Vintage cosplay ideas!

Instead of cosplaying the usual popular characters that you’re used to seeing, maybe you want to do something different? You want to be original for your next cosplay project. Or if you’re old school, you want to do something nostalgic. If that’s the case, then you’ll like what I’ll be discussing today. That would be vintage cosplay ideas! Yes, a blast from the past.

In this post, I’ll give you 10 vintage cosplay ideas you should definitely try. Some of these you’ll absolutely love, as these are some of the coolest characters you’ll find from way back. As usual, I’ll try to keep this list as diverse as possible.

I won’t include any super popular that are ubiquitous in cosplay today, characters that are technically vintage such as Disney princesses. While they’re technically from the 70s and 80s, I think they’re so popular that we don’t need to include them on this list. We’ll try to be a little more original here. 🙂

Alright without further ado, let’s get started!

1. Creamy Mami

Yuu Morisawa from Creamy Mami.
Yuu Morisawa from Creamy Mami. Do any of you guys know who she is? 😉 Cosplayer: Erileez.

If you don’t know, then Creamy Mami is one of the original magical girls back then! Let’s go back to the 80s, when magical girls didn’t have to fight evil or think about morality. Creamy Mami was a wholesome series about a girl named Yuu who just wants to be a pop star while also attending school. Her outfit is really cute, and I would recommend it as a vintage cosplay ideas.

2. Astro Boy

If you really want to go retro, then you got to consider cosplaying as Astro Boy? Can you believe that the original manga was released way back in 1952? That’s a long time ago! And while the Anime was remade in the 1980s, the original one came out in the 1960s.

One of the classic Anime of all time, Astro Boy is a cool robot boy that’s iconic. Even though the series is more than 50 years old, I think a lot of people still recognize Astro Boy. By cosplaying as him, you’re doing a true service to vintage cosplay!

3. Revolutionary Girl Utena

Man do I feel old! Even though Revolutionary Girl Utena only came out in the 90s, you could consider this series as vintage now. But either way, it’s definitely worth cosplaying as Utena. She wears a cool-looking outfit and there are many fans of the series.

4. Kiki’s Delivery Service

Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service. An older series but a classic magical girl worth cosplaying!
Kiki from Kiki’s Delivery Service. An older series but a classic magical girl worth cosplaying! Photo by 玄史生.

Who doesn’t love Studio Ghibli characters and the films? They’re all so majestic and wonderful, and one of those films happens to be Kiki’s Delivery Service. Kiki is just a girl who trying to live a good life as a delivery witch. She is another wholesome character worth cosplaying. And she’s really easy to do; all you need is her dark blue dress, some red heels and of course her broom!

5. Cowboy Bebop

Who can forget that catchy Anime intro? Cowboy Bebop is a classic series that many people in the 90s grew up with. It’s considered to be one of the best Anime series of all time. There are quite a few vintage characters from Cowboy worth cosplaying, including Spike Spiegel, Faye Valentine and Edward Wong!

6. Gundam

Ah yes! When it comes to mech, Gundam is the original series that brought the robot genre to popularity. Not only is Gundam is a wonderful series to cosplay from, you also get the opportunity to use armored cosplay. You can use Worbla and even cardboard, although you’ll want to be very careful with the latter.

7. Princess Mononoke

Of course I had to include another Studio Ghibli character on this list. The film itself has a great plot and a lot of people have watched the movie. So if you decide to cosplay as San (aka Princess Mononoke), you’ll get lots of recognition!

8. Pauline from Super Mario

No, it’s not Princess Peach who you have to rescue in the original Donkey Kong game. It’s actually a woman named Pauline. For the longest time, Pauline was relatively unknown to many people. But she has seen a resurgence in popularity from her prominent appearance in the video game, Super Mario Odyssey.

Pauline still sports her red fancy clothing from back in the day! She looks great as a cosplay, so I highly recommend cosplaying as Pauline.

9. He-Man

What’s going on?! He-Man is the memorable main character from Masters of the Universe. Who doesn’t love a comic book series from the 80s? If you don’t want to cosplay He-Man, you can always do She-Ra instead!

10. Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell

Before Cyberpunk, there was Ghost in the Shell. Back in the day, this series was incredibly popular. The vibe was so unique at the time and we had such memorable characters like of course Motoko Kusanagi. With her signature bodysuit, she looks awesome in cosplay!

Summary

To summarize, here are the 10 vintage cosplay ideas you definitely gotta try:

  1. Creamy Mami
  2. Astro Boy
  3. Revolutionary Girl Utena
  4. Kiki’s Delivery Service
  5. Cowboy Bebop
  6. Gundam
  7. Princess Mononoke
  8. Pauline from Super Mario
  9. He-Man
  10. Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell

And there you have it: 10 vintage cosplay ideas to take you back in time! I hope you found this post nostalgic. 🙂

If you enjoyed this post, check out my other cosplay ideas:

Which one of these classic characters do you plan on cosplaying as? Let me know in the comments below!

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