Contact lenses that match the color of their character's eyes are a common form of this, especially in the case of characters with particularly unique eyes as part of their trademark look. Male to female cosplayers may experience issues when trying to portray a female character because it is hard to maintain the sexualized femininity of a character. The first Masquerade Ball held at San Diego Comic-Con was in 1974 during the convention's 6th event.

Temporary tattoos, permanent marker, body paint, and in rare cases, permanent tattoos, are all methods used by cosplayers to achieve the desired look. Simpler outfits may be compensated for their lack of complexity by paying attention to material choice and overall high quality. A rapid growth in the number of people cosplaying as a hobby since the 1990s has made the phenomenon a significant aspect of popular culture in Japan, as well as in other parts of East Asia and in the Western world.W. Lowndes received second place with a Bar Senestro costume (from the novel The Blind Spot by Austin Hall and Homer Eon Flint). It was a year or two after the article was published before it was in common use among fans at conventions. Japan's entertainment industry has been home to the professional cosplayers since the rise of Comiket and Tokyo Game Show. Issues such as blackface, brownface, and yellowface are still controversial since a large part of the cosplay community see these as separate problems, or simply an acceptable part of cosplay. The advent of social media coupled with crowdfuding platforms like Patreon and OnlyFans have allowed cosplay models to turn cosplay into profitable full-time careers.

This table contains a list of the most common cosplay competition judging criteria, as seen from World Cosplay Summit, [68] Cyprus Comic Con, [69] and ReplayFX.

In contrast to Japan, the wearing of costumes in public is more accepted in the UK, Ireland, US, Canada and other western countries. At a masked ball in Monroe, Washington, in 1912, August Olson's impressive homemade Skygack costume, complete with notebook, won him first prize and a place on the front page of the local paper.