Earlier this year I heard about CostumeCon32, the 32nd Costume convention for hobbyists who enjoy making and wearing costumes. I checked out the website and decided to attend the event held in Toronto last weekend. For those of you who know me, you already know what came next. Of course I couldn't just attend without participating somehow. So as I looked at the conventions options I found an intriguing contest, The Future Fashion Folio. This contest provides a large number of costume designs offered by other costume lovers. The contestant chooses one of the illustrations, executes the costumes and of course participates in a stage presentation and judging.

Here is the illustration I chose

I started on a half scale form to get the shape of the skirt/spider body. It was not as easy as I thought it would be. I think I made 4 skirts before achieving the best results.
Next I worked for a couple of weeks to perfect and complete the costume. My partner, Jonda Norris, made the spider legs, the beetle hair ornament and served as the model.
So late last week we packed up and headed for Toronto and CostumeCon32. The atmosphere found there was so refreshing I have to tell you about it. There is a rule among costume hobbysts; Everyone is included, no one is made to feel unworthy. All levels of costume making are celebrated! The entire group of over 1,000 people are joyful, respectful and all cheer each other on. I can't even find the words to express how inviting and peaceful it was to attend. We really had fun and learned a ton about costume making and many of the newest products involved in costumes.

COSTUME-CON is an annual 4-day conference about costumes and cosplay! All forms of costuming are welcome, including anime, comics, video games, fantasy, sci-fi, theatrical/film/TV costumes, millinery, fursuits, and more.

Costume-Con is a "traveling" international-level convention, and is in a different city and run by a different committee each year.

 

 

To learn more about Costume-con follow this link: http://costumecon32.com/about/what-is-costume-con/


 

 Fashion Design in 1/2 scale