Costume Con 32 Con Report

I haven't been home for more than a couple hours and I'm already eager to write this report. I've been attending conventions for... 15 years now. Anime North and Fanexpo have been my staples since I was in my teens. My focus on why I attend has changed over the years, with no surprise, but I love those conventions dearly.

And then, Costume Con came into my life. I've really only been taking costuming "seriously" since maybe the last five years at the most. Two years ago, I heard about Costume Con 32 to held in Toronto. And I thought: "Costuming convention? That sounds fun!" so I bought the tickets, and then perused the archives. And then I knew true greatness and true fear, because those archives held costuming art like I've never seen before. But I was determined to go for it. Sure at first, I was going to attend every competitions and whatnot, but as the day job and life does dictate, I settled on for one design and work at that.

Costume Con is obviously about the costumes, but what I loved was not only the costumes themselves, but the passion and love people had for what they made. I saw everything from ferocious to humble pride of what people had created. I saw so many different media being used to create everything under the sun. But, it was also the eagerness to share how they had accomplished what they had created. Panels were full of eager people telling what they knew, and in many cases learning new things even on the topics they were teaching. And people were just crazy friendly. You'd go into an elevator and turn to the person next to you, and three floors later, you were comrades in arms, if not friends. Costume Con may be tiny compared to the rest of the cons I've attended, but what it "lacks" in square footage, it cannot be compared to the family that is Costume Con.

And it's coming back in three years.

COSTUME CON 35 TORONTO!

I'm there. I'm SO there.
 Anyways! On to the Report!

Friday: Kashunga and I were dropped off.... just before 10, I believe. Hotel room was available, got unloaded and ventured down to the registration to get our badges - easy and peasy. I registered for the Historical Masq and with business attended to, we set out to enjoy. We went to Miss Lizzy's Traveling Historical Show, the Stage Makeup Tutorial, partook in the dealer's room and generally enjoyed the sights. A leisurely meal at Jack Astor's, and then back to the hotel.

After changing into our Game of Thrones inspired costume, we headed down to the Social for a few hours. The set up was fantastic, thematically decorated and catered, and we watched the Single Pattern Contest. First competition of the convention, and already I was wowed. After that, we headed back to the room, to prep for the next day. Ash joined us.... late. 1ish, I think. We were more than half asleep at that point. But, all troops present and accounted for, we proceeded to attempt to sleep for the busy next day.


Saturday: Bright Eyed and bushy tailed (not at all), we headed out and enjoyed more panels. Jewelry for costumes, Millinery basics in the morning, followed by lunch at Swiss Chalet with the brief car loan we had. After that, we attended the Fundamentals of Armor making, and then I headed upstairs to prepare for my workmanship judging. They were running a tad behind because of a group judging, but I got to chat with others waiting for judging. I'll get into judging later, but I survived! After that, we devoured more food at Boston Pizza, and then changed to attend the Sci-Fi/Fantasy Masquerade.

And what a Masquerade! The largest ever for a Costume Con, apparently! But so many amazing creations, it great to watch. I haven't seen one as an audience member quite a while, so it was nice to be able to see everything on stage and with sound. Post-masq, we escaped for a bit to the room to rest and kill time before the judging and then returned for the awards presentation. We got to see some well deserved awards, and then dragged ourselves off to bed.

Sunday: That morning, was not an energetic morning. Late night, but with lots to do, we mustered our strength for day 3. First was the Future Fashion Folio. My selected design wasn't created (maybe next time....) but it was great to see people bring other designs to life, and in some cases seeing multiple people's take on a single design.Panel time - Props and weapons, and then Making Wings for Kashunga and I, while Ash headed over to Beads and Shinies. The others headed over to more panels while I had Tech rehearsal, (again, later to be explained) and then we popped out to Jack's again for dinner. Then, it was rig up time for my masquerade. Couple hours there, few in the greenroom, the masquerade and awards in one fell swoop. (Results to follow!) After that, it was off to bed. Kashunga had to leave us, but Ash and I stayed the one more night.

Monday: A lazy day. Really it was a slow pack up and a final tour through the dealer's room. We attended the Historical Masq show and tell, so was able to see some of the other competitors garments up close. After that we headed home.

So, yes!

Amazing convention. Simply amazing. I can't wait for the next one!

But now, on to the Masquerade.....!

Cosplaying as seen on TV!

As luck would have it, I ended up watching an episode of that "Heroes of Cosplay" show on Space. I've been curious about that show for awhile now. Having seen only one episode of the series, at the end of the season no less, I can no way make a proper critique of the show but....

1. The people they were showing do really have some excellent skills. What's the best way to get that salt water look? Swim in the frigid ocean, of course! Cosplayer logic.

2. That convention ranking system was.... odd. Do they not follow ICG guidelines and just have place finishes, or was that part cut out? It really didn't help to showcase how a novice cosplayer can even break the top with that kind of system. I'm just so used to FanExpo's system, (and I guess by extension, Animenorth) that it seems... weird. Not that having a champion wrestling belt wouldn't be hilarious to bring home. "MOM! DAD! I GOT A THINGIE!!!"

3. Those cosplayer looked too fancy! (I am well aware it's part of the film process) But, man, anytime I'm working on something and have to emerge back into The World Around Us, I feel like some sort of freak of nature, complete with squinting eyes, hair frizz that looks like it's trying to free itself from my skull, and battle damage in the form of pin stabs, glue gun burns and who knows what else. Maybe the ability to look fancy while constructing comes with time and experience? Probably wouldn't make good tv though if they looked like me.

Interviewer: Ma'am, how do you feel about your current project?
Me: *foaming at the mouth* WHERE'S MA METAL TOOL THINGIE???
Interviewer: Oh. God.
Me: I want tea. Can you make me some tea? I just want tea..... *bursts into tears*
Interviewer: Get a Priest. Get the whole Vatican.
Me: I made a dress. It's a pretty dress. Please love my pretty dress.
Interviewer: *flees*

Other something to that respect. Ah, well. I wonder what the non-cosplayers out there think of our charming little hobby. Are we more well adjusted people than they thought, or bigger freaks than they could imagine?

It does give me a bit of a desire to get to work on my own things. That artisan rank ain't going to break in itself.

*sets music to dramatic*