I think that life (specifically mine) is so interesting. On one end, I’ve realized that I’ve added things to my life that were either rare or too difficult when I was younger: visit museums regularly, go to the Symphony, or even Go Out to a bar. A lot of these things are due to simply getting older, achieving more agency, and having more friends.  Many of these are “grown-up” activities but they also have a connection to the Expressive Life I’m after; you may even consider these to be Pretentious but I think they make sense for who I am.

On the other hand, I’ve also been conscious of how many times I’ve “returned” to things. It could be Nostalgia, which happens when you get older. If I think more critically, this is more about being the person who I’ve wanted to be…and full-sending it. This is most easily seen with menswear: I came back to wide leg pants after taking a hiatus on period accurate style and you’ll notice that I wear fedoras regularly again. But old fashion choices aren’t the only thing that has come back.  

Lately, there has been a theme of “high-school” or “tumblr” coded things that I’ve been doing. You could call it “healing your inner child” but again, I’m finding that these are things that I’ve enjoyed that I’m simply making time for. These include going to Ren Faire, doing a home Smash Bros. tournament, or even doing mall dates with Isabel instead of going out for cocktails or a play (like a grown-up). And one major one, which is the subject of this blog post, is going to Anime Expo Los Angeles.

Anime Expo was such a big thing for me back when I was a teenager. Mind you, I wasn’t the type of otaku to watch every type of anime, but I had a few favorites in the 2010s that I was obsessed with: Death Note, Code Geass, One Piece (at least for a few dozen episodes) Hitman:  Reborn, and the Daily Lives of High School Boys. It was mostly my friends (like MJ) who were die hard anime fans but they always included me despite my surface level taste. We’d have watch parties, hang around Little Tokyo, and reblog ad infinitum on tumblr, but the biggest mode of participation was going to Anime Expo: a four day convention full of interesting panels, new release events, live concerts, an Artist Alley of indie art creators, and cosplay gatherings. It was such an exciting and wholesome time to be around people who were not only connected by a common interest but would all full-send in any way they saw fit. 

Menswear was not a part of my life at this time (as I wore uniform for 12 years and didn’t see Gatsby until my sophomore year of college) but I now realize just how much my philosophy on it, expression, and community, was based on my Anime Expo experience with my friends. Fashion and accessorizing is obviously a big part of it, where attendees are encouraged to wear merch tees, don pins, or take cues (big or small) from their favorite anime or manga character. Goth, lolita, and other youth styles that are related to Japanese culture are also present here. However the biggest thing, most obviously, is cosplay where you actually dress like your favorite anime/manga character. 

I’m always disappointed with how cosplay gets a bad wrap as I’ve always found it such a wholesome activity. On the surface, it’s about expressing your interest in a particular show/character: you like this thing and you’re dressing like it. There’s an element of zeitgeist, where sometimes the IP happens to be trending, so it invigorates your interest.  It’s also a part of the Occasion, where Anime Expo (or any convention) is a great invitation to shed “normal” attire and wear something even more in service of the event. Or more particularly, in service of the show/character you like.  To me, this is not unlike having a rugged vintage-esque fit to the flea market or dressing ivy to go to a jazz bar for cocktails. We all have our internal dress-codes and Occasions. 

But as you go deeper, cosplay at its core is just a  self-imposed challenge of expression, taste, and execution, as the fun lies in just how you go about your cosplay. Will it be show/art accurate? Will you use makeup? Are you doing the signature look or an alternative outfit? Are you going to approximate it with normal clothes or will you craft it yourself? My friends who do cosplay all say that it’s all dependent on your personal style as well as the limits you want to set for yourself. In addition, its simply a experience to cosplay. It’s an activity that simultaneously that allows you to be more than who you currently are while still being quite personal and authentic to yourself.

Doesn’t that sound like menswear? Or at least how I approach it?

What’s funny is that my first cosplays were always menswear related. Light Yagami and Reborn both wore suits; the latter even has a fedora as a part of his iconic look. It’s no surprise that I later got into menswear after I wanted an excuse to express my other interests in a place that wasn’t a con. But the point of this article, I’ve started to have a fondness for these types of fan-centered events that are funnily enough, not related to the “pretentious” menswear things I typically do. 

After all, outside of industry events (that all happen in NYC where I do not live), there is no such thing as a “menswear event”, just things I do in my life that happen to “make sense” in a suit in the same way that Frasier wears a suit to the cafe. While that’s all great, I’ve really missed the true fandom experience. The chaotic frenzy of a shared interest in IP. And perhaps above all else, the presence of an External Occasion that I can dress in service of. 

Of course there were other things as well: I’ve been slowly getting back into anime (Demon Slayer!) and Isabel is a fan of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure and so a con would be a great hang for us. I’ve wanted to keep my friendships with my high school and early college friends (aka pre-menswear) and this is something they enjoy (and we occasionally watch anime together). And above all else, I’ve been enjoying the costume-based events as of late: Wondercon in early 2023, Halloween (2022 and 2023), and a wild few weeks of friend dress-up parties has re-invigorated my cosplay passion. In fact, I was intrigued to see just how my approach would change after I’ve settled on my menswear philosophy. 

In short, Anime Expo just made sense to go to. And so 2023 was my first full return to AX, where I spent three days  with MJ, Scott, and Taylor going to various panels and concerts. It was overwhelming but a fun experience that got me to watch even more anime. My cosplays were very menswear (as they used items I already owned) but were still quite fun: most people knew what I was except for The Wind Rises (which is basically just an Ethan fit). But it was such a great time that I decided to sign up to do it again in 2024. And it was great. 

Despite waking up at 7AM everyday and walking 20K+ steps each day (something my remote-ass isn’t used to) among crowds of people, this past weekend was one of the most fun experiences in my life. It was all so exciting to see various studio, publisher, and game studio exhibitors showing everything you can think of that is even tangentially related to anime and manga. The Artist Alley was also incredible, with a plethora of indie creators showing their wares, be they themed after an IP or their original characters/stories; I spent most of my con budget on prints.  I will say that the highlights of the programming I saw however couldn’t contrast more: I went to a Vtuber panel to hear some cringe male-fan Q&As (they call IRL people “flesh-tubers”) and waited over an hour in the blazing July sun to see the five-year anniversary panel of Demon Slayer. 

However it goes without saying that the best part of the con was the cosplay. Everywhere I walked, I was surrounded by incredible cosplayers in various expressions. It was fun to see complex crafting and makeup  as well as the nuanced expressions from non-fantasy characters. Some of them I recognized through Nostalgia while others were new to me, almost serving as an invitation to check out the show/manga that they were from. Everyone was incredibly wholesome and excited to see each other. “Nice ___ cosplay!” is something you’d hear at all points of the con.

It felt fun to jump into the action myself  through my own cosplays which as you would expect, were all very Menswear Friendly. For the first day, I did Porco Rosso by pairing a khaki workshirt and flared western pants to evoke his iconic jumpsuit. I’ve actually done him before at Wondercon and AX 2023 which everyone loved. This year was no different, as so many attendees happily shouted their support and even asked to take a photo of/with me. I guess he’s considered to be underrated, though Porco Rosso is one of my favorite Ghibli films. 

My other cosplays were niche but I still enjoyed them. My Day Two costume was probably simultaneously the weirdest one and the one I had the most fun with. With a dark grey shirt, black suspenders, brown pants, round sunglasses, and a cardboard gatling gun arm graciously assembled by Scott, I sent up Wild Dog, the seemingly immortal antagonist from the Time Crisis arcade game. Specifically, I was the WIld Dog from Time Crisis II which is my favorite arcade game. MJ and Scott even helped play along by wearing bomber jackets and brandishing pistols colored after the guns you’d find on the IRL arcade cabinet. Not a soul knew who we were, but it was fun to take some themed/skit photos (as you should when doing cosplay). 

For the third day, I was Tatsu from the Way of the Househusband which was another old favorite of mine (worn to the last AX as well as to a Halloween party a few years ago). It’s pretty much Going Out Ethan as it involves a navy suit, navy shirt (I used my AC linen spearpoint), aviators, and an apron (that Isabel painted the logo on). It’s a standard for sure (I saw a few Tatsus during the con) but a great one to slot in.

The character on the fourth day isn’t really anime related, but I think I give it a pass considering the character was played by an Asian and conventions tend to be an excuse for any type of cosplay (I saw a few Mandolorians as well as a Walter White of all people walking around).  I chose to do Qimir, the dark-side antagonist of Star Wars: The Acolyte (played by Manny Jacinto) who, like most characters of the IP, has a vaguely Asian aesthetic consisting of a sleeveless tunic and big pants. Not only was it a great opportunity for a new take on Safincore (pairing a sleeveless cardigan with my gauchos) but it was also fun to be able to cosplay a new Asian character in the Star Wars universe. I don’t think anyone knew who I was (people cosplaying an “original character” is also common at cons) but I did see someone do a double take and say  “I think that guy is the bad guy in the Acolyte”. Mission accomplished!

Of course, I wasn’t the only one who got to cosplay. MJ did Nanami from Jujutsu Kaisen, Kakashi from Naruto, as well as Loid Forger’s “Loidman” apperance (complete with a toy ballgun) from a specific episode of Spy x Family. Isabel had the most fun, as she took the opportunity to cosplay some of her favorite things. On Day one, she was Xingqiu from Genshin Impact (she’s obsessed with this game) and then for two other days, she went as Giorno and Rohan from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure (her favorite anime). She even attended cosplay gatherings for both, where she was able to meet and take pictures with other con-goers who were all there to celebrate the thing they love. Isabel mentioned to me that she was a bit hesitant but was blown away by the positivity and excitement that reverberated through each gathering. I’m certain that cosplay will become even more of a regular thing for her (after all, she has also had fun making costumes for Halloween and Ren Faire). 

If the past few days have shown me anything, it’s that life is all about having fun with friends, getting dressed up, and celebrating what you like. Those themes are ultimately what this blog is about. And even though I know many of you will tease me for it, I see such kinship between cosplay culture (and conventions in general) and what I think is the most ideal approach to menswear is. It’s just so funny to me that as I realize those things, it also involves a “regress” back to the things I enjoyed when I was younger but in a wholly positive way. 

I’m sure that if I moved to NYC, this would just be the same thing just with industry and community events like various trunk shows or the regular Alfargo’s shindigs. But I also know that’s not what I want or at least, that’s not what I want to spend my time doing. It’s just too much for me. But that’s fine! At the end of the day, none of this about #Menswear at all. But instead, it’s about  finding the vague sense of menswear in other things. Like Anime Expo! 

Now enjoy some photos from the past four days while I rest my incredibly sore body and get ready for the work week ahead. 

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Always a pleasure,

Ethan M. Wong (follow me on IG)

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