My Costuming History

I have been presenting costumes at Lunacon since 1986 (the first year I ever went to the con) Over the years I have managed to win a few awards, as well as have my share of embarrassments. Below is a list of costume entries I have presented so far, with notes and (where applicable) awards given...

• Lunacon 1986: Punk Wizard.
  • My first attempt at a Masqerade costume. Consisted of robes and a stuffed fire-lizard wrapped around my arm. This was during that time in my life where I had a mohawk.

• Lunacon 1987: Goblin King.
  Awarded: Best Presentation (Novice Division)
  • Based on the character from the movie Labyrinth. This was the beginning of my long streak of problems with the tech for my costumes. They lost my music but I still managed to take "Best Presentation" for juggling the crystal ball similar to the way they did it in the movie.

• Lunacon 1990: Lords of the Flat Earth.
  • Our first attempt at a skit based costume (also our first Journeyman costume entry). Inspired by Tanith Lee's "Tales From the Flat Earth" series, it had a cast of 5. It was a good first attempt, although there was a problem with one of our props (a sword I was using) nearly skewering a stage ninja. It took nearly 6 years for them to stop ribbing us about that...

• Lunacon 1991: Birth of a Vampire.
  Awadred: Best Journeyman Costume
  • What many consider our crowning achievement. Inspired loosely by Anne Rice's "Vampire Chronicles", it had a cast of 6. This was, in my opinion, one of the best costumes I have ever done. This was the first costume designed by ChaosLin. The presentation also involved an onstage transformation which was added about 5 minutes before we went onstage.

• Lunacon 1992: The Gift.
  Awarded: Best Presentation (Journeyman Division)
  • This was my first attempt at a cyberpunk costume. It had myself and a partner (N. Ramos) as male and female "exotics" (humans implanted with cybernetic devices to make them appear like animals). We were cybernetic peacocks and the tail of my costume opened and spread out like a peacock's fan. This is one of the only costumes I would ever consider reconstructing, as I feel I could make it a lot closer to my original idea with what I have learned in the years since.

• Lunacon 1993: Little Red Riding Hood.
  Awarded: Best Presentation (Journeyman Division)
  • This was "the little costume that could". Comprised mostly of medieval garb and makeup, it was put together about a week before the con. In this incarnation of the story, Ms. Hood is a vampire and she "gets" the wolf in the end.

• Lunacon 1994: Faries of the Flame
  • Remember when I said that I had my share of embarassments? Well this is the one. This one could have been better had I actually finished it before I presented it. There were also technical problems and other matters which make this one of the costumes I'd rather forget. Still all in all, it was a nice idea and one day I would love to rethink this costume from the ground up. It was also a valuable learning experience (never rely on your roomates to help you make a costume!)

• Lunacon 1995: Son of the Goblin King
  • One of the costumes I really liked that didn't seem to go over well with the judges (tho the audience loved it!). It was inspired by Labyrinth and I made a dark version of the Jareth costume... The cloak of feathers was a nice touch. I had the Masqerade director apologise to me for not winning, seems I wasn't the only one who tought that costume got a bum rap.

• Lunacon 1997: Rite of Passage
  Awarded: Honorable Mention for SPFX(Craftsman Division)
  • Too ambitious for its own good! ChaosLin and I worked on the costume designs and I made most of my own costume. Basic plot of the costume was as follows: Acolyte is about to be tested before he can become a master mage; he is seduced by the forces of Order and Chaos and rather than choosing either, he chooses both. Ran a little too long onstage, but otherwise it is in the shop for a refit and we will be presenting it at another convention (CostumeCon in Philly, perhaps?) This is one of my favorite costumes and I want to see it reworked and fine tuned to we can kick some serious butt next time we present it!

• Lunacon 1998: Fire and Water
  Awarded: Most Beautiful (Craftsman Division)
  • Time for a major change in style! ChaosLin designs yet again and this time we go for a more Asian feel to the costume. Two scholars after joining halves of a mystical amulet, transform into a Phoenix and Dragon. This one took months of work and we were very proud to present it. However the actual stage presentation had a severe screw up and didn't go nearly as well as we had hoped. However this costume too will be tweaked for presentation at another con. Keep an eye out!

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