I'm not a real cosplayer ?

At a convention I was wearing my Weiss Schnee cosplay, that I bought. (There's a point to mentioning this) Now I'm going to be honest I can't sow without a sowing machine basically all my skill is in making props; swords,shields, masks, staffs etc. Needless to say I buy most of the costumes, body suits or shoes that I wear. Now at the con this girl praises me for my cosplay and then asked me how I made the blue to white fade on my dress. Of course I couldn't help to make a joke so I said "I bought it that way" She rolls her eyes and says, "Oh, your one of those." and walks away without another word. Now I've run into to this more recently with more people at cons and online. "This (inster charcter costume here) is amazing !did you make this ?" "No" "oh well I guess it's still good" What ? I'm so confused by this. Now I asked about this in a cosplay panel and what I got as a response was "I guess if you make the cosplay, you get more respect that way." Now I can see that point, I praise and admire those that can make their entire costume. Their amazing and talented people that deserve lots of respect. However because I don't make all of mine it's not as good ? Good forbid someone can actually afford to buy something ? (I save a lot of money for some of my costumes over months) I never claim anything to be mine either, I always give sources, websites and even business cards if I have them. I guess I need advice ? What should I do ?

Do you think you're cosplaying correctly? That's all that matters Fuck the haters.

I suppose I'm not asking how to change people's opinions per say. But how should I address them, what do I say to them ? Usually my brilliant retort is "UH" I suppose changed people opinions would be next on my agenda. I do appreciate people support though Simon and Donnie are right I shouldn't care, suppose I can't control that there will always be someone to say hurtful things.

In my opinion these people are forgetting the true essence of what cosplay is about. It's not about the how much time and energy you spent into making your costume but about becoming one with the character. Or maybe I'm wrong XD

A shrug and "I'm not here to impress you." would probably do the trick as far as addressing those kinds of people. Callous and short, yes, but at the same time, they've got no right to value-judge you based on whether you made your costume or not.

Well there are some really hard-core cosplayers out there, but they need to realize that it's not only just an art, it is also a hobby, or just for fun. Not everyone does it the same, that's why I don't like competition, because I know how pissed I can get when at the lower end of the stick, I don't aim for first, just not being last. Anyhow, my point is that everyone, even those that are hard-core, do it because we simply enjoy doing it, to feel like the characters we enjoy, which that in itself is an art. We simply just do it to enjoy it, just the same with manga, anime, games, technology, whatever it is. Although we can sometimes get too into it...

Look, you got a costume, who cares if you bought or sewed it. Truth be told I ran into a lot of good costumes that were handmade, and a number of bad ones. I was polite and didn't tell the people with bad costumes their's sucked. I looked at it and noticed what they were trying to do and how hard they worked. There was tons more people who had store bought ones. I won't say there are some people who say that, but just remember they are people who are not true cosplayers. A true cosplayer enjoys themselves. I mean I saw someone whose's costume was so bad it wasn't funny, but they portrayed the personality of the character they were being so well I loved them for that. (so not romantic). So do what you can, or what you want, as long as you bring the best you can. Who cares. I planned for a month to show up in a doctor who shirt and got mocked for that. Did I care? Nope. I said "well yeah, I got a couple of fandom shirts, I wanted to see which one was best."