RuPaul's Drag Race

Recently I was introduced to an amazing show called RuPaul's Drag Race. It features famous drag queen RuPaul and her search for the next drag superstar. A group of drag performers compete against one another with dancing, acting, costume making, character building, and lip syncing, attempting to outperform each other for a chance at the crown.

And oh my goodness! There's so much talent, comedy, and subculture insight in every single moment of this show. The queens featured on the show mug and preen and provide so much entertainment, I can hardly look away.

The last few weeks, though, I have been living for one of my best friends' blog recaps. She puts together screenshots, GIFs, and videos that sum up everything you could want to know about the show. If you like drag, camp, witty commentary, hilarious GIFs, or just pure entertainment, I encourage you to check out the Dilettwat's blog: http://dilettwat.typepad.com/.

Steampunk Parade: Final Act

Final costume in the steampunk parade! The last thing I will work on in my many steampunk costumes is the Adventurer. Everyone needs to have at least one costume true to the innovative explorer motif that runs through most steampunk novels. She needs to be spunky, assertive, and completely sure of herself, even in uncertain circumstances ... especially in uncertain circumstances.

So I'm going to do my final costume as an adventurer. I'm planning to use another Simplicty pattern as seen to the right. I'm probably going with the cropped saloon girl one, but not in those colors. What adventurer would be caught dead in teal and black? Likely, I'll go with a more rustic/lived in color. Again, here the fabric will depend on what I can get a good deal on, what fits the time period, and what fits within the character. In brief ... I'll let the character decide what fabrics to use for her outfit.

I plan to make an undercorset to go over the dress that fits with the costume's color palette, but it may be expendable. Corsets take more time to make, so I may skip this. In that case, I will most likely make a harness like the one below.

I like that it fits around above her waist and serves almost as an undercorset, and then fastens again above her breasts up to her neck. It has an industrial feel and will allow for the attachments an adventurer will need: lantern, watches, compass, canteen, flask, etc.

I will add either high boots or leg bands, so I can cover some of the significant skin left by the short skirt of the saloon girl dress pattern.

But the last part is my favorite, and probably the hardest to make and/pr procure. I really want an aviator cap with goggles. If my adventurer wants to accomplish anything, she'll need goggles for her constant travelling in airships. I'm most inspired by the image below.

This is my least developed character and the one I'm least excited about. However, she could be the most fun to play, so cosplay as her and writing her short story might be the most enjoyable. We'll see. What do you think?

Picture copyrights/web locations:

*Simplicity 2851

*Dr Gearhead

*I cannot find this one again, but if anyone knows where it comes from, I'll gladly give credit!

Steampunk Parade Act Three

Copyright Yaya Han

I don't have permission to use her images,

but she is one of my idols in costuming, and

I would encourage everyone to go to her site,

buy from her store, and support what she does,

because I eagerly await anything she unveils at Con.

For my third steampunk outfit, I was planning on a relatively easy costume (especially after the sewing that the lady will take!). While it will look lush and exotic (if I do it right) the costume itself is really fairly easy. This one will be an exotic madam, proprietress of a thriving business of working girls. She caters to the whims of the wealthy with her girls from around the world. She is a bit amoral at times, but she is a first rate feminist, who will capitalize on the lot she has been given in life.

See? Told you I'd develop stories for the characters. This one will be a lot of fun to play. I can see myself assuming her character all day, and possibly acquiring her girls for the business throughout Con! :)

So, the costume. I guess I can say a bit about that one. Unfortunately the pattern for this one is a bit more than the others, but I already have the fabric I want to use, so yay there! The pattern is to the right and comes from Ageless Patterns and is called the Princess gown. The descriptions say it was worn over a "plastron" blouse and a "heliotrope faille" skirt. Because my character is a might scandalous, and this is steamPUNK, I will be wearing little underneath but a corset and some lace knickers, with fishnet stockings. Of course, you won't see much of that, but it will be implied. (Sad note, I could not think of that word, but I knew a great synonym was intimated. This is what I get for reading and writing too much fantasy! Or from teaching... I choose the vocab word over the obvious one.)

For the fabric, I plan to use one of the several Chinese brocade fabrics I have been holding on to. I have a black and white with red silk screening, a pale green with darker green, and one I can't remember without going to dig it out, and seeing as I'm lazy and drinking wine on the couch while watching the newest Camelot series, which is turning out pretty good, I'll skip that one for now.

Since I'm going to use an Asian-inspired fabric for the dress, I will use steampunk elements in the accessories. I want to design a collar choker necklace with lots of beads to mimic the high necks of lots of Victorian wear, but leaves a bit of skin showing. I'll likely incorporate a few gears into this as I have available. I'll wear high buttoned up or laced up boots with my fishnets and almost assuredly a top hat with veil and feathers. If I can find a suitable pair of eyeglasses to go with it, I'll add those, but I don't see them as necessary.

Ideas? Criticisms?

Picture credits:

*yayahan.com

*Ageless Patterns

The Steampunk Parade Continues

My second costume for the steampunk parade will be a lady about town. This one will be more Victorian in inspiration than punk, and I need to develop a stronger backstory and name for this character. Who knows, maybe in the future I'll post some short stories to further develop the creative outlet in this costuming. But for now she's just a lady about town.

This costume will be very piecemeal, using several different patterns and alterations to achieve the look I want. I will start with another Simplicity pattern. This pattern was designed to take special advantage of the creativity and the DIY-ness of the steampunk community, and frankly, I rather like the basic design of the pattern. However, I'm planning to make significant changes.

First, my favorite element of it is the front fasten jacket that buttons just underneath the breasts and falls back into tails. But it needs a bit of work. The front will mostly remain the same, though I may alter the sleeves a bit. I have not decided on a fabric, but I'm thinking something lush and rich looking but that I can find for a reasonable price. Maybe I'll do it in a nice navy blue, possibly with even a bit of a sheen to it. We'll see what I can find on sale, and work around that.

I plan to alter the tails though. So far the back seems to just fall voluminously down the back of the dress. I want something more. I want a bustle like you can see to the right. This means altering the front edge of the bottom of the jacket, adding a bustle to turn it into more of a traditional polonaise than a simple jacket with tails.

Instead of the bustier from the pattern I plan to wear a full corset top underneath. I haven't decided (again) what fabric exactly I will use here. I'll choose something to compliment the fabric I choose for the jacket. Either way, I prefer the cinched full corset, best. This will give me more of the tight Victorian hourglass without disrupting too much of the ladylike feel of the full jacket and skirt.

Speaking of the skirt, I at first wanted to do a fantail or mermaid skirt, but James has mostly talked me out of that. One, it will make the bustle just a bit too much for the skirt. Two, it would betray the aesthetic of the more formal full skirt with the polonaise, and I want this to be a very regal lady costume. The fabric may be the same as my jacket, but I may choose something contrasting like above with the white and black. Ooh, that's a fun idea. Maybe do a white and black striped corset with white and black contrasting jacket and skirt... I don't know. Any ideas??

As for the accessories, I'm thinking either a cameo necklace on a ribbon or with extravagantly designed choker collar. And a hat! I don't know if I want to do a tophat with feathers as I've done in the past or attempt something a bit more extravagant. (I hope we're gathering the theme here is extravagance!)

The image to the upper left is a good example of what I would do to develop my top hat further, and would fit the outfit better. The one below is the larger more extravagant version. Of course I could do it without the single large feather and instead adorn with many small feathers, a number of silk flowers that fit the design of the dress. Or I could do something with just a fascinator. I really haven't decided yet. :)

Anyway, that's mostly the extent of my upperclass lady costume. Any ideas for a name? A backstory? Any suggestions might help me figure out more of the details for the costume. I'm starting to think new money; maybe she just married a wealthy inventor type, knows nothing about technology but thrives on the proceeds of her husband's genius. She loves to go to the opera and take transatlantic zeppelin rides, but hates what the wind up there does to her fabulous hats. Approval? :)

Picture Credits:

*recollections.biz

*Fashionable Lifestyle

*Homey Living

The Steampunk Parade

After several days of research, I've picked out several of my costume patterns for Dragon*Con this year. All of them I have planned so far are going to be Steampunk characters that I will be fleshing out more completely over the coming months. As for the designs, I promised Erica I'd lay them out in detail here, but if you're not interested, just ignore what follows. I'll be linking to the patterns I'm using as well as pictures of adjustments. I haven't chosen my fabrics yet, but those will follow soon. :)

First and foremost is the costume I am most excited about. If I complete nothing else, I will be making this fully and perfectly. I'm doing a Steampunk version of Tinkerbell.

Copyright held by ~irobert

I've wanted to do this for a while, and since I did almost no costumes last year, due to getting

married earlier in the summer, I look forward to doing something challenging. I will be using a pattern from Simplicity in a military green khaki as my base. I will use a shorter skirt and thinner straps. I plan to wear an undercorset (a variation bridging the gaps between this, this and this) over that with harness that fit back to hold up my wings.

The wings are the difficult part and will definitely take the longest to create. I have several ideas of what to try. If you saw the third link for the undercorset, you saw a version of steampunk wings. Unfortunately, those are not fairy wings in any way. They're too feathery, too bulky to be fairy wings. Tinkerbell has very light, translucent wings. But how does one make that steampunk?

Here are two images I found that are adaptable. Again they are too heavy, but replacing the substance of the wing with some lighter fabric. I like the span of the wings on the far left, but fear they're too batlike in design. The wings on the near left have the coolest mechanism at the joint, which I would happily duplicate (though I don't have the engineering ability to make them work), but the wings themselves are also too heavy while still looking insubstantial. If anyone has any clue on how to do fairy wings with a steampunk bent, I would really appreciate the help!

I'll wear either knee-high, lace-up boots or spats that extend to my knees, but on whichever I choose, I'll affix tiny bells to it, so I jingle when I walk. In addition, I think I'll add a utility belt with tools and gadgets so I can be a true "tinker." Finally, I think I will use a blonde wig with a geared and belled headdress like the one to the right.

And I think that's about it. That's my first costume: "Tinker"Bell.

Any comments will be appreciated! :)

Picture Credits:

*Deviant art

*Xevian Industries

*Flickr.com

*Adiene(Krista Holewinske) Beautiful work!

Costuming

Today has mostly been devoted to a hobby other than writing (though writing has also happened in a minute amount today). Today I have been concentrating on something that's purely fun for me: costuming!

Every year, I attend Dragon*Con, the biggest science fiction and fantasy convention in the southeast and almost the world (we're outdone by Comic*con by attendance but not by programming). Every year, I go in some sort of costume, either cosplaying as some fantasy or science fiction character (from "Lily" in Legend, to "Tifa" in Final Fantasy VII to "Fran" in Final Fantasy XII) or a generic fantasy costume (steampunk, to zombie, to renaissance). I sometimes spend more on my costume each year than others (buying reasonable anime facsimiles versus me reconstructing existing pieces into a "Mad Scientist"). But every year, I love the opportunity to become something new with the convention.

This year, I have already started preparing costumes. I usually leave my costumes to a last minute scramble, in which I order an anime cosplay or throw together components of an already existing character. But I will do better this time. It's only March, and I'm already sketching, gathering components, and combining an amazing series of costumes.

Normally I use my creativity to my writing, but within the past few years, I've found, my ability to craft something from my own two hands holds as much value. I am not gifted visually: I cannot sketch or draw or paint or sculpt what I hold in my head. But I'm finding, I can combine existing patterns and sketches to form what I already hold in my imagination. And then I can combine them in unique and unexpected ways to form interesting and imaginative costumes. And I plan to continue this, now that I've discovered it. Now I'm just trying to find the best costumes to create.

I have ideas about a steampunk Tinkerbell, with working wings, but I want to go beyond that. It's one thing to do a costume; it's another to have a whole persona and performance based around it. And as I have way too many friends who do burlesque nowadays, I think I've found the routine I would do, IF I ever decided to do burlesque... I think one of my ultimate desires is to have someone play a Tom Lehrer (Masochism Tango) song and have me perform a humorous but totally sexy burlesque number to it.

A dream right now. But I have a very pronounced talent for making dreams become realities.