Costume Retrospective - "Timey-Wimey in B.L.U.E"

"Timey-Wimey in B.L.U.E." also known as my T.A.R.D.I.S. dress has been my project for the past several months. Running with my long standing tradition of costuming as things or concepts, I wanted to give myself the ultimate piece of Doctor Who paraphernalia that was better than anything I could buy in the store. It just so happened that this rolled over into my presentation piece for Costume Con.

I designed this piece around my love of historical and incorrectly historical costume designs. I didn't want steampunk, with gears and stuff. I wanted a grand dress. Strong, lady-like with just a hint of madness. So I went to the patterns, created my silhouette, and tried to draw in the aspects of the T.A.R.D.I.S. without breaking up the flow of the overall pieces. And I'm honestly pleased with how it turned out.

The dress of made of blue silk, black and white twill, various cottons and some drapery. It is trimmed different widths of velvet ribbon, and another of lace and chiffon. I have glittering rhinestones in the flowers of my bodice, and the ones on my skirt are made with LED lights. My T.A.R.D.I.S. lantern is a clock shaped fan, that illuminates with another LED. Hiding beneath the hoop skirt and really only seen when I twirl like a mad woman, I have silk spats with the seal of Rassalion. My commissioned pendant is the gold of the Time Vortex.

I wore and competed with this dress at Costume Con 32, in the the Historical Masquerade. This being my
first Costume Con, I didn't really know what to expect - especially being judged out of costume and on a whole separate day than the actual stage competition. So I went for it with all the nervous energy I could muster.

The "ordeal" wasn't actually that bad. The judges were extremely nice and relaxed. I'm sure I talked a mile a minute, but that's not a surprise. Fortunately, all three were familiar with Doctor Who, which made it much easier to explain the concepts I tried to incorporate. I had plan of attack I tried to follow with my explanation, but I'm not sure how well I managed to follow it with the nerves. But, all in all, I think it went well. At least I have a better idea of what's it like next time.

The next day was Tech practice, which frankly, was kind of fun. I kind of felt like a star, when the stage crew discussed blocking and lighting that would best suit the dress. Definitely better than having no idea how a planned presentation was actually going to look, without even see the stage.

Later on, the actual full rig up before the greenroom occurred marking the first time I had been in the whole dress for more than a half an hour. I survived the 5 hours in a corset which was,..... interesting. I sneezed once. It didn't work well. The wait in the greenroom wasn't that long - there were only 31 entries for the masq, though I was told this was large for a Costume Con.

Then came the actual presentation.

I don't remember much of it. I didn't fall over.

That was good.

Then came callbacks for photo - I was called twice, the second time being with the other T.A.R.D.I.S. dress. We made quite the pair!

After that; the Awards Ceremony.

To be honest, I didn't know what the outcome would be. I hoped I would get something. I would lying to say I didn't crave a little something for the design - it was a competition. But to compete again the sheer outstanding quality of everyone else, was terrifying and humbling - I didn't see anything that greenroom less than spectacular. And then:

Measure of Excellent Award - From the Northern Lights Chapter of the ICG
Best Documentation (Historical Interpretation) - Novice Division.
Best Time Machine (Presentation - Historical Interpretation)  - Novice Division.
Best Overall Workmanship (Historical Interpretation) - Novice Division.

... I mean, WHAT????? I was blown away. Hell, I'm still blown away. I have no idea what I did to deserve four friggin' awards. Something right, I guess but... yeah. I was stunned.

So was my face, apparently it was hilarious.

So yeah. I did it. I more than did it, really. Suddenly, now I'm a journeyman at the International level. Go figure? Guess that means I will have to up the anti for the next Costume Con, eh?

But seriously, I'm beyond thrilled. Don't know if the judges linger in the world of Blogger, but if you do -

Thank you so very much.

^_^

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.....!