually be confident enough to wear it outside the Cosplay convention.
I say let them be and ignore them

I say do what you want, when you want to (ok not during a job interview).

I proudly were my offspring concert t-shirt that says "shit is fucked up" all the time in public, heck even visiting relatives I don't honestly care if they are offended.

IT really depends on whether or not you are ashamed to wear such a thing.

For example, I know of quite a number of people that think that men shouldn't wear pink, under any circumstance.

My favorite shirt is pink, and I wear it formal occasions. I'm secure enough in my masculinity. I know that I will never be mistaken for being gay. I am not ashamed of wearing it.



When I was being interviewed for internship (a decade ago), I showed up in my scrubs, looking scruffy and like I just came from work, which I did. ALL other interviewees I was with was wearing a business suit or something similarly formal. I wasn't ashamed to admit that I came straight from work at the hospital I was currently. I got the job, BTW, despite having truly abysmal credentials.

Wearing a cosplay costume is the same. Are you ashamed of admitting of being a fan? If yes, then don't wear it in public. Let's face it, anime isn't as mainstream as we'd like it to be, so some cosplayers aren't willing to reveal the fact that they are fans. For others though, they have no problems with it. Me, if I ever got to cosplay I wouldn't have problems eating at a fast food joint in full costume, or even taking the train home in full costume, as long as the costume isn't a hindrance to movement.


To put it another way, howe would you feel if you were a girl wearing a skirt, then some old lady comes up to you saying "Don't you have any self respect? Why are you showing your ankles?!"

Or, what is some fundamentalist starts insisting that every girl should wear a burqa when in public?




Showing up in white KKK hood during Martin Luther King day parade is going out of your way to actually offend people. So, if you wore "I like Porn" to a birthday party for the purpose of annoying people at that party, then you're a douche. This is not the same as the guy who hasn't taken off his Inuyasha ears, unless its a place with a known hatred of Inuyasha.

Good responses so far, but I'm going to try to get to the core of the issue by throwing out another hypothetical situation:

A student goes to his morning class without bothering to comb/brush his hair or even brush his teeth. He gets out of bed and runs to class, pretty much. He's fine with the way he is, accepts himself completely and likes himself. Is there a problem with his behavior? Is it wrong that he goes to class like that?

Or, to give another example similar to the ones above, if a person wears their cosplay outfit around the mall, and there isn't a convention or anything going on, is that okay?

The student rushing to class idea could be debated because most people would understand why the person looks that way because lets face it, everyone is rushed to school at some point with no time to get ready.

For the mall idea I think it is fine so long as the person is not purposefuly attempting to gain attention through that action. If he was just like "meh feel like cosplaying today" then hell go ahead.

There's a time and place for everything.
If you have a decent degree of understanding for social conduct, you'll know when it's right and keep your dignity intact.

But for those silly people who know but don't care? Yeah, they bug me too.

In a sense i usually have problems with ppl that smell nasty, breath not so much, but if the person rushed to school and admits it when i know they normally shower and stuff then its fine just that once. But normally i'd just feel weird, keep in mind this is more for summer cause i know in winter i really dont care.

I think at the mall it depends. Normally i say fuck no but the mall has its own set of rules too man.

Every time I went to a convention everyone would always leave around lunchtime in crowds still in costume to the nearby places to eat. It practically was a mini-event by itself (it's pretty amusing to have characters from various shows eating next to each other in a fast food joint if you think about it). The first few times I paid attention non-convention people and workers and nobody really seemed to care. What's publicly acceptable behavior changes quite quickly if people get used to it.

Also since there's usually a lot going on at conventions and some costumes take quite a bit of time to get in/out of (or just getting to the 40th floor of the hotel where your room is can take 15 minutes or more) it makes sense that some people would simply not care about their public image in a place they don't live and just go get something to eat in the half hour they have to eat before the next thing they care about is happening.

I think you should do what you got to do, and wear what you want to wear. as long as it's not overly offensive, like wearing assless chaps to church.

to me it's like transvestites, some people think it's wrong or whatever, but it's just the way it has to be for them.

if someone wants to cosplay every day, who cares. what does it have to do with me?

If someone asks I'd just explain theirs a convention down the street and I was hungry so I came down here and I'm going back their after I eat.