What the heck am I doing at an anime convention???

I’ve seen a few animes and read some manga, but I am far from a big fan. So why would I go to an anime convention?

The costumes, of course!

A friend of mine in the local costuming guild got put in charge of the cosplay part of a local convention called Naka-kon. She asked me to help judge hall costumes. I thought “Sure. Why not?”

Then I realized I don’t own any anime costumes.

Horror!

What am I supposed to do? I’m NOT going to be judging costumes in regular clothes!

So I put my historical costuming on hold & frantically started researching the kinds of costumes that I could expect to see.  I figured that I had enough time to make one elaborate costume and two simpler costumes to see me through the 3 days of the convention.

I looked at the Naka-kon web site and found that it was also a con that promoted and taught Japanese culture.

Aha! Lolita!

I have always wanted to deck myself out in lolita-style clothes but never had an excuse. Well, I had an excuse now. Woohoo!

So I researched lolita style and found out that it’s actually segmented into a number of sub-styles. Check out this page for some of the different ones - http://lolita-handbook.livejournal.com/3035.html

 I liked the “sweet lolita” style, but there’s way too much trim for me to sew two dresses in this style. I wouldn’t have time. So I decided on one sweet lolita.

What else could I do for a simpler, quicker costume?

Well, I had a kimono that I made a few years ago. So I decided to cut it down into a top and do a wa lolita outfit. (Wa lolita is one that has Japanese traditional elements like kimono tops.) I also had a couple of accessories and some Doc Marten boots that I could combine with it. So I ended up with a wa/punk lolita combo.

There was a professional photographer (Ron Berg) there the first day, so I actually got pro photos of this one!

Yeah!

My favorite part is the fabric of the skirt. It's kind of "shabby chic" ribbon roses. But when I cut it out, I found that I made it too short! So I rushed to the store & found a pretty white trim of very similar style flowers. Sometimes it's the mistakes that end up being the best things, creatively speaking.

 

By the way, you can see in these photos how long my hair really is. Compare that to the very short curls in the post about the hedgehog style!

The Hedgehog Hypothesis

Based on the title of this post, I guess I’ve been watching too many episodes of The Big Bang Theory. Oh, who am I kidding? There’s no such thing as too much Big Bang Theory!

Anyway…on to the costuming.

To go with my curtain-along costume, I’ll be doing a hedgehog hairstyle. That’s the big, round, poofy hair in the pic I showed last time.

It’s basically a big afro with a ponytail hanging down the back. You make it by curling your hair in lots and lots of tiny curls and then teasing the heck out of it until it stands out like a dandelion fluffball.

Well, I have fairly curly hair anyway, so I wondered if I could get it to stand out without teasing. I used setting lotion & curled my hair in tiny perm rollers. After sleeping on it overnight, this is what I got:

You can’t tell from the pic, but I actually have long hair (just past my shoulders). The setting lotion REALLY worked!

So then I ran my fingers through it and threw on a fichu (scarf):

Wow! I might not even need to tease it!

I added a small extension down the back with a bow to see how it looks:

When I get around to doing it for real, I’ll run a comb through it to get it out further and make it more even. Then I’ll powder it. ‘Cause you don’t see many 18th century portraits of people sporting red hedgehogs, now do ya?

 

Curtain Along part II, or That’s a really big bum!

So I started the curtain along costume. Since I want to do a 1780/90s outfit, I needed a bum pad. It’s kind of like the 18th century version of a bustle. Those ladies had lots of back!

Here’s a 1791 fashion plate from the Journal des Luxes so you can see what I’m talking about:

(Got the fashion plate from the Dames a la Mode Tumblr blog, by the way.  Lots of eye candy over there.)

You see how the large part of the skirt has moved from the side panniers to the back? I may have a big rear end, but even mine isn’t THAT big.

So I found some online tutorials to make a bum pad.  This costume isn’t for a competition, so I don’t care if it’s period-correct or not.  So I cut some cotton into a crescent shape, added some lace and ties and then stuffed it.

It was just a little bit too poofy, so I then added a line of stitching down the middle of each of the 3 puffed sections. (Didn’t get a pic of that, though)

So I put it on my dress form and took the red curtain to start draping the petticoat. Here’s what I got:

I added a waistband tie and the petticoat is done!