All About Hair
W igs , D iversity , and N erd C ulture
O takon 2018
It was a hot and muggy day in the nation’s capital,
but outside the doors of the Walter E. Wallace Con-
vention Center in Washington DC, a strange crowd
was beginning to form. August 9th -12th marked the
second annual occurrence of Otakon in DC. While
the convention celebrated its 26th year, this was only
it’s second in DC, after it outgrew the Baltimore
Convention Center in 2016. This years event drew
in a record number of attendees, with final counts
marking 29,293 guests, up 5,000 from last year.
So what is Otakon? If you’re not a nerd, you may not
be aware, but Otakon is one of the largest conventions
on the east coast to celebrate fans of Japanese
animation (anime) and comics (manga). So why were
we in attendance? Because, dear readers, wigs, and
extensions are a huge part of the event. Many of the
attendees dress up in elaborate costumes of their
favorite characters, this particular form of costuming
is referred to as cosplay and covers a broad spectrum
of complexity and effort. While some cosplayers
create casual versions of their favorite characters
(note this casual Starfire from Teen Titans), others
build complicated, intricate costumes that take weeks,
months, or longer to finish.
After seeing one of our favorite bloggers (ThouArtAn-
uli) beginning prep on her Instagram stories, we knew
we needed to cover this convention and learn more;
and we were in no way disappointed. Getting to see
a whole new side to wigs and extensions was enlightening,
and the amount of effort many cosplayers put into
their designs was awe-inspiring. We came away from
the event inspired and intrigued.
Photo Credit: Ben Duffy
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