My attempt at a Lolcat

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This is the third and final part of the history of my personal costuming experience.

Part Three: Post-College

These days, I try not to be too serious about costuming. I’m good enough of a seamstress now that I don’t stress about irreparably screwing it up and wasting a lot of money. If a situation pops up where I need a costume (I have a friend who is fond of throwing costume parties, for example), my strategy is to glance at my wardrobe and what costume pieces I have on hand, and just piece something together. I’ll make new pieces or buy them if I feel it’s necessary to complete the costume. That’s exactly what I did last year for Halloween, and I think my Little Red Riding Hood costume turned out very well. Even better is that I didn’t spend a lot of time, effort, and money on it!

But that’s not all I do with costuming. I’ve always been fascinated with historical fashion, and these days I do a lot of sewing to make garb. It seems more practical to me than costumes, although I’m not sure how I’ve convinced myself of that, because it’s not like I go to Renaissance fairs any more often than other costuming events. But I did get to go to one this spring! I ended up making medieval clothes for almost my whole family, so that we could look awesome at the Ren Faire. (And we definitely did look awesome.) Maybe I’ll end up selling garb at a Ren Faire someday.

It’s not all fun and games, either. My penchant for costuming has not escaped the notice of my friends, and now I’ve been asked to design and create the wardrobe for a feature-length independent film which my friends will be shooting this summer. For the film, I’m only making one costume from scratch, but it’s pretty exciting.

I’m definitely doing a lot more costuming now than ever before in my life. And I’m enjoying it a lot more than ever before too! The experience I’ve gained in sewing makes designing and constructing the costumes a lot more easy and enjoyable for me, while I can still challenge myself by trying styles and methods I haven’t done before. In the meantime I’ve come across more reasons to costume, just for the fun of it. Maybe my next birthday party will be a costume party!

I suppose the moral of the story is, if you like costuming, don’t let the lack of events stop you. Just keep on making costumes. I’ve had several events recently where I was really glad I had a costume stash, so that I could lend them to people and quickly come up with costumes for parties and other things. If you like doing it, do it! And if you’re really desperate for reasons to wear your costumes, I know we have entries addressing that matter in our archives.

Most importantly, have fun with it!

Sometimes it’s hard finding a costume, especially if you’re looking for something clever and unordinary.

You may think that costume choices for wheel chair dwellers would be limited. But as these pictures illustrate, the physical limitations of wheelchair life impose no restrictions on creativity.

In fact, the wheelchair is incorporated into the costume to create an entire mobile scene, like a parade float.

The most important factor in creating a wheelchair costume is safety.

The costume must allow for chair mobility and be free of anything that might get tangled in the wheels.

With safety considerations well in hand, when it comes to creative costume choices, the sky’s the limit…not the chair.

Roll on!

With Maker Faire only hours away, news is pouring in as to what we should expect. This time, they’ve got something planned for the steampunk fans.

Comedian and self-proclaimed geek Heather Gold is broadcasting a live show from Maker with a panel of steampunk senseis that are sure to answer your questions and get you thinking about the forward progress of steampunk DIY.

Steampunk tinkerer and master of The Steampunk Workshop, Jake Von Slatt, will be in attendance. Heather will also be discussing matters with Steampunk Magazine editor and purveyor of authentic steampunk fashion Libby Bulloff as well as Abney Park lead vocalist Captain Robert.

The agenda is to dig deeper into steampunk culture, address the emergence factor, discuss it’s place in modern pop culture, and get down to the nitty gritty of this cultural disguise that is capturing more and more.

The panel will be at 4:00 p.m. at Maker Faire, and Abney Park will be playing the event. If you have golden tickets, bring us back some videos!

Oh man, oh man, oh man! The Maker Faire is upon us very soon and we have every reason to latch on like a fly to his favorite flourescent. Infos have been peeping out the Interpipes for at least a few days now and we’re getting a better grasp of what to expect. In fact, a schedule has been whipped up courtesy the Maker site that will tickle your geek fancy:

[via Makerfaire.com]

Boiler Bar Stage
Jon Sarriugarte’s Boiler Bar Theater Presents
Craft Demos
• Soft Circuit Embroidery • How to Make Your Own Shoes…the Easy Way! • Make Your Own Free Range Mini-Monsters • Finger Puppets Who Wish To Not Die • Making Jewelry • Felt Faux Fruit • Create Ribbon Straw Flowers on Vintage Flower Looms • The DIY Bride: Quick & Easy Wedding Projects for Any Budget • Fashioning Technology: DIY Style • Pops! Icy Treats for Everyone • Guerilla Pattern Drafting • Create Your Own Photo Flip Book • Photojojo DIY Photo Blocks
Festival Stage
• EepyBird
Lion Brand Booth
• Lion Brand Yarn Unique Activities

Click through to see more!

(more…)

Do your friends think you spend way too much time on the Internet? Yeah, well mine do. It’s okay I’m over it… really.

Whatever, my problems aren’t the point. I’m here to lull you into a haze of Internet obsession you won’t want to cure. Unfortunately, I’m not clever enough nor do I have the resources to build an empire of distractions fit for your attention deficit disorder pleasures. Therefore, I will employ the masterful art of sharing links to keep your brain satisfied.

In my never ending search for jolly good costume weirdness I find some gems. But few are as gloriously self exposing and yet simultaneously gratifying as the page of Unfortunate Star Wars Costumes. Yes, that’s right. Captain Wacky is here to deliver a good list of fully embarrassing costumes that are enough to make you turn to the dark side. It makes me wonder why I don’t have friends who do things like this.

When you think of people setting world records, you think of some pretty impressive stuff. Well, we found a fairly beatable record that should be challenged. According to this YouTube video that was recently put up, the world record for the most people to be gathered in once place in video game character costumes is only just over 80. Impressive since the gaming community is so big…

There are plenty of iconic characters out there to mimic, and plenty of fans and cosplayers. In fact, I would wager to say that any big fan fest or convention has this record beat. But, it’s not official and that’s what counts I guess. Who’s going to be the first to smash this record officially?

Are Star Wars fans synonymous with steampunk fans? Two worlds of the imagination couldn’t be more far apart than those two, but it seems that someone thinks they belong together.

In an unlikely marriage of these non-realities, a fan decided to make a Darth Vader steampunk getup for the tech/futuro-curious. According to the creator, this is a first time with anything Steampunk. Not bad on the bids for being a first timer, eh? Here are the words of the creator:

Welcome to my first venture into the art of steampunk. This Vader mask was sitting on my shelf for about 14 years.

It was originally purchased for me on my first trip to Disney World. Rather than get rid of it, I decided to have a little fun with it. I was inspired by some art from the Vader Project, and some other cool steampunk Star Wars stuff I found online. The mask itself was a Don Post mask. Not the best quality, but not the worst either. It is made of plastic and comes in two parts, the front face mask and the back dome. The two pieces are held together with velcro, wich actually works quite well. I modified the helmet by carving out detail to make it look like brass plate and adding several tacks to simulate rivets. This process was tedious and took forever. I finished it off with a WWI style helmet spike, which is actually a ceiling fan pull chain and an antique paint job. The chest plate was made from a shadow box frame (8 inches tall x 6 inches wide x 3 inches deep) and a bunch of cannibalized clock, and other device parts. I wired a green LED to a switch in the back that runs on two AA batteries. The steam tank was made from a piece of PVC pipe with a vintage pressure valve inserted into it. There are two holes drilled in the end of the tank which a rubber hose can be inserted into and then into the holes in the mask. I drilled out the spot where the tusk pieces should be. I am not going to permanently affix the hoses to the mask or the tank, in case the buyer wants to change them. The chest strap and shoulder straps were fashioned from a set of two men’s belts. the total width of the chest strap, including the chest piece is about 53 inches. The shoulder strap is in two pieces 22.5 inches and 18.5 inches in length. I did not cut any holes in the shoulder strap. I will leave that up to the buyer to measure. A lot of time went into making this piece. It would be a great start to a cool costume for either roleplaying or a convention, or just use it as a nice display piece. Dragoncon is right around the corner. Good luck and happy bidding!

Although this piece isn’t the caliber of some of the more focused steampunk DIY we’ve seen on the site, it’s on target for a first timer. Check it out and make a bid if you dare show your face at a fan fest any time soon.

Yeah, colossal mess up on our part. Wonder Con is only one of the most classic dress up events this side of the equator. You would think we would have been on top of it. Missing Wonder Con coverage is about as bad as having to suck on sugar free candies for a month straight. It’s bad… real bad.

Luckily the guys at Wired took care of getting some good high quality photos in their Geek Chic Gallery.

For those of you who don’t know, Wonder Con is a haven for Comic, Gaming, Anime subculture gurus. It’s the spiritual sibling of Comic Con and is sponsored by EA… yeah that’s right, it’s big bananas. I can’t even justify this mistake.

I’m hopping on the phone today to scrounge up whatever deets (uh, details that is) I can. Maybe get me a press pass to next year’s event or something special for Comic Con.

So, I leave my most heartfelt apologies. I’ll scour the Interweb for the best pictures… in the meantime check out Wired’s gallery and forgive me as much as you can.

Could this be a battle of the ages? Transformers and Star Wars both held significant interest in the eighties, albeit branching into different interest groups. Both have also received modern adaptations for a significant injection of retro love on the silver screen. Fans come from all walks of life on both these two series and so we decided to put these costumes in the ring and battle it out. Which one comes out on top? Which one will step down?

Darth Vader - If you want to get a Vader costume going, you have to go all the way. Despite the fact that it could set you back hundreds of dollars to get your geeky fanboy Vader loving self into one of these getups, it’s still impressive. Call it obsessive, but who doesn’t love some Darth Vader?

Optimus Prime - We picked Optimus Prime for opposing reasons to the Darth costume. You can’t really buy an Optimus Prime costume. Well, not a good one. That doesn’t stop DIY fans everywhere from making their own and making it awesome. Optimus Prime gets points for originality and creativity, but does it stack up against the authentic Vader getup?

Cast your votes and see who wins…

As probably one of the longest running and most looked at costumed group of entusiasts, the Seafair Pirates have stepped into the limelight and are poised to be seen by readers of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

 Model Melissa Haro poses with the Seafair Pirate crew 

The Seafair Pirates are an organization started in 1949 that has spent time and energy uniting people in events for charity and otherwise. Despite it’s antiquated look, their homepage boasts over 6.5 million visits, so their clout is not to be ignored. Since the film shoot, the Seattle group has made headlines all over for their participation in a photo shoot that is expected to be seen by over 300 million viewers. How’s that for exposure?

According to a news article, fashion designer Victoria Glenn doesn’t seem to mind all the unrecognized publicity:

“It doesn’t matter,” said Victoria Glenn, who designed the gear for Pirates’ captain, Kevin Craft. “Just to see your work in a publication like that is so thrilling.”

Glenn, a teacher at the New York Fashion Academy in Ballard, has been a designer for more than three decades and has a shop in North Seattle. She’s made gear for some Seafair Pirates off and on for the last 10 years. She also made the wedding dress for Bill Gates’ wife, Melinda, and lists local jazz legend Ernestine Anderson as a client.

We would have to agree. The costumes are great and the traditions run deep. It’s notable that any costumed group of enthusiasts could last this long and have this much to show for. So it begs the question then… are pirates officially better than ninjas?

It’s only fair you get a sweet recap of all the good stuff that graced your computer screen over the last week. Yeah, it sounds cocky I know. But hey, where else do you go for an all-costuming blog? Hmm?

Revisiting Our Favorite Costume Sites - We take a look at the best of the best sites covered by MyDisguises.

The Famous Disguise - If you haven’t seen this video, you lose. Okay, maybe you don’t lose, but it’s incredible.

MyDisguises 2007 Winners and Losers - 2007 was huge, and there was a lot to see. We break down the best costumes and stories of the last year and reveal them to the readers.

Time’s Best Loved Film Costumes - The movies are a cultural phenomenon. Time Magazine helps us look at the iconic wardrobes that become almost as important as the actors behind them in their best loved costumes of all time.

An Intro to “Steampunk” - Steampunk is a culture that is ripe for the costume world. Most people who love steampunk have put some time into making their own stuff, and we take a quick look at what’s behind it all.

It’s time that we brought steampunk culture to MyDisguises, and made it a frequent topic.

Steampunk is “a subgenre of fantasy and speculative fiction” that borrows heavily from 18th century industrial age mechanics and styles. The marriage of that with fantasy settings has evolved to adapt a large fan base that is in love with the juxtaposition. Even more traditional fantasy settings in film, games, and literature have grown to adapt some of the mechanophiliac interests.

Steampunk culture is responsible for some of the most unique costume and setting design ever before seen. Although I’ve never personally seen a steampunk costume in the flesh (or the metal), it doesn’t mean it hasn’t been done. The genre has showed itself into pop-culture on a number of occasions:

Steampunk Guitar (via Thunder Eagle)

Custom work like this is typical in steampunk DIY. It’s one of those kinds of DIY you just have to get right, or it doesn’t work at all. Common themes of rust, gears, and bronze metals are typical of steampunk work.

So how would steampunk work with costumes? After browsing around, I grabbed some photos and added some links to get the mental cogs turning. Maybe we can inspire a steampunk costume off for next Halloween. In the meantime, take a look here.

Links to steampunk work and images:

Steampunk Costume Update

Ocular Thingy Fixes Our Steampunk Craving For The Day

Steampunk Blog - Brass Goggles

Steampunkopedia

We hope to write more about steampunk soon, and will be looking into a costume contest for the best DIY steampunk work. I’ll keep the links here updated as I find more. Keep tuned and bookmark us for more steampunk in the future.

Just on the brink of doing another world costumes article, I noticed that the Rose Parade this year was about that very subject.

Foreign visitors may not know much about the Tournament of Roses. This is the 119th parade in the history of it’s existence. Each year on New Years the City of Pasadena, California hosts this epic procession of floats. What makes it remarkable is that the floats are sculpted, decorated, and colored with flowers. It’s decadence has led to some serious quality in float building.

The theme this year is Passport to the World’s Celebrations. So far, costumes of countries ranging from Mexico to Russia have made appearances. They represent multiple eras of costuming and classic traditional wear. The parade opened with dance and singing, typical of an opening ceremony. I tried counting on at least 10 fingers and 10 toes the different countries and culutures represented with flags and costumes… I lost count.

Although we love the costumes, and would normally give our attention there, today we’re giving it up for the floats. They’re unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Each boasts thousands of flowers and likely hours of work. We leave you with a few photos we’ve found highlighting the event as it has progressed thus far.

If you’re up a bit early and are just waiting for the Rose Bowl, it’s well worth a look for an hour or two.

 If you’re anything like I was as a child, discovering the true identity of Santa Claus was upsetting. I’ll never forget when my mother asked me to get something from her room and finding wrapped gifts adressed to me from Santa. Right there I knew that either Santa had a new business model and was delivering gifts early, or he simply wasn’t who I thought he was.There is just no reason to let the mystery of Santa Claus fade for the children. Therefore, we’ve worked up a guide on how to pull off the Santa effect so well your children will secretly wonder in their adult years whether the man in red actually came to visit that special Christmas day.

Pre-Planning: Scapegoats and Stories

Every family has their own way of portraying Santa Claus. The build up before Christmas is so big for most children, they are easily spellbound by all things related to the 25th. It’s in these critical few days that you can prepare and psyche out the kids for an epic Santa visit. Here are some suggestions:

• First, have your scapegoats ready - Since you’re going to be Santa, your kids may notice you’re not around when the old man shows up. Tell them you had to go take back a broken gift to the store where you bought it. Maybe you can tell them that you’re off to buy something for your wife and the store is staying open late on Christmas Eve. You could also try a more classic approach. There’s an emergency at the office and you had to go fix something late at night. They’ll believe it.
• Develop your own story - Later on we’ll talk about how to simulate a sleigh landing. If your Santa visit is going to be different than normal, develop a story around it. Some houses and neighborhoods don’t have the traditional roof and chimney capabilities. Although we’re offering suggestions for a more typical home, make plans to custom tailor your ideas for your environment.

Step One: Costume

Your costume is going to be one of your biggest selling points. Take care to go for authenticity. Remember, you can use this year after year, donate the goods for an event, or even resell them when the kids get older. It may cost a few extra bucks, but with pictures and memories, it will be more than worth it.

• Simulate a real beard - Go for a beard with a slightly natural gray tint. Some cheaper Santa beards are made of cotton and don’t look right. Better beards also come with matching wigs.
• The suit is key - Color is also pretty important in this option. Try for a suit with a deeper red, not the bright glowy red that you sometimes get. Some Santas go without the big black boots, which could be trouble.
• To hat or not to hat? - You can go sans hat if you like, but your santa wig has to be on point. You’ll want to accessorize a bit to compensate.

Step 2: Accessories

All too often, it’s the details that make the suit work wonders.

• Santa glasses  - Santa is a wise man. How else would he be able to build that all knowing naughty or nice list? Find some nice wiry glasses that look more like reading glasses. Hang them low on your nose.
• Rosy cheeks and nose - Yeah, you’re going to have to wear some make up. Bug your wife for some blush that she may have laying around and blend it liberally over your cheeks and nose. You want to look jolly, so you gotta do it.
• Naughty or Nice list - Get some paper and apply a weathered look to it. If you are good with calligraphy, this could be a benefit. Make up a rolled, scroll-like sheet of paper with names on it. You can have it peeking out of your pocket. You are going to try to get caught by the children, so they’ll have a chance to see it. You can also have the list “accidentally” fall out of your pocket right by where they leave you cookies. Check out this WikiHow on making paper look old.

Step 3: Effects and Aftermath

It’s not enough just to look like Santa, you have to be him.  The kids are staying up and waiting to hear something. For these parts, you’ll need some orchestrating so they don’t catch you. Older children who are a bit more “skeptical” can always be a big help in this part.

• Racket on the Roof - Here’s a great way to simulate a rooftop landing. Get a couple of brooms or mops. Grab your wife and tie some bells around your arms. Once you hit the roof, start walking and tapping the brooms. As your arms shake, it will simulate sleigh bells. With 2 sets of feet and potentially 4 brooms, it could almost sound like reindeer pounding around on the roof.
• Ho, Ho, Ho… on tape - If you don’t have the deep voicebox for a santa voice, get a recording. Play it loud enough so the kids can hear a faint sound of the old man.
• Santa treats left behind - A cool trick to simulate Santa on the roof is to throw candy canes, Christmas confetti, gumdrops, etc. off the side of the roof. In the morning you can take the kids outside. Tell them that it must have been treats that fell off of Santa’s sleigh. They’ll be spellbound.

Whatever you decide to do, do it with style. It will be extra work, but you don’t want your kids to stop believeing too early. This will keep them curious for a long time.

What are some of your ideas? Let us know in the comments section. With the right amount of creativity, you can have a Christmas experience never to be forgotten.

What’s in a culture that makes people want to dress up? Clearly, the Japanese have made it happen.

A blog called “Austin Texas Daily Photo” just posted up a picture of a store called “Lucy in Disguise with Diamonds” (wow, so it is just a clever name) and talked about the culture surrounding it. According to the writer, costumes are more than a seasonal affair in the culturally rich town. What a lucky town. Makes me wonder how many of these types of stores are floating around.

Sure, it’s arguable that the more culture, the more unique the traditions. It makes me wonder why my family never tried to merge our hobbies with costumes. Well, except for the time we were forced to dress up in bear costumes and take a family photo. Wow, that was bad.

Many of our users have likely noticed that we’re graciously supported by the wonderful Costume Craze. That’s why we felt it would be necessary to give a shout out to a few truly noticable and recognizable things going on a Costume Craze right now.

1. Blowout Sale - Since the holiday is over, it appears everything is on discount. Their sales are really just dependent on what you buy, so you can truly find some gems. If you’re really on the ball, you’ll be stocking up for the holidays next year. Or you can take our previous advice and start building your own costume vault now.

2. Valerie Tabor Smith Costumes - Known for her photography of toddler in way too cute costumes, Valerie Tabor Smith has been selling her baby outfits exclusively with Costume Craze this year. Yeah, babies look cute as anything. Check out the work Valerie has done on her costumes. If you want one of your own, you can find them at Costume Craze.

3. Thanksgiving Costumes - As we have stated time and time again, we are advocates of costumes year round. Why consolidate the fun into a few certain holidays. Whether you’re putting on a play, having a Thanksgiving themed party, or you’ve got other quality reasons for playing Pilgrims and Indians, there’s a huge mess of good Thanksgiving costumes on sale now.

We send our love out to Costume Craze for supporting our work and really helping the blog run. We couldn’t do it without them and we are glad they share equal passion for all things costume.