Decades ago, William Rotsler came up with what got called "Rotsler's Rules" for what to do and what not to do in Science Fiction costuming (actually, they were more like guidelines...). Some were signs of their time, like the one about plus-sized women being cautioned against the wearing of Spandex (he missed the example I saw where the plus-sized woman in question was downright sexy in it). Others were good basic advice which applies to historical costuming. So anyone who remembers Rotsler's Rules will see some of them put into my words here. I write this for the folks who have not encountered those Rules (and for the folks who have written to me asking for them).
*Keep your presentation as short as you can. * Don't feel like you need to fill all the time allotted. These time slots are so the Masquerade Director will have an idea how long the show will run (and to keep it from running as long as the judging takes). For historicals the purpose of the presentation is to show everyone the costume, front and back, and to show the judges how the costume looks in motion. That's all you really need to do. * What is the difference between a SF masquerade presentation and a historical one?* In the SF masquerade you might be anything, even an alien or the embodiment of a concept and not a person at all. These tend to be big and sparkley, and they often go for some dramatic (or humorous) effect. What you're wearing in historical recreation is what some real person would have worn in the past. This includes what historical folks wore for costumes, i.e. Victorian "fancy dress", ancient Greek theatrical masks, etc.. So base your presentation on what a real person would do, even if this is as simple as walking down the street. Move like a person wearing clothes, and maybe make a period gesture or display a period prop. Show that the costume fits when you move in it and that you aren't stepping on the hem or anything. For our purposes historical also includes those wacko twists we call historical interpretation, and pretty much anything goes for the presentation of a historical interpretation. After all, you're choosing to do something differently than what was correct for the period it's based on. So for a theatrical interpretation you might decide to base your presentation on how an actor would move on stage playing the character wearing that costume. Other kinds of interpretations might want different ways to show them to their best advantage. But from a historical purist's standpoint, any interpretation, even a valid theatrical one, is doing something "wrong". And historical purists complain about the costumes from historical movies all the time. So go for it with your interpretation, and do it "wrong" with style (Jack Sparrow's costume comes to mind). I'm a historical purist most of the time, until I do it "wrong" for comic effect. There's nothing wrong with deliberately doing it "wrong", and the results can have a satisfying mind-tweaking effect. I just make sure I do it "wrong" enough that people know it's my choice, not a mistake. *Do I need to make up a character for my stage presentation?* The short answer is, no you don't. Early on you will probably start thinking about the kind of person who would have worn the clothes you are making, and this information will go into your docs (my docs this year would have said I was a hat shop owner's wife c.1910). But it's not like you need to have a back-story and do the whole Method Acting thing. Recreating a period way of walking might be as much of a character as you need. (My presentation this year would have put a generic c.1910 woman into a contemporary situation for 20-30 seconds, with one prop. My character would have moved around on the stage, turned around at least once, and left. In the 1910 story I took her from, she doesn't even have a name, so there wasn't much of a character to base her on.) *That was recreation. Do I need to make up a character for an interpretation?* The real Marie Antoinette didn't boogie, she behaved like the Queen of France (when she wasn't pretending to be a milkmaid). So if you're recreating Marie Antoinette, act like the real one. OTOH, if you're doing an interpretation of Marie Antoinette as a rock star (like Madonna), she might boogie. How you move on stage is an integral part of your presentation, whether it's a recreation or an interpretation. If the clothes and the character don't match, it should look like there's a good reason for this difference. *When on stage, move in character, whatever that character is. * Heroes don't act undecided, they act heroic. The Emperor of the Universe doesn't act meek, he owns the place and he knows it. The Nobility don't slouch, they walk like they're the boss and the rest of us aren't. Villains don't just walk, they slink, lurk, and menace. Professional stage actors have learned to act bigger than reality, so what they do projects all the way to the back of the audience. If your character is bada**, act like the biggest bada** around. If your character is shy, act super shy. Subtle acting is for movie close-ups, and the judges might miss it - certainly the people in the back row will. (Rotsler said, "Princesses don't schlep".) *Using all of the stage is a good idea.* By this I mean don't just sneak across the back of the stage and disappear. One simple presentation is starting at one side of the stage, walking in a loop that gets near the front of the stage, then exiting off the other side of the stage. You might want to stop for a couple of seconds at the front of the stage. *Don't be on stage too long.* Don't even be there so long that the judges/audience *think* you've been there too long. If you're doing a martial arts costume, don't do the whole kata, only enough moves to display the costume. The same applies if you're doing a dance costume. 20 or 30 seconds is usually long enough for any single-person presentation. (Rotsler said, "Don't bore the audience".) *Badly done skits don't improve your costume. * Poker players know they can ruin a good poker hand by playing badly, and improve a bad hand by playing well. Same for a presentation - you can ruin a good costume with a bad presentation, or improve a not-so-good one with a good presentation. Avoid skits, political speeches, movie lines, or theater scenes *unless* they're short and really add something to the costume itself. In any case, keep things as short as you can and still present the costume. *If the audience/judges don't "get it", your whole carefully planned presentation may fall flat.* If you're doing some in-joke, let the audience/judges in on it so they can laugh at the funny parts. If you have a totally wacked historical interpretation premise, let the audience/judges know what it is so they can fully appreciate what you were trying to do. You're on the stage for less than a minute, so the audience/judges will only be confused if they have to spend part of that time figuring it out for you (and they may never figure it out). Confusing the judges doesn't benefit your presentation score. Confusing the audience doesn't get that audience response you were looking for from them. *Never surprise tech (or the Masquerade Director).* The tech crew are your friends, and a good tech crew can sometimes pull off the most amazing tricks for you (not always). But if you go changing things, or want to surprise everyone including tech, tech may not be able to adapt fast enough to make your little surprise look good. Worst case scenario - your surprise will fall flat, leaving the judges and audience scratching their heads over what you were trying to do. But tech likes to be in on your surprise, and they won't want to tell anyone about it before they help you pull it off. They, and the Masquerade Director, are perfectly good with surprising the judges, and the judges don't (usually) mind having their preconceptions bent a little. (I've won two presentation awards where the judges said afterwards that my costume had set them up and faked them out. But they wouldn't have gotten it if I hadn't set them up first. And both times my presentations lasted about 30 seconds.) *Never try speaking from the stage.* This applies even if you have theater training and know what you're doing. (The usual effect, with hotel meeting room acoustics, is "What was that?") Record all your words and lip-synch them, or have the MC read them. Again, keep it short. * Don't do anything dangerous on stage (or off it).* This includes not doing anything that the judges/audience *think* looks dangerous but you think isn't. Don't point a gun at the judges, the MC, the audience, tech, or Hotel personnel, even a fake one (point it at the ceiling well above anyone's head). Don't wave a sword around on stage unless the Masquerade Director personally gives you the OK (many have their own weapons inspectors - *always* ask first). The same goes for sword fights, even choreographed ones. Peace-bond or sheath your weapons backstage till you're ready to go on stage, then do the same again afterward. Don't leave long weapons/props where they can fall over onto somebody. Don't leave anything where it might be a tripping hazard. *Don't burn down the Hotel.* No flame, sparks, smoke, or smoking on stage, backstage, or anywhere near anyone else's costume. Best case scenario is the Fire Marshall closes down the entire convention. Worst case scenario is someone gets maimed or dead. *Don't mess up anyone else's costume/props with your costume/props.* Don't have sharp pointy bits that will damage costumes or people. Don't use messy, drippy, sticky, or otherwise icky substances that might rub off on someone else's costume. (The most famous of Rotsler's rules was the "no peanut butter" rule. I was told someone had come to a convention as a turd from the planet Uranus, wearing very little but chunky peanut butter, which rubbed off on everything and everybody, tracked up the hotel carpets, and then went rancid.) *Make two copies of your music.* Keep one with you and hand the other one to the appropriate tech person. * Do I really need music for my presentation?* Again, the simple answer is no. But the right music can really set the mood for what you're doing. It may calm your nerves, it may keep you in character, and music cues can help pace your presentation. *Don't wear your Con badge on stage unless it's part of your character.* *If you intend to be funny, make sure the audience thinks you're funny.* Humor isn't necessary in a historical recreation presentation, though many interpretation presentations have been hilarious. But if your presentation isn't as funny as you thought it would be, it will come across as confusing or boring, and that won't help your costume. Try your presentation out on a humorless friend, co-worker, or little brother first, to make sure they think you're as funny as you do. If nobody in the audience laughed, the judges, as part of that audience, weren't laughing either. Single jokes, followed by quick exits, often work pretty well. Presentations involving in-jokes, or unclear premises, often fall flat. (Rotsler said, "Short is better than long, funny is better than not, and short and funny is best".) * Practice, practice, practice (direct quote from Rotsler, I think). * Be ready for things to go wrong, and plan extensively for when (not if - remember Murphy's Law) unexpected things happen. This includes bringing your own safety pins, a couple of replacement buttons, spare batteries, etc. Practice your choreography, blocking, and gestures till you can become the character you're doing. Practice with your props till what you do with them becomes second nature. Practice with your long skirt, uncomfortable shoes, limited-vision mask, cape, etc. till moving in them is a no-brainer. Practice your music cues till you can remember them in your sleep (and, in the middle of the night one night, you will). *Everybody in your presentation should practice, practice, practice.* Find out the size of the stage, lay it out in masking tape on your driveway or someplace, and have everybody practice their blocking and choreography together. A multi-person presentation is only as good as its weakest performer. *Never skip the tech rehearsal if there is one. * Bring the most cumbersome costume bits and walk the stage wearing all of them. Tech will look good if you look good, so it's in their best interest to make you look good. And they're all volunteers, so be nice. *Take care of yourself.* Eat dinner. Get plenty of sleep. Finish the costume in plenty of time. This is not always possible, but it can't hurt. Make sure you can sit, eat, drink, and go to the bathroom by yourself. Either be able to get dressed by yourself or bring along a roadie (your roadie needs to practice too). *Make sure all your pieces make it to the convention.* Can all your props fit out your door? Into your car? Through airport security? Onto the airplane? Across that international border? Across the Hotel lobby, in front of Hotel security, on their baggage cart? Into your hotel room with that big bed in it? If you answer no to any of these, you may need to redesign something. And make sure what you bring is legal to own/wear/display in the city/country where the convention is, without violating things like fire-arm or endangered species laws. (Have a back-up plan for what you're going to do if one of your pieces gets lost in transit.) *Other notes that didn't fit anywhere else:* Good design will look like you planned it, even if you had to do it at the last minute, in the Green Room, with hot glue. Bad design will look like a mistake, even if you planned it for months. If some aspect of your presentation (or costume) comes across as a mistake, it won't do your costuming skill any credit. If your presentation (or costume) looks like it went off flawlessly, nobody will know what you think you did wrong. *Never throw away a compliment.* If someone gives you a compliment, and you stand there telling them all the reasons they shouldn't have complimented you, you've just thrown away the gift they tried to give you. (Smile, say thank you, and close your mouth - it took me years of telling other people that before I could remember to do it.) If your mistakes don't show, they didn't see them, and it's more information than they needed to know if you point them all out. Certainly it will ruin the initial good impression you made on them. If they ask if what you did was difficult, say yes and leave it at that, without agonizing over all the problems you had - costuming skill is overcoming things like that. *Everyone makes mistakes, including the person wearing that nice costume you're looking at.* People tend to compare their internal self-image with the outward appearance of other people. This is especially true of costumers. You know all the failures you made with your costume, and here's something standing in front of you in a costume that looks so good from the outside. What's wrong with this picture? One is that they're not telling you all the failures they made with their costume, and the other is they're standing there complimenting you on the costume you thought was finally good enough to wear in public, with all its mistakes cleverly and laboriously hidden. Everyone eventually does things like running out of fabric, cutting the wrong thing and making a hole, sewing something on backwards/inside out/upside-down, etc., and eventually a costumer learns what to do when this happens. I'm much better at dealing with these things than I was in 1971 when I started making historicals. But you never see my costumes that failed so bad I threw them away unfinished. And you never see the mistakes I made so bad that I had to cut them up and use them for something else. And, if I'm any good, you don't see the mistakes on the ones I'm wearing standing in front of you. (I will show you if you ask specifically.) The best panel I was ever on was called "What not to do". A bunch of us costumers with big reputations sat around telling Newbie-costumer failure stories about ourselves. By the end of the panel it was standing room only and everyone was adding their stories. The Newbies in the front row were frantically scribbling notes. I brought my first historical, inside out, and spoke for several minutes about it (polyester poplin, zipper in the front, no seam finish at all, etc.). Everyone starts out at a low place on the learning curve, including the best costumer you know. Don't get discouraged. *What's the difference between a historical masquerade costume and a hall costume?* At CostumeCon, nothing. Most Masquerade Directors don't want you entering anything you've worn in the halls before the masquerade. But that's so you won't spoil the show, or lose that surprise effect you were trying for. Since historicals are usually the same scale as modern clothes (court Georgians, hoop-skirt Victorians, and bustles excepted) they fit very well in the average Hotel hallway. And the detailing on them is best seen up close anyway. The win-win solution is to compete in the costume then wear it around after the masquerade. *I just have this little historical house-dress, so it's not good enough to enter.* Many SF Masquerade costumes are too big in scale to look good anywhere else but on a stage. But historical masquerade costumes, while on the same stage, aren't expected to be as large-scale. True, a little house-dress won't fill the stage like a full court Georgian with panniers and a tall wig will, and you might have to tweak your presentation to fill more of the stage (this could be as simple as sweeping part of the stage with a period-looking broom), but there's no question that something as small as a simple house-dress belongs on a historical masquerade stage - it does. *I'm afraid to enter. I don't want to be judged.* Enter Not for Competition, and grab the chance to get some free, no-fault stage experience. That way the entire audience can see what great things you did and you don't have to cope with being judged. *I'm not going to enter my interpretation in historical, I'm entering it in SF.* Why? As in, why should SF get all the cool historical interpretations? At CostumeCon you get to enter these in historical, because SF isn't the only masquerade at the Con. _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
