Cosplay hobbyists make headlines for their elaborate costumes. Sometimes for all the wrong reasons.

Once in a while, you get scandals like this uproar caused by a scantily dressed cosplayer, whose outfit prompted a member of the public to call the police during a Japanese pop culture festival at Suntec City in 2013.

One avid cosplayer is on a mission to draw attention away from the sexual undertones, and show that cosplay enthusiasts are artists and craftsmen in their own right.

In 2014, Joey Lim documented how she created 54 different character costumes, each on a modest budget – that’s an average of one costume a week.

“I started working on this project as a personal challenge,” said Lim, 29, a freelance photographer. “I wanted to stretch the limits of my craft and my dollar. At the same time, I hoped to inspire cosplay novices and fans of my cosplay to try their hand at costume making on a strict one-week deadline and limited budget.“

The year-long effort cost less than $1,000 in raw materials and she was able to create two more costumes than her original target of 52.



Not every costume was built from scratch. Lim recycled different parts from previous outfits or retrofitted some to make new suits – this kept her budget down, and ensured that she had materials for her next idea.

Lim enjoys the challenge of bringing a two-dimensional character on a comic book page or a TV screen to life, especially those wearing armour, which she builds using foam. Some of her projects include characters from video games like Metal Gear Solid and Assassin’s Creed.

She also took up short courses in fashion design in order to better understand the textiles she was working with.

Lim is one of the co-founders of the Neo Tokyo Project, a pop-culture marketing agency.

She and co-founder Jason Koh, 32, aim to use cosplay positively to promote youth empowerment.

“One of our biggest concerns about how the media and the public perceives cosplay is that it’s about women in scanty clothing. Photographers take pictures of people in racy outfits, and that sends the wrong message,” said Koh.

“It’s not good for the image of cosplay, and we want to dispel that image because parents will get concerned - and rightfully so - that if their children get involved in cosplay it will make them look bad. That’s something we don’t want. Let’s focus on the craft of cosplay and portraying the character respectfully.”

While it’s easy to source for an outfit from various online stories, or outsource the job to a tailor, Lim and Koh see the crafting process as something that adds value to an individual’s personal skill set.

“We believe that the personal touch is part of the process that helps build a good portfolio.

“A lot of cosplayers are actually interested in arts, crafts, design, and fashion. And I think this is a good opportunity for them to enhance their professional lives, especially if they want to go into fashion design, art and technology or special effects makeup,” said Koh.

Lim’s efforts have won her awards at cosplay competitions in Singapore and Australia. She has also been commissioned by game companies to produce costumes for launch events. Lim hopes to eventually publish a guide for creating costumes.

“What we want to show is that cosplayers are artists and creators – they bring characters to life,” she said.

See some of the costumes she created here.