Information about Fursuit

Fursuits are animal costumes that are sometimes associated with certain subgroups of furry fandom. They range from simple tails and ears to full costumes cooled by battery-powered fans.^[1] Similar to mascot suits, they allow the wearer to adopt another personality while in costume. Owners can spend less than one-hundred to many thousands of dollars on one fursuit, depending on complexity and materials used.^[2] Frequently these items are sold at conventions, or online by either commission or auction. Many furry fans make their own using online tutorials or advice from newsgroups. Due to the delicate nature of these costumes, many require special handling while washing.

Most fursuits are directly comparable to costumed characters, similar in construction to the mascots used by companies, and walkaround characters used by theme parks and stage shows.

The term fursuit (believed to be coined in 1993 by Robert King)^[3] can also refer to animal mascot costumes in general, as opposed to human or inanimate object mascots. The act of wearing a fursuit is usually referred to as fursuiting.

Types of fursuits

The standard fursuit is a full body costume that consists of a head, forepaws (hands), hindpaws (feet) and a body with an attached tail; in some cases, the tail is connected via a belt to the wearer and hangs out through a hole in the back of the body. Many suits include special padding or undersuits to give the character its desired shape (this is especially present in larger characters or those of a particular gender.)

A partial suit or half-suit contains the above, only without the body. This allows the wearer to don ordinary clothing (or a different costume) overtop of the paws, head and tail. In partial suits, the tail is usually attached to a belt, and the arms and legs have sleeves that can go up as far as the shoulders and pelvis, respectively.

Most recently, a third type known as the three-quarter suit has been developed, which consists of a head, arms and pants made to look like the legs, tail and feet of the animal in question, which works well for characters who only wear shirts.

Reasons for fursuiting

A person who wears a fursuit may fall into one or more of four categories.

Conventions, parades, exhibitions

Other furries enjoy wearing their suits for parades, exhibitions, or conventions. Often these are of a personal character who they are expressing as a form of role play. The fursuiter may consider themselves to be expressing who they really are. These fursuiters may also wear their suits to small, informal meetings among furry fans in their area.

Role-playing

Some players of live action role-playing games (LARP) create highly elaborate costumes (including fursuits) for their characters. Half suits (arms, legs and a mask or makeup) are usually created for role-playing games, though some use full-body suits. These suits wear elaborate clothes and costumes of their own, depending on the theme of the game.

Cosplayers (short for "costume players") are similar to LARPers, but without the live games. They focus on characters from popular media, with emphasis on Japanese pop culture such as manga, anime, and video games.

Job or charity work

Some furry fans do fursuiting for a job or to bring attention to an event or charity. This can include mascots, but not all mascots are furries. Many are hired through an agency to represent a character, while others bring their own constructions to an event instead. There are also several volunteer fursuiting groups across North America that either ask or are asked to entertain at various social functions. Some groups even set up their own charitable events or perform on the streets to passersby.^[4]

Sexuality

Some of the furry fandom consider the fursuit a sexual item. Some fursuits are sold with or modified to contain provisions for sexual activity, such as openings, removable panels, and anatomically correct artificial genitalia. While these are the most common in the media, they are only a small fragment of the "furry" community and the least common instance of fursuiting.

The Fursuit Parade at Anthrocon 2006.	TaniDaReal	Sinatra at Further Confusion	Spunky and Furloween's vampire bat at Midwest FurFest 2006
Iron Artist competition host at Further Confusion 2002

In popular culture

• The TV procedural drama featured a fursuit convention in episode 406, "Fur and Loathing."
• The Shining has a brief depiction of someone in a dog costume performing oral sex on a man, a reference to the owner of Overlook Hotel and his homosexual partner.

Music video appearances

Fursuits are occasionally featured in music videos. Examples include:

• "Da Funk" and "Fresh" By Daft Punk features Charles, an anthropomorphic dog wearing clothes walking through New York city.
• "Beautiful", by Moby, which revolves around a swinger party where all the participants are dressed up in fursuits.
• "We Know Something You Don't Know", by DJ Format, which involves dancing fursuiters.
• "Nature Anthem" by Grandaddy, featuring a fursuiter parade through the forest.
• "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots", by The Flaming Lips, which involves many fursuiters dancing in a club.
• "Talks Shows on Mute" by Incubus, shows the band playing on a talk show which the audience and hosts are wearing fursuits and extensive make-up.
• "The Distance" by Cake features a multitude of fursuits in various environments encouring the protagonist in the video on his 'race'.
• "Tainted Love" by Marilyn Manson features dancers in bunny fursuits on a bed behind Manson.
• "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse" by Of Montreal depicts what looks to be a high school play, and there are various fursuits in the video.
• "Love Cats" by The Cure features fursuiters playing horns.
• "Clothes Off!!" by Gym Class Heroes features Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy in fursuits doing a variety of activities, including a poker game and a dance-off.
• "Rough Gem" by Islands includes children and afro-american men dressed in dalmatian outfits.

References

See also

• Kigurumi

External links

• The Furry Costume Information Exchange
• The Fursuit community (on LiveJournal)
• The Fursuit Archive
• fursuit.co.uk The British fursuit site
• on WikiFur, a specialist wiki
• Jay Van Buren and the Fursuit Portrait Project

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