KANGAR: Wearing a hijab should not hinder one’s stylish foray into cosplay, which can be associated with suggestive styles.
On the contrary, it gives Muslim women a chance to get creative, as long as it abides by religious values.
The courage to combine cosplay with Muslim attire drew Amalina Hamzah, 22, to try out cosplaying, but in a hijab.
Amalina is one of the first cosplay fans in the country to spark off the hijab cosplay phenomenon here.
The Kuala Perlis style-setter, who goes by the name Miisa MHC in Instagram and Kawaii Miisa on Facebook, is world renowned.
She said her idea to combine cosplay and Muslim attire started a year ago when she became fascinated by the outfits worn by anime characters.
“The look is cute and beautiful… at first I was thinking, as if I’m going to take off my tudung? So I changed my ‘hairstyle’ to suit anime characters with my tudungs.
“Moreover, these days, there are many different types of tudungs which can be styled in various fashions. So it’s not difficult to change your hairstyle to mimic a Japanese anime character, in fact it’s easier because tudungs come in a spectrum of colours,” she said.
She has more than 5,000 Instagram and Facebook followers, but admits that at first her parents were very against the idea.
“Initially they were not agreeable to the idea, but after a while they said ‘okay’. However, they always advise me to be cautious with such a hobby,” she said.
Amalina admitted that she has received mixed reactions from people on social media, with some claiming it’s an abomination to her religion.
“It’s just a hobby, I only choose certain characters which are not sexy, and it’s not like I’m wearing it every day.
“Besides that, I’m just doing it as an individual and not a member of any clubs. I just enjoy taking pictures,” she said.
Currently she has five different cosplay outfits in her collection which include Touken Ranbu, Naruto Shippuden, Miss Kobayashi’s Maid Dragon and Twin Star Exorcists.
Amalina added that she has spent almost RM2,000 on all her cosplay outfits, mostly from online websites, some from as low as RM100 and some more than RM300.