It's time for more Cassandra Cain cosplay!

And here it is, have a look for yourself!

I think it's great.  It seems a little familiar, so maybe I've linked to another set of photos of this particular cosplayer's version of Cass, but with Cass news so hard to come by we have to go with what we find.  Check out those boots.  They're not what Cass wears in any comic I've seen, but they're a nice touch and give this costume a uniqueness.  Different artists tend to detail Cass according to their whims or whatever they feel works best, so cosplayers should feel free to create their own Cass looks.

Even though I'm unfortunately disqualified from Cassplaying myself, as a fan of the character and cosplay in general, I spend a lot of time thinking about what goes into a successful Cass costume.  I'm sure the dedicated cosplayers could set me straight on a lot of technical aspects, but I've formulated a few loose ideas just from studying different examples.  I want to encourage more Cassplay, so here are a few of them...

Again!

Material is an important style decision a potential Cassplayer must make.  In some comics, Cass looks leather-clad, in others head-to-toe in fabric.  How to choose?  Full head and face masks seem problematic.  The fit is tricky.  This one has wrinkles.  The fabric masks fit closer to the face with their stretching quality, but don't have the leather-esque look of vinyl.  This is true of the bodysuits I've seen as well, but they tend to cling and resist wrinkles.  If excess wrinkling bothers you because comic book artists rarely illustrate them when drawing costumes, then you're going to have to really work at it to get the proper smoothness.

I wonder if some Cassplayers attempt to duplicate a specific artist's take on the character.  You're never going to inflate your head to Damion Scott proportions, but his Cass has a shiny suit with huge belt pouches that flop around when she moves.  Brian Bolland's Cass is more naturally proportioned and has a duller finish to her costume, with smaller, firmer pouches.  Tim Sale's features a more silhouetted approach that could be either.  Another idea is to think of your Cass costume as the movie version and design accordingly.  What would Cass wear in a Christopher Nolan film?  How about a Tim Burton-style Cass?  Or just do something of your own imagining.  You could do practical Cass or fanciful Cass.

Black Bat/Blackbat Cass seems the most forgiving of all her looks, other than civilian Cass (just wear a black sports bra and some baggy martial arts pants!).  So while any Cassplayer earns my undying admiration and respect, I have to accord a little extra to the Batgirl Cassplayers.