On Jan 5, 2007, at 4:34 PM, Suzanne wrote:
Yes, I plan on going to CostumeCon. Mostly for the Netherton
sequence ;-) but what the heck, might as well stay for Sunday,
too. Since I've never gone before, what do I need to know ahead of
time? Costuming is a hobby, not my profession, so I'm a little
worried about how I'll fit in.
Costume-Con was started (and is still organized) by costume hobbyists
and amateurs. Some of us have gone pro, but most of us haven't; the
costume business is a real bear to make a decent living in. The pros
who attend are just as enthusiastic and friendly as the amateurs, and
often find themselves thankful that the amateurs are content to stay
amateurs.
Stay for Sunday night. The Historical Masquerade (stage competition)
is on Sunday night, and people really pull out all the stops for it.
You'll regret it if you don't.
If you can, come Friday. The Friday night social is always a blast,
and with the Rock 'n' Roll theme, it's an excuse to throw together
something more recently historical, like 1950's or 60's fashion. That
or something based on Sophia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette."
Like, what's a "hall costume"??!? I'm assuming that we all wear
our stuff all the time but that you keep the competition main
entries under wraps until the last minute, so anything else is a
"hall" costume... is that about right?
Many of the traditions of Costume-Con come from fan-run science
fiction conventions. "Hall costumes" are an example of that. They're
any sort of costume you wear around the halls, and they've been
around since Forry Ackerman and a friend wore "futuristic" clothes to
the first World Science Fiction Convention in 1939. There are
pictures of Forry at
<http://www.noreascon.org/masquerade/>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Forrestcostuming.jpg>
The term is really just to differentiate between hall costume and
presentation/competition costume. Presentation costumes need to work
from the stage, and can be incredibly large and/or impractical. Hall
costumes should be wearable for as long as you like, and convenient
for sitting in panels, having dinner, going to parties, taking the
elevator and other necessities.
Unlike some other costume conferences, Costume-Con encourages
attendees to wear costumes throughout the weekend. Some people (the
folks who aren't fighting luggage allowances) will go through several
changes of clothes each day.
Many people build presentation costumes with the intent to wear the
costumes (or part of the costume) in the halls at future events.
Pierre and Sandy are infamous for the level of detail and
practicality that they work into their stage costumes that you only
see when they're wearing them (huge wings, floral collars or other
uncomfortable whatnot removed) in the halls at another event.
And because of CostumeCon, I've bumped the "orange Italian Ren" aka
"Hobby Lobby Florentine" (no spinach, just cabbage) to the top of
my list of projects to complete this year. For the Sunday ORANGE
hall costume contest.
I think I'm wearing my sunglasses all Sunday.
--
andy trembley, Bitchy Design Queen - http://www.bovil.com/
San Jose, CA - '72 R75/5 '86 R100 (mine) - '92 K75sa '03 R1150R
(Kevin's)
"It's not pink, it's peach-colored. Pink is tacky."
--Manfred Pfirsich Marie Rommel
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