April 2020
After 3 weeks of being stuck in my apartment, I’m trying to come up with new projects to keep me amused. For April, I’m posting photos of my costuming history, in somewhat chronological order (sorry, no existing pix of grade school Hallowe’en costumes, although I did once dress up as a lighthouse for a party). Here goes … #30days30costumes
April 1: This Bene Gesserit robe was my first (adult) foray into costuming. I am indebted to my friend Deb Jones for her creativity, inspiration, and for teaching me how to use a sewing machine, back when we were in grad school in Hawaii. Deb and I wore our Dune Robes to Mythcon 7 in 1976.
April 2: I’m a HUGE Patricia McKillip fan, and proud to call her a friend. I made this Raederle of An costume for Mythcon 12 in 1981; McKillip was attending but did not remember giving her heroine a green dress (she did). You’ll see lots of Folkwear patterns in my early costuming efforts, as well as hand embroidery and beading (I’m too old and impatient to do that now).
April 3: This costume was inspired by — and titled as — a quote from Ursula K. Le Guin that is included in the introduction to her 1979 book of essays, The Language of the Night:
“We like to think we live in daylight, but half the world is always dark, and fantasy, like poetry, speaks the language of the night.”
I created this outfit for the Mythcon 15 masquerade in 1984 (and yes, it’s adapted from another Folkwear pattern).
April 4: So… Deb convinced me that we should go to Costume Con 3 (1985) and spiff up the silk flame and sea cloaks we had made in Australia (where they have some serious dyes); we bought a bolt of silk in Sydney and did the batiks in Canberra over Christmas holiday. We first wore these at Mythcon 13 in 1982, without the underdresses and ribbon-y stuff. [Fun fact: I got the initial inspiration for these at a Stevie Nicks concert in Boulder.] We called our presentation “Airs of Sea and Fire” (an oblique McKillip reference) and won “Best Workmanship” in the Novice division.
April 5: “The Presentation of the Book of Iff to the College at Caithnard” was created by me and Deb Jones for the Mythcon 16 masquerade in 1985, when Patricia McKillip was the author Guest of Honor. Deb was the Morgul of Herun; I was her heir and bodyguard Lyra. This was the beginning of a black and silver color theme that we revisited a few more times, and another adaptation of a Folkwear pattern, same one by both of us (the Tibetan Panel Coat). That is not a real spear; I fashioned it from a piece of lead I found in the lab.
April 6: Mythcon 17, 1986: Pat Wynne and I portrayed Eärendil and Elwing in Sarah Beach’s play, “The Masque of the Silmarils.” It was obviously a bonding experience, since Pat sent me this lovely Death Star locket as a Procrasmas gift a few years ago.
April 7: The next costume collaboration Debby Jones and I did was for Costume Con 7 in 1989. As usual, our design workflow was via snail mail, each of us sending photocopies of cool images clipped from magazines, cassette mix tapes, fabric swatches, and costume sketches back in forth for several months. When we met up at the convention, we always delighted each other with what we’d individually created, and then we put our choreography together. I’m very proud of “Alliance.” It was a Journeyman entry, and won “Best in Show” in a SF&F masquerade that was full of amazing talent.
I’ve uploaded a — not very good quality — video of our masquerade presentation (ripped from the official VHS/DVD). [Fun fact: Enya was pretty much unknown when we did this costume; many people asked us about the music. We used “Boadicea” from The Celts, a soundtrack for the eponymous BBC documentary series.]
April 8: One of the larger events at Costume Con is the Future Fashion Show. Anyone can send in a design (there’s usually a broad theme) and the selections are put into the Future Fashion Folio booklet sent to attendees, who can choose something to make and wear in the Sunday afternoon show. I can’t draw a straight line with a ruler, but I’ve made several ensembles designed by other costumers for the event. Here are photos of some of my creations.
April 9: “Ghosts in the Machine” was our black and silver extravaganza for the SF&F masquerade at Costume Con 8 (1990). It’s inspired by Melanesian tamate dance costume and Pacific Northwest tribal designs, as reimagined by a race of robots. And The Police, although we did not use their music for the presentation, but that of Vangelis. We included — I think for the first time — a detailed documentation writeup of our design process as part of the entry form. Many thanks to Michael Jhon, whose photographic creativity went way beyond the usual official con pix.
April 10: The Historical Masquerade competition at Costume Con can be daunting, because … documentation! For “Alice’s Restaurant,” our first attempt at the Historical, we put together a vintage notebook of eight-by-ten color glossy photos with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one. That and our stoner pre-judging session pretty much won us Best in Show before we took the stage with our Group W bench (which broke during the presentation).
April 11: “Diamonds on the Soul” (Costume Con 9, 1991) was pretty much just for fun, and an excuse to make cool wigs out of curling ribbon and dance around the stage to Paul Simon.
April 12: “The Adventures of Robin Hood” — for the 1992 BayCon — was my first and only attempt at a Disney recreation (cosplay was not a thing back in 1992). I had to dye the fake fur with acrylic paint. Adrian tailored my tunic and promised to kill any furry who accosted me. I have fantastic memories of working on this very fun project, and of friends who are no longer with us. Of course we won “Best in Show.”
April 13: In 1992 the fledgling GBACG (Greater Bay Area Costumer’s Guild) put on a lavish Fairy Tale Masquerade Ball in a lovely hall in Benicia. Stacy, Deirdre, Laura and I put a playing card-inspired group together with us as the Four Queens, and Michael and Chuck as our jokers.
April 14: In retrospect, 1992 was a banner year for costuming, including the very first Costume College put on by Costumer’s Guild West in Southern California (it’s still going strong!). I made these Folkwear Beach Pajamas for the evening gala. Kelly taught me how to swing dance while we were designing our Robin Hood group costumes.
April 15: 1992 was also the JRR Tolkien Centenary, with a week-long conference in Oxford organized by the Tolkien Society in the UK. In addition to papers and presentations by Tolkien scholars, exhibits at the Bodleian, sherry with the Tolkien family and visits to the author’s gravesite, there was lots of booze and silliness in the evenings. For the masquerade, Lynn and I portrayed “Tolkien’s Women Go Bad” — Galadriel deciding to keep the Ring and Arwen fed up with embroidering banners. [Fun fact: this collaboration was not planned in advance. We put it together late one night after comparing the outfits we brought for the event.]
April 16: Kelly threw a New Year’s Eve party to usher in 1943 for its fiftieth anniversary, and why not? I think a bunch of us had gotten obsessed with vintage cocktails, swing dancing, and those snappy tailored uniforms.
April 17: I wore this 18th century ensemble to the 1993 GBACG Bastille Day Summer Fete. It features the only corset I’ve ever constructed myself (having enough sense to trust my professional friends for most of such undergarments). The highlight of the event was Jana’s guillotine cake.
April 18: How better to commemorate Earthquake Day than with a photo from one of Deborah Rush’s iconic events celebrating San Francisco? Here we are at the Pillars of the Past in Golden Gate Park, still awake and going strong after the 1906 earthquake memorial ceremony at Lotta’s Fountain at 5:12 am.
April 19: “Jabberwocky” — ConFrancisco (1993, Worldcon 51). Inspired by Indonesian shadow puppets, Ernst Haeckel’s “Art Forms in Nature,” and the Lewis Carroll poem, and including just about every fabric technique you can think imagine. As was our wont, we built hall costumes to wear underneath the elaborate stage presentation pieces (trust me, you don’t walk into bars wearing eight inch platform boots and a huge headpiece). The music combined Robin Williamson and Balinese chant.
April 20: For “Widows of the Silver Screen,” Jwlhyfer, Jana, Autumn, Sheri and I each chose a mourning ensemble from a film, spanning five centuries of historical interpretations, adding a token accessory to help express our characters. My entry was Scarlett O’Hara’s ball gown, worn when she was (supposedly) mourning her first husband. She also carries the stylish hat Rhett brought her from Paris. [Fun fact: I worked with a very young Lee Presson to put together the music for our presentation, which combined themes from each of the five films.]
April 21: I was on the Costume Con 12 committee and did not compete, but got together with some friends to create a set of wench hall costumes. If I recall correctly, these were: hex wench, socket wench, crescent wench, pipe wench, and, of course, monkey wench.
April 22: A mix-and-match historicalesque ensemble for a ’90s era Mythcon, when we became obsessed with talking like pirates. Here I am as Galadriel the Pirate Queen, and yes, that’s a Silmaril on my eyepatch.
April 23: This is my favorite ensemble from one of many Art Deco Society of California (ADSC) Gatsby Picnics at Dunsmuir House in Oakland. I’m wearing a vintage dress but I accessorized by decorating the hat and shoes. Sadly, the automobile is not mine.
April 24: During the ‘90s, I went to a LOT of costumer parties in the Bay Area, some with amusing, trendy, or downright wacky motifs (Famous Dead Persons, Hitchhiker Guide-themed 42nd birthday, Sharkcon…). I liked whipping up mix-n-match personas, such as Will Scarlett O’Hara or this one, Red Sonja Henie. [Fun fact: I bought those ice skates with a gift certificate I got when I was chosen as Miss Junior Baseball in 1961.]
April 25: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies 2016 film premiere, at the Metreon in downtown San Francisco. A bunch of GBACG costumers converged for the screening, dressed to kill (vampires). My old tai chi sword has come in handy for quite a few costuming events.
April 26: Photo from the 2018 Miss Fisher Con in Portland. I bought this dress (it’s not vintage) at Goodwill for $4 — see, anyone can jump into the costuming world with a minimum of fuss and expense! The pashmina shawl was a gift from students I met during a Global Volunteers teaching gig in Kunming, China.
April 27: I finally returned to Costume College in 2019, and was part of a Peggy Carter cosplay group for the Friday Night Showcase event. “Cap with Two Peggys” with Frank and Bianca, and our full group on stage.
April 28: Every October 21st, Bay Area Saber Maidens meet at the Yoda statue to honor Carrie Fisher and celebrate our Space Mom’s birthday. In 2019 we collected a wealth of costumes showing Princess/General Leia in all her lightsaber-wielding glory.
April 29: Vintage Nile: a 2019 Deco-infused tour of Egypt’s antiquities and cruise up the Nile on the SS Sudan, last of the 1920s steamships (and famous for its central role in the 2004 TV adaptation of Death on the Nile). Here are a couple of my period constructions in some spectacular settings.
April 30: Attending a preview of the new Jane Austen “Sanditon” miniseries at the Castro Theatre, and afterwards a journey to the seaside to take the waters (well, actually, we just looked at the waters, as there was not a bathing machine available for our use) at the Sutro Baths.