Kicking off on 24 September in Johannesburg, Comic Con Africa (CCA) 2026 is two and a half months away – which probably sounds too far in the future for the average person to even consider. For cosplayers, though, that realisation may produce an instant cold sweat, especially if they are entering the annual Comic Con Africa Championship of Cosplay, arguably the most prestigious cosplay competition in Sub-Saharan Africa.
With that in mind – for anyone needing some crafting and sewing motivation/inspiration – we’re looking back at the time, earlier this year, that we got to sit down with cosplay legend Yaya Han, where she was a guest, and judge, at Comic Con Cape Town 2026.
Notable for being one of the first cosplayers to turn their passion into a profession – with various partnerships, her own branded line of fabrics, patterns, Bernina sewing machine and multiple published books over a 25+ year career – Chinese-American Han was also an international cosplay guest at the first ever Comic Con Africa, back in 2018.
Here, Han talks about her experience of South African cosplay; discusses the biggest challenges facing aspiring cosplayers today; offers advice for anyone travelling with cosplays; and reflects on both the impact of iconic fabric retailer JOANN’s bankruptcy, and that time she accidently stirred up the Bridgerton fandom.
Noelle Adams (Pfangirl.com): You’ve been doing judging for one of cosplay competitions here. What’s the standard been like of South African cosplay? Especially since you also got to see it years ago.
Yaya Han: It was really nice to actually see a lot of first-time entrants. I heard that in the community for a while, it was like the same people entering so, of course, the level became really high. But it’s really nice to see a new selection of cosplayers being inspired to enter contests. So I think we had a good mix between experienced crafters and beginner crafters. And that’s what I love to see in contests.
And I thought the creativity and some of the out-the-box thinking of even the first-time entrants was very impressive; like making use of resources available. In America, we have way more resources than here [in South Africa], and so I just always think about how do people solve the same problems. We saw everything from 3D prints, and EVA foam, but also cardboard for armour and accessories and stuff. I think that’s just really cool.
You’re one of the great pioneers of cosplay. So with your experience, how have you seen the industry change from when you started to where we are now?
Yaya Han: I’ve been cosplaying for 25+ years, so it has changed multiple times. I feel like I’ve lived through multiple eras of cosplay. And right now, it has become almost like a commercial industry that is also still a very vibrant hobbyist space. So these two are kind of colliding and intermingling with each other – so it’s very vibrant.
I think it’s safe to say that cosplay is now recognised as an art form, which to me is the biggest change from when I started. Back in the early Noughties, it was just this weird thing that kids did. And now people can see the quality of costumes that people, hobbyists, are producing and recognise that this is a labour of love. It’s a passion and even a lifestyle.
I’m very proud of us as a community for having connected with the rest of the world, and made our stance known of why we love cosplay – which is the craft, but also a celebration of fandom.
With that, what do you think are the biggest challenges of cosplay today?
Yaya Han: Like everything is always in a state of flux, things are always changing for cosplayers who want to sort of, again, take it to more of a commercial level; to treat it as an art form. But as for the biggest challenge today, paradoxically, it’s social media.
I feel like social media has made it so complex. It can be a career, content producing; also like using it as a platform to show your skills and attract customers if you’re offering commission services, or if you’re educating. It’s a way for you to reach an audience, but it also makes everything very, very complicated and, very dependent on the algorithm, which changes all the time.
There’s never any certainty, unfortunately, if you choose to work in cosplay, and you have to be able to adapt on the fly, and you have to have a lot of different avenues of income so that if one avenue falls off, then you’re still safe. And I think every cosplayer, whether they are a starting content creator, or whether they’re established, still struggles with that – myself included.
Then there’s how the competition is also very, very stiff because everybody can make really nice costumes now. Like the number of people that have a lot of skill and talent is very high. And also many people are able to gain good social media numbers. So it becomes difficult to figure out who you should hire for companies and for conventions; who you should partner with to do a project. So a lot of companies, they tend to do the “We’re just going to open it up for bidding and whoever’s the lowest bidder, we’ll go with them.” So I think we still have a long way before cosplay becomes a sustainable career path.
But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t hone your craft and you shouldn’t do it. I just think people now entering cosplay, it’s easy to feel tempted to make it into a job immediately, because you see what other people are doing, but you only see the success stories that they’re posting.
My suggestion is to enjoy it as a hobby first and just be patient, and enjoy it for yourself. And, if down the road opportunities present themselves and you want to make the jump, do it carefully. But you know, it should not be something that you want to do immediately out of school or something.
You’ve kind of answered my next question, which is what would you say to people who now look at the scene and feel very intimidated. But like I think you’ve said it; it’s really just finding what you love in it to start with, and see what opportunities arise.
Yaya Han: Yeah, it’s like why did I cosplay back in 1999 when it was not possible to make money with it, right? I did it because I like crafting and I love the idea of becoming a character. Now it’s almost impossible for someone to get into cosplay with that kind of mindset. But I encourage people to try to keep that mindset as the priority.
So choose characters that you connect with, make costumes that bring you joy, spend time with the character. To me, crafting a costume is bonding with the character. You love them so much that you don’t want to just consume the media passively. It inspires you to actively express yourself. Me making my Belle costume, starting it the day after I watched the movie. There’s a reason for that. I didn’t do it because I wanted to make money with it, right? Even though cosplay is my job.
I just hope that people can use cosplay still as an outlet for their creativity, but also as a social activity. And then to think of the hustling and the work aspect, secondary.
Within your own personal cosplay experience, you say you love crafting. What’s your favourite part of cosplay and, conversely, what’s your least favourite part?
Yaya Han: Yes, so when it comes to crafting, sewing is my wheelhouse. That is where I’m the most comfortable and I view sewing as very therapeutic. So that’s my happy space.
But at the same time, I definitely need to know other skills to have the freedom to make the costumes that I want. So I’ve put in the effort to learn other skills. And I’ve learned that I really dislike sanding armour, because it’s so dirty, and you get all sweaty underneath the protective gear and stuff. And styling wigs has historically been my weak point. But I’ve been actively doing my best to improve upon it. Even though it’s also so messy. I just don’t like messy crafting, apparently (laughs).
We’ve had a lot of other cosplayers say patterning; pattern-making is just the worst.
Yaya Han: That’s the thing, I don’t mind pattern-making because it’s sort of like, yeah, the way of thinking is maybe a little different. I see pattern-making as creative, but other people see wig-making as creative, and I’m just like, “It just gets everywhere.”
The collapse of [specialty fabric and craft retailer] JOANN in America must have been very upsetting; traumatizing. Obviously we don’t have JOANN in South Africa, but we were shocked just looking on from here.
Yaya Han: Yeah, so JOANN going bankrupt was traumatizing for the entire community; I talked to a lot of cosplayers. It’s an institution that has been around for almost 100 years. I’ve been to the headquarters in Hudson, Ohio, and I’ve seen the posters on the wall there from back in the 1950s and such. And yeah, just to think that this whole company, with all these thousands of employees, serving an entire country, is gone… It was devastating, it’s still devastating. I’ll get a message randomly from cosplayers like, “Man, I needed this fabric and I don’t have a JOANN and it sucks.” So, yeah, we’re commiserating it.
And then it was not only traumatising for me as a crafter and sewer in general, but also because my business was tied to it. I felt this immense responsibility to find a way to make the fabrics continuously be available, because they’ve become trusted staples. People use the Ultrapreme and the 4-way stretch for all of their costumes cos they work. So I’m like, “What am I going to do if it’s no longer available to them?”
So I did use the power of the cosplay community to reach out to Michaels. I was like, “Guys, I need help.” There was a social media campaign of, like, “Tell Michaels that you want Yaya Han fabrics.” And I think it worked. I think it helped for us to get the negotiations going with Michaels. So now, since December, my fabrics have been available in Michaels; of course, in a smaller capacity, with a smaller selection, and in less stores than before, but they are available in major cities. So if people want them, they have a way to get them. It’s a huge relief for me.
Speaking of social media, I saw a little while ago you commented on the Bridgerton costumes; about things like the sequins and zippers. Did you come up for criticism for that?
Yaya Han: Yeah, I just made this off-the-cuff little post on Threads. And then I didn’t look at it for a day and I come back and it has like a million views. It ended up having like 2.5 million views by the end of the week or something. So many people were like raking me over the coals for my comment that the costumes are not historical. I’m like, “I know they’re not historical. I’m just saying they’re getting worse per season and this season it took me out of the fantasy.” In the end I’m just like, “Alright, just don’t talk about Bridgerton.” The fandom is very protective of its thing. Enjoy, you know.
Back to cosplay, this time on the topic of travelling, do you have any tips for cosplayers in regards to packing?
Yaya Han: Yes, I do a panel on packing. It is hugely important. These are our art pieces; they have to be protected.
So, first of all, we need to recognise that the nature of travelling means that you will have certain limitations. Certain costumes are not travel-friendly. Plan them for conventions that you can drive to, otherwise leave them at home. You can’t fly with them and you just have to accept that, right? There are limitations in air travel.
You can also choose to make costumes in a way that they are travel-friendly, so props that break apart at certain angles and costumes that are broken apart in multiple pieces, so you can pack them separately. For example, armour pieces, you can actually puzzle them together, so arm armour packs inside the leg armour – you can condense them that way.
I think most important is the kind of suitcase you have. I have gone through many suitcases and I’ve landed on the German version of a Samsonite hardcase. That’s the best suitcase I’ve ever had, and it is a hard shell suitcase, but it’s made of a flexible material. It’s a recycled plastic that bends and has some flexibility, so it doesn’t crack, because they’re very hard with your suitcases at airports.
The flexibility is important, and then it opens up, in the middle, and it has two sides, and each side has a divider, so that means I can put fragile things, like flowers, on one side of the suitcase – all the soft items on one side – then close up the divider and it has a level of protection. On the other side, then, I can put shoes and, you know, hard pieces and such. I’m very deliberate with my packing.
And also, depending on the convention, if I can help it, I won’t bring a prop, because props tend to get broken, and during transport the most. I would just forego the prop for the convention, even though the character is supposed to have it at all times. You have to think of the logistics and that’s what I recommend for people. You have to make compromises, and it’s OK for you not to have your prop for one day in order for you to enjoy the convention, and in order for the prop to be protected, you know.
I think we’re out of time, but it’s been really awesome talking to you. We appreciate this opportunity and it’s been great seeing you back in South Africa again.
Yaya Han: Thanks so much. I could yap forever about stuff.