Costuming has got to be the coolest hobby anywhere...The funny thing is, it's hard to appreciate that unless you are a costumer yourself (or at least want to be one). I have experienced this cool thing called costuming over the years...ever since I was a little kid, I'd play "dress-up"...*lol*. Now, I'm using patterns (wow, go me!), and actually making semi-decent costumes now.

I have gotten especially into making my own Halloween costumes over the past three or four years. Three years ago, I was a Geisha. Not my best work, but decent. At least I can say that I did the make-up well...

Two years ago, I was Mistoffelees, for those of you familiar with Cats. That was more of a decorating job, taking a unitard, and adapting it to suit my purposes. The hardest part: making the wig, for sure. Did the make-up myself, too, *lol*. Me and my friend Esther (aka, The Mystery Cow, or Eponoko), who was dressed as Jemima from Cats, actually went trick-or-treating like this. Hell, I went into a supermarket like this. *lol* Here's a photo my mom took of me doing my make-up, and Esther watching. Wow, how exciting (yes, my mom is camera-happy). Here's me doing Esther's make-up (yes, I did hers, too). Here I am, adjusting Eponoko's wig, and managing to look like some sort of psychopathic killer-cat. *g* And here's a photo of the real Mistoffelees (the one from the video, portrayed as cuter-than-cute by Jacob Brent ;-)) BTW, I suggest that everyone make a Cats costume at some point in their lives--it builds character. :-)

Last year, I was a bourgeois comtesse, or something of that sort, *g*. A kinda hybrid costume, made without a pattern...Here's a costume design sketch I made early on in the construction of this costume (yeah, I usually draw design sketches for costumes before actually making them :-)). As you can see, I didn't end up following it exactly, but I used the basic ideas...Kinda a substitute for a pattern.

Now, I have gotten to the point where I can't wait until Halloween to make costumes. I've become a year-round costumer. *gasp* Anyway, very recently, I've been working on a complete Romantic Era costume (otherwise known as a "Les Mis costume"). And yes, it will be a student costume, not some frilly dress. And yes, I am a girl. And yes, I'm just plain weird. This costume will probably be a work-in-progress for a while. Unfortunately, there are basically no name-brand patterns (Simplicity, McCall's, etc.) for this particular type of costume (at least not that I could find). I had gotten this pattern kinda for fun, just to make something cool...and I ended up making the coat, and deciding to add it to my Miz costume. It actually reminds me more of a cropped greatcoat than a student coat, but that's okay, heh...Then, I had this pattern, from which I ended up using the "waistcoat" pattern (see little inset in picture, with freaky-looking guy). I have a tuxedo shirt (from my days as a middle-school chorus student, where they made you wear ugly unisex uniforms), which I'm using, and black pants, which I'm using, and a cravat, which I'm using. Sometimes, when I feel like it, I also wear a cruddy, cheap top hat. Here's a scan of my original costume design for this costume.
I finished the student costume! Huzzah! And got some pics scanned...Here's just the typical picture. Here is a picture of me with my cruddy hat and my cool gloves (which my friends call O.J. gloves...). Here's me with schoolbooks (if I had spectacles, I might actually look like a female 'Ferre *gasp*). And here's a photo of me being a clown. That is, me in the student costume, complimented with Men in Black glasses *g*.

Ah! I've begun a new costume, this one possibly to be used for SCA, if I can manage to get myself involved in aforementioned society. I am in the process of making this costume, but I do have a concept sketch for you now, although it isn't in color. I am placing the time-period around France or England in the early fourteenth century, sometime around when ladies began wearing sideless gowns. Chances are, I'll be wearing a different headpiece with this dress than the one pictured in my concept drawing...

I have other assorted costumes, most of which I haven't taken pictures of, and never will, heh, heh...For example, the "Charlie's Angels" inspired costume from my 2001 dance recital. It was a tap dance, believe it or not. And yes, I do think that it looks more like a biker-chick/jockey get-up. XP And no, I emphatically did not make it.

This is a sketch for what I might design a Les Mis type dress to look like. Of course, I have no intention of making one; this design was drawn for fun, when I was at the school library some months ago. I found a book with historical paintings in it, when I was supposed to be doing research for my project on Rousseau's Effects on Romanticism. I found some portraits dating back to the 1830's, and made some concept sketches, using the paintings for reference. I suppose I was doing it in case I ever felt the need to draw adult Cosette; I would want to have an accurate idea of her clothing.

I've got some pictures from last Halloween (I know, a little late...), featuring yours truly as Eponine. Here...and here. I don't usually look that grungy. ;-)

Also, I've got some strange picture of me as Athena, the Greek goddess, that is. I used to be sooooo obsessed with Greek mythology...

The Renaissance Faire time of year is here again! I made another costume (and took pictures this time). Here's another picture of it...being modeled upside-down by yours truly...it's a mid-sixteenth century dress. I love it, love it...:-)

Made it to the Florida State Thespian Festival this year in the techie category of Costume Design and got a Superior and Critics' Choice! Whoo! But that's beside the point. This is my latest renFaire costume, which I love enormously. Here it is again, and here, and here's me messing around with the ewok hood on my cloak, heh, heh.

This is a costume from a couple of years ago--it's a sans culottes get-up I wore for Halloween (actually a combo of a renFaire costume and some extra hats and pieces of cloth). Can't forget the revolutionary cockade and the basket for severed heads! *grins cheerfully*

Ah, Megacon. Megacon is a Florida convention for anime, sci-fi, and fantasy fans, and my friends and I were proud attendees this year. One of the days of the convention we dressed as hobbits, and I was Pippin (my fav hobbit--Billy Boyd is precious!). Here my friend and I are posing with a guy dressed as Aragorn, who we met there about five seconds before this picture was taken *g*.