Generally speaking, I'm not a fan of cosplay: it seems to me as if most, actually all outfits from the 2d world hardly translate into the third dimension, and usually end up having that excessively slick, plastic-like appearance that even the most expensive cosplay simply can't shake off. It seems to me just an excessively expensive hobby with very little payoff.
One thing I do like, however, are photo dōjinshi; especially those that, by design or otherwise, come across as quirky and offbeat. And another thing I do like is fairly old dōjinshi - as in, published at least fifteen years ago. If those two are to meet in a single publication, I could probably overlook that fact that I don't give a damn about the cosplay aspect, right?
And so I put my grubby paws on PRETTIES 4, a dōjinshi cosplay photobook dating winter 1999 (!). 56 pages, glossy paper and glued binding, but mostly B&W (which is just as well, since from what I could glance most of these outfits could drive you insane / colorblind by exposure). Circle goes under the TIES name, which seems to include photographers 露崎せいら (Tsuyusaki Seira) and 藤乃れん (Tōno Ren). I say seems, because this publication is prehistoric by ephemera / vanity publishing standards, so I could find very little info: the web site the back copy provides is dead and buried, and Seira ad Ren's online presences haven't been updated in a while (decades).
The publication includes a diverse variety of cosplay, both when it comes to characters chosen (Utena and ToHeart are however very prominent) and models, who are for the most part... homely. One of the things that struck me, and that set PRETTIES 4 apart from the cosplay photography I am used to, is that it seems to show a (probably imaginary) older era in which cosplay wasn't about how spotless your face looked, or how much cleavage you revealed: most of the featured models are flat as boards, facially unattractive and, in some backstage pics, caught with no make-up on.
The costumes are well crafted and the locales are urban but sometimes exotic (there are a few pics that seem to be shot in Italy!), but an 'amateurish' (in the best possible sense) aura of earnstness comes across through the weird angles, awkward poses and excessive amount of smiles - a refreshing change from the costipated expressions that seem to be the norm in today's cosplay photography. There are also a myriad English typos too, which adds to the charm.
I also could find zilch on any of the models featured, mostly because they go by nicknames so commonplace (Riku, Noin, etc) it's basically impossible to filter results. It also doesn't help that, as PRETTIES date back to 1999, most models are now probably deep into careers and raising families, rather than cosplay. Bonus points for one of the models going by the handle 'Hussy', which I found quite funny.
Honestly, I'm not sure how many copies of this thing might still be floating around, so no comment on availability. Still, PRETTIES 4 (and, I assume, its three predecessors) are a nice window into what cosplay used to be, before exposure and WCS came along.
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