'
ANNAMARIE MCINTOSH IS coming undone.
People in comic-book tees are rushing past
her, lit up by too-bright fluorescents. She’s
surrounded by massive signs with corpo-
rate logos, from Nintendo to DC Comics.
The cavernous hall is 460,000 square feet,
and McIntosh is taking up about three of
them, trying to cinch the beige bandages
wrapped around her arms. “We’re having
issues here,” she says, with an exasperated
giggle. “It’s been falling down all day.” With
an assist by her mom, the 17-year-old finally
twists and tucks her costume into place. All
things considered, the fix is easy. It’s 2019’s
Comic-Con International, and compared
to the wizards and warlocks and Wonder
Women crowding the floor, the outfit of the
Jedi Rey is plain, simple. Sensible.
Cosplay, that pinnacle of performative
fandom, dates back to the mid-20th cen-
tury; some accounts note that there were
cosplayers at the first World Science Fiction
Convention, in 1939. Women have always
BY Angela Watercutter
Kanye West modeled a prototype for a low-income housing project on Luke’s childhood home (but he lacked a permit and was shut down).
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DAISY
RIDLEY'S
CHARACTER
IS A
MISFIT
SCAVENGER
FROM
A DESERT
PLANET,
WITH A
NO-NONSENSE
WARDROBE
TO MATCH.
THAT'S WHY
A BROAD
SPECTRUM OF
COSPLAYING
REBELS
HAVE
EMBRACED
HER OUTFIT—
AND HER
POWER.
➔
STAR WARS FAN CAITLIN
BEARDS COSPLAYS AS THE
JEDI REY.
PHOTOGRAPH BY
Amy Lombard
