Now celebrating its 20th year, Detroit’s Youmacon convention brings thousands of anime and pop culture fans to Huntington Place for celebrity guests, vendors, musical performances, and more — but the highlight is always the cosplay, or fans who dress up as their favorite characters, often by handcrafting their own intricate and creative costumes.
Emily Wallin-Kale, who leads Youmacon’s cosplay department, says the trend has become bigger than ever, and spent much of the year prepping for the event by lining up corporate sponsors.
“We literally start in January,” she says. “Me and my team, we start reaching out to different companies to see if they’d be willing to do prize sponsorships. … Once we start rolling, it’s like a snowball. It keeps getting bigger and bigger.”
This year, Wallin-Kale says Youmacon is offering some $7,000 worth of prizes, many of which are aimed to appeal to cosplayers. Those include gift cards for Arda Wigs, tights and leotard retailer We Love Colors, The Foamory (which specializes in foam and other materials for cosplay), decal company Siser North America, and Bernette sewing machines, among others.
“I remember when I was competing in this region several years ago, I was always glad to receive my $25 gift card or whatever,” Wallin-Kale says. “I was always happy to get that because it helps you plan for the next one.”
She adds, “I love giving this stuff out every year, seeing the look on peoples’ faces when they come up to get their awards. It’s rewarding.”
Wallin-Kale says the corporate support is a sign of how far cosplay has come over the past 10-20 years, exploding in popularity as anime, manga, and video games have as well.
“It’s definitely growing,” she says, recalling attending sewing expos around 2013 as a cosplayer. “People just thought it was so weird, like, ‘Why are you wearing costumes? What are these costumes for?’ Because these conventions were filled with quilt ladies who thought the future of sewing is just people who make quilts.”
She adds, “There’s a whole world of crazy apparel and stuff to make out there. We are so glad that companies are finally buying in.”
This year’s event also includes “make-and-take” cosplay workshops sponsored by Bernette and other brands, where attendees can learn to make their own costumes and have something to show for it. Since spaces are limited, attendees should purchase tickets and register for classes ahead of time on Youmacon’s website.
“It’s going to be a really great opportunity for people who want to get their hands on a machine in a class setting and get the feel for what it’s like to create,” Wallin-Kale says, adding, “I’ve wanted to do this for years, and it was finally in the cards and it just kind of all fell into place.”
Wallin-Kale first attended Youmacon in 2007, and has led the cosplay department since 2018. As a cosplayer, she has represented the United States three times in international cosplay competitions and says she loves to help bring up the next generation of cosplayers.
“I am so happy to do it,” she says. “It’s honestly such a rewarding way to give back.”
The Integrated Cosplay Contest at this year’s Youmacon will send winners to compete in Spain and Portugal. And for the first time this year, it will also send cosplayers to Hiroshima, though the Japanese event is less of a competition and more of a “miniature world cosplay summit,” she says.
“It’s a fellowship event,” she says. “You get to meet other cosplayers and make friends, but there’s no pressure. You do perform, but there’s no awards. It’s just the experience of it.”
Wallin-Kale says one thing she loves about cosplay is its ability to bring people together and even transcend borders.
She recalls attending her first international event, Clara Cow’s Cosplay Cup, in the Netherlands, and found a community eager to share resources to help each other with last-minute costume fixes.
“It’s wonderful, honestly, the opportunities to go and meet people who come from other perspectives and other cultures, but you all understand each other,” she says.
This year, Wallin-Kale plans to dress up as Hatsune Miku, an anime pop star from Japan known for her teal pigtails. It’s a lot of scrambling ahead of time to prepare for the big event, but she says it’s worth it once you in costume surrounded by other fans.
“It’s a privilege to be a part of this community,” she says.
Emily Wallin-Kale can be found on social media platforms as Lunaladyoflight.
Youmacon runs from 5-10 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 30; 10 a.m.-1 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 31; 10 a.m.-1 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 1; and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 2. Huntington Place is located at 1 Washington Blvd., Detroit. Tickets start at $75 and are available to purchase at youmacon.com.
This article appears in Oct. 29-Nov. 11, 2025.