The Art of Costume: CCXP 2025, a space for creativity, artistry, and talent

Joaquín spent two hours stuck in Mexico City's unbearable traffic. He didn't come from far, but the commotion of cars made the distance seem more distant. He had a strange appearance, walking down the street in broad daylight, not like other people, but like a being from another world: dressed in an enormous red cape, with chains around his neck, and a mask with red eyes and prominent horns.

The Uber driver glanced at him occasionally from the rearview mirror; his gaze widened as soon as he picked him up on Circuito Interior Street, because the monster who opened the door for him bore no resemblance to the smiling young man who had requested a ride from the app.

"Where are you going, young man?" he asked, with undisguised astonishment.

"With weirdos like me," Joaquín joked.

Like hundreds of others, Joaquín attended CCXP 2025 to do one of the things he loves most: cosplay. For those truly dedicated to it—like everything worthwhile if done from the heart—cosplay is a difficult art that requires technique and patience, skill and mastery—and, above all, an inexhaustible imagination—to dress up, interpret, and "be" characters from manga, comics, movies, and video games that have become important in popular culture.

For this Saturday, the second day of the CCXP Mexico 2025 events, Joaquín decided to dress up as "Alastor," one of the demons from the series "Hazbin Hotel," which has become one of the most popular on Prime Video.

"It took me almost three weeks to make the costume," he says proudly, his voice barely audible behind the mask with hellish eyes. "I had to buy the lights for the eyes, make the horns, find a cape that fit. And that's just because I like it, because I don't earn anything from this. But it's a lot of work, you have to dedicate a lot of time to it. I work, and my parents don't support me, so it's a little complicated, but I'm happy to be here."

He wasn't the only one. On the second day of CCXP 2025, countless people of all ages paraded, dressed as their favorite characters. Although it seemed impossible, the costumed attendees displayed greater skill and complexity in their ensembles compared to the previous day, showing off their talents to each other, acknowledging their skills, and sharing their social media accounts to reach unsuspecting audiences. They gave pointed critiques to those who lacked technique and skill, but applauded those who deserved it, in a parade of anonymous artists from whom ordinary people requested countless photographs.

Through the crowded halls of CCXP it was possible to see Marvel and DC heroes, from "Spiderman", "Wolverine", "Gambit", "Jubile" and "Fantastic Four", "Superman", "Batman" and "Green Lantern", the enigmatic "Mandalorian" with the popular "Grogu" or "Baby Yoda", "Optimus Prime" from "Transformers", "Joy" from "Inside Out", "Cosmo" and "Wanda" from "The Fairly OddParents", the terrible "Skeletor" from "He-Man", "N.18" and the "Great Saiyaman" from "Dragon Ball Z", an infected person with the cordyceps fungus from "The Last of Us", witches, sorcerers, medieval warriors, monsters and other exponents taken from the imagination, to the point that it seemed possible to find a dragon in any corner of the convention.

It was an explosion of color and skill, of dexterity and passion to make whatever was at hand useful, because cosplay is a difficult art, and achieving a faithful image of the character to be played isn't necessarily cheap. It requires time, desire, money, and love. Such was the case for "the Mandalorian" —the artist preferred not to reveal his name— whose costume looked like something straight out of the Disney series starring Pedro Pascal. His ensemble was so well done, with the gleaming metal of his armor, the billowing cape, and the lethal weapon, that there was even a line of people waiting to take a photo with him.

"Yes, it's expensive, yes, putting all this together is expensive. I'm not into cosplay, but I've thought about it, because if you put it together, it could be really good," says the young man behind the mask, holding a stuffed animal of the popular "Baby Yoda." A friend who accompanied him, and whom the crowd firmly chose to take the photographs, seemed surprised by the response of the attendees, who followed the "Mandalorian" as if he were a lost celebrity.

"I say yes, you build it," he said.

Age is no excuse for the demanding arts of cosplay. At CCXP Mexico 2025, children, young adults, and even older adults were on display. Rosa María, 70, fascinated the crowd with her gleaming costume of "Minerva McGonagall," the demanding but beloved teacher from "Harry Potter." Smiling and happy among the crowd who asked for a photo, Rosa María showed off her skill with a magic wand that emitted light, and with flourishing hand movements that also illuminated her path.

"I've been cosplaying for about 18 years. I come with my family, my daughter and daughter-in-law are around here, and we do this together," Rosa María shares. Her daughter, in fact, was dressed as "Alegría" from "Inside Out." "I feel happy; everyone is friendly, everyone is smiling. I say it's like getting high, without the drugs," she joked, after a burst of laughter.

CCXP Mexico 2025 offered this space for cosplay artists to come together, artists who recognize and celebrate each other, who feel free from judgment, simply doing what they love: there's no age limit, no conditions, no rules. Samuel, dressed as Spiderman, also posed smiling with children and adults.

People don't care who he is under the mask: he is, undeniably, the wall-crawler, like so many others who wandered through the crowd. Stan Lee said that Spiderman's success lay in the fact that he could be anyone—in other words, we can all be heroes—so the art of cosplay lies in allowing people to be whoever they want to be.

"You have to put your heart into it. It took me almost two hours to get here, then the traffic, then the rain," shares this Mexican Spiderman, proud to be, at least for this day, his childhood hero. "But it's a very beautiful thing, it's something I like. There's a sense of community here," he concluded.

YC

Registration implies acceptance of the Terms and Conditions