Over the weekend, photographer Sacha Goldberger took part in an exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris. His show was all about taking cosplayers back to the Renaissance. Both his images and the costume work are simply out of this world.
I mean, just look at them. Everything about them is perfect. The demure modelling, the photos that have turned out like centuries-old paintings, the design work (and construction) that went into each costume...it's truly one of the most awe-inspiring cosplay projects I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot.
Note that these aren't fakes, or photoshop fantasy: a small army of people, from costumers to cosplayers to models to hairdressers to make-up stylists were involved. So that's not a computer making Leia (Sabine Graissaguel) look like Carrie Fisher, or Superman (Jonathan Tuil) look like Christopher Reeve. That's their regular human faces, transformed with make-up and lighting.
You can see more of the images at Sacha's Facebook page and personal site (though judging by the credits there are way more pics that aren't viewable online, so if you got to see it in person, lucky you!).