I'm very amateur at it, but I've cosplayed 3 times, 5 if you count when I've reused a cosplay.
The first time I was nervous about it, so since most people said I reminded them of Nathan Explosion I just dyed my long hair black, put on a black t-shirt, carried around an empty bottle of bleach with black finger nails, and wore some combat boots.
And then I jumped to something much more complicated. I wanted to be Geralt of Rivia.
It involved a wig, makeup, and an incredibly hot costume during one of the hottest days in Baltimore.
It was sort of a disaster, and a success. First of all, I didn't have the skills to make my own costume entirely, so I actually bought a cheap costume from a website, and gutted out the parts I didn't like and replaced them with more authentic pieces. I replaced many of the shitty fake leather pieces with real leather, including a badass scabbard to hold both of my swords on my back, a few belts I picked up at Walmart and made adjustments to, completely replaced the "boots" with boots from a Ren Faire I had, borrowed my friends Witcher 3 medallion he got from a collector's edition of the game, and we tried to replace the silver mesh that was used to look like chainmail with handmade chainmail, but it was such a daunting task that I didn't have enough time to really finish it.
A couple of painted LARPING swords, some scarring makeup, and a wig covered in bobby pins and spirit gum because I didn't get the right size wig later, I was fully dressed. In several layers of clothing and fake leather, in heat reaching 100 degrees Farenhite. Yeah, I needed a lot of water and a few breaks, but I had at least 20 pictures asked of me, and I had a lot of fun.
And I learned so much during the process. Like how to take proper measurements, how to make chainmail, how to sew properly, to bring a repair kit just in case something fails, and drink a shit ton of water. I even wrote an article about cosplaying for beginners: https://culturedvultures.com/beginners-guide-cosplay/