From: Gretchen Miller Date: Wed, 2 Mar 1994 12:44:14 -0500 (EST) Subject: H-Costume Digest, Volume 63, 3/2/94 The Historic Costume List Digest, Volume 63, March 2, 1994 Send items for the list to h-costume@andrew.cmu.edu (or reply to this message). Send subscription/deletion requests and inquiries to h-costume-request@andrew.cmu.edu For archives of this digest, send mail to close@lunch.asd.sgi.com Thanks and Enjoy! --------------------------------------------------------------- Topics: Address for CC12/13 Request Yet another view of CC12 Liturgical garb coloring book Request references for civil war era jewelry, clothing, et al Bustier results and thanks! ---------------------------- Date: Tue, 1 Mar 94 10:16:16 PST From: "SNORTON.US.ORACLE.COM" Subject: CC12/13 Request Gretchen, Would you please post your email address or the address where we should send our comments on CC12 workshops? I didn't know Animal X was doing CC13. I meant her for the first time at CC12. She is fun to talk with. I was fortunate to be able to examine her SF/F Masquerade costume up close. The workmanship is staggering. For those of you who missed it --- Animal has had the misfortune to go through at least two major house fires in her lifetime (in one of them, years ago, she lost EVERYTHING) --- this costume and her presentation express the destruction of the fires and rebirth from the ashes. The basic costume is a unitard with extraordinary flame beading and layers of detachable organdy panels. I think she has probably studied dance at some time because she really knows how to use her whole body to tell a story with the costume. Sally snorton@US.oracle.com ---------------------------- From: DGC3%RatesComm%FAR@bangate.pge.com Date: Tue, 1 Mar 94 10:43:40 PST Subject: re:Yet Another View of CC12 The size of the Message Text is 6949(> 6K), So it is kept in the First AttachmenHello, everyone: Here's another view of CC12, originally sent to our Bay Area Regency alias, from a non-costumer who has attended and organized many science fiction conventions. I think it captures the spirit of what goes on at Costume Cons, and thought the list would enjoy it. --Danine Cozzens, dgc3@pge.com If you have comments, please send them directly to the author, Jay Freeman (freeman@MasPar.COM), who has given permission to post this to h-costume. Subject: Report on Costume Con 12 Content-Length: 6284 Fans of elegance: I attended Costume Con 12, in Santa Clara, California, from late Friday, February 18, 1994, through Sunday February 20. The con was much smaller than science-fiction conventions I usually go to: It had only seven or eight hundred members. It featured three major costume presentations and one minor one, about eight simultaneous tracks of panel discussions, workshops and seminars, each one to two hours long, a dealer's room with forty or fifty tables worth of stuff, and several free-standing exhibits of costumes, designs and other material. The con was extraordinarily well-run. I have seen enough poorly-organized cons, both as attendee and as organizer, to appreciate full well how much effort it took to make so many things happen so smoothly and so precisely on time. The absence of visible seams demonstrated mastery in the administration of the convention as much as in any aspect of its subject matter. I suspect any costumer would have enjoyed the dealer's room, if only for the variety of books, pamphlets and patterns on sale. I estimated 1000 book titles present, covering an enormous variety of periods and aspects of costuming. Many of these works were old, used or otherwise unlikely to be widely available elsewhere. I am not a costumer, for I barely know which end of a sewing machine the glue comes out of, so I am unqualified to comment on the quality of other materials sold, except for jewelry -- "Willow" was there with an enormous booth, including several new kitty-design items (I bought two), and next to her was a fellow with a large stock of interesting and beautiful amber. The largest free-standing exhibit was a 20 by 30 foot area devoted to costumes of the macabre. Here were fantasy-theme garments in black with accessories tending toward the ghoulish, but here also was a most interesting and historically authentic exhibit -- about ten well-executed reconstructions of women's mourning dress, from various eras. One whose identity I remember was a recreation of a dress worn by Vivian Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara in _Gone_With_the_Wind_. A cabinet for jewelry and small paraphernalia carried out the macabre theme entertainingly -- it was a nearly full-sized coffin, open toward the viewer, topped with plexiglass and indirectly lit. I attended a few panels. Most matters discussed were well over my head, only in part because the subjects included wigs and masks. Yet if I had any interest in creating costumes, I could have come away from each event with a page or two of notes appropriate for a beginner's efforts. The three major costume presentations comprised a contest for science-fiction and fantasy costumes, a contest for historically correct costumes, and a fashion show of different design themes. All featured work whose average quality was -- as one might expect -- far above the average at most science-fiction conventions. The SF&F show featured about 40 entries. Many were glamorous and exotic, but the award for "most beautiful" went to a "dress the color of weather", a rather full garment comprised of several layers of fabric, each layer in turn composed of several different colors, all quiet shades of gray, blue, white and the like. It put the dazzle-and-glitter entries entirely to shame, a classic proof that simple understatement can be simply breathtaking. The historical presentation had fewer entries. The best item in this show was a dress in the style of US fashion in 1874, suitable for the hostess of a formal reception for the President of the United States. I do not know the correct terms to describe it well, but even such an ignoramus as yours truly was immediately impressed with its beauty and quality of construction. A friend outlined some of the details that made the work exquisite: The gown included a hand-made corset, which was well-done and precisely fitted. Each piece of boning of course had a ruffle sewed over it, so that the lines of the stays would not show through the bodice of the gown. And each and every ruffle was edged with lace. Of such things is masterwork made. The third fashion show was rather a portmanteau. Among other things, it featured several entries made for a contest whose general theme was "choose one of two given folkware patterns, and make a garment therefrom, but in fabric of your choice and embellished to suit you." One pattern was for an Algerian woman's garment -- I think the original featured a loose jacket and loose trousers, the intent being to hide the figure (several entries failed noticeably in this regard) -- and the other was for a Hungarian coat called a "Zur". It was remarkable to see how much variation was forthcoming from creations that each clearly showed the lines and style of the original design. Many presentations were humorous. I laughed at the "Strauss Waltz Assault Team" -- three couples garbed in Victorian designs appropriate to the most formal of balls, and well-executed enough to win a prize, but implemented in contemporary military camouflage with such authentic embellishments as name tags, badges of rank and stenciled identification. These entrants danced flawless Viennese while one of their number called out steps in the bellow and with the mannerisms of a Marine drill sergeant. Detail was carried to the very small: Thus each woman wore an elegant khaki ribbon close about her neck, bearing a brass "dog tag" with her name -- yet not a military dog tag, rather the dog-biscuit-shaped kind from the pet store or veterinarian. I also enjoyed the reenactment of the first "pannier raid", with well-costumed garments and undergarments appropriate to academic, ah, pursuits, among scions of nobility in the eighteenth century. I know many costumers, some very experienced, from science fiction circles. I heard favorable comments about the con from all of them. Equal praise came from a friend of mine who is an eager but less experienced costumer, an enthusiast of the post-rock music-fan fashion style known as "gothic"; she was in hog heaven -- perhaps I should say peacock paradise. Bustiere bliss? Anyway, a good time seems to have been had by all, even by Your correspondent, Jay Freeman ---------------------------- Date: Tue, 01 Mar 94 10:49:59 PDT From: Cindy Subject: Coloring Book Maura! Thanks for your encouraging note! >You brave soul! I hope the contest goes well for you. I definately >want a copy. How much do you want to defray costs? Since I dont know yet how many entries in the coloring book, it's hard to determine the page count. I'd guess a few $$$ for envelope, postage, xeroxing. >I'm the editor of Costumer's Quarterly, the newsletter of the ICG and >think Great! While I'm not a member, I've seen the newsletter and it's a nice bit of work. Felicitations! >it would really be a fun thing to mention. Any objections? If you >want I can list your address info and a price for people who want >copies. No problem with a mention; however, I suppose I'd have to extend the deadline. Shall we add another month? April 26? Also, I dont want to be in the business of selling stuff I havent got. "Ya gotta enter to win" and all that marketing hype. So, send in upto 4 reditions of a bit ULC liturgical garb (I'm considering a sunbathing suit) and get a copy of your very own to color! Whee! >be fun if you could write a little blurb on the entries, their >slants, etc. and maybe we can publish a shrunken example of one. >What do you think? I'll go along with your wishes. Er, uh, I was hoping it wouldnt be that big a production. You see, I'm helping with costumes for a show (Gilbert & Sullivan's "Utopia Ltd"), on the board for a museum (San Juan Bautista) and am in the middle of docenting and setting up a living history group for a new museum (Fallon House/ Peralta Adobe in San Jose). Oh, yeah and for real I'm a software engineer. This last by definition means that I cant write or draw but do it anyway. There you have it, I'm am less a brave soul than you think! Let's have the artistes write their own slants, implementation instructions (e.g. "I foresee green coq feathers on the sleeves of a tasteful pinstripe kimono in charcoal grey wool and fushia mylar.") Right on the drawing is just fine! As for an example, the only one I've been threatened with is a shroud. She has a cold and a shroud is all she's inspired to do. --cin Cynthia Barnes internet: cin@caere.com "Once this was all black plasma and imagination." --San Francisco billboard in the financial district (if you understand, could you explain it to me?) ---------------------------- Date: Tue, 01 Mar 94 15:47:46 EST From: Maryann Subject: DWC This is the saga of a new list member who, like Opus in a recent cartoon, is Driving Without a Clue on the information highway. Just before I left on vacation, I got a wonderful message about a book whose title I forget, that cost 35$ and wuld have all the civil war information I could need. I was hit by a truck tired that night, so I decided to wait until I returned from vacation to copy down all of the information. Apparently this system gets depressed when left alone and upon my return I found that the who it is from side of the list and the subject of the message no longer coincided, nor was either necessarily accurate. I was surprised to find messages supposedly from my sister discussing historic costume, and messages from the list discussing her twins. In my attempt to sort, read and correct, I did something very clever which caused 70 messages to disappear into whereever the crew of the enterprise goes between transporter and destination. Anyway, I would appreciate recieving the information about the book again and if there is anyone out there who could tell me what kind of jewelry would be appropriate for a soldier's wife during the civil war - especially earrings, I will copy it down on first reading. Thanks, Maryann ---------------------------- Date: Tue, 1 Mar 1994 18:04:57 -0500 (EST) From: Gretchen Miller Subject: Re: CC12/13 Request Excerpts from internet.other.h-costume: 1-Mar-94 CC12/13 Request SNORTON.US.ORACLE.@us.or (916) > Would you please post your email address or the address where we should send > our comments on CC12 workshops? Sure thing. Comments should go to me: grm@andrew.cmu.edu Thanks! toodles, gretchen ---------------------------- From: Rachelle A Demunck Subject: Just a quick note Date: Wed, 2 Mar 1994 11:47:03 -0500 (EST) sorry for the bandwidth, but I would like to thank everyone who sent me suggestions about how to lace up my bustier. It turned out great! (It survived a short-term stress test, and now only time will tell...) Rachelle demunckr@student.msu.edu ---------------------------- End of Volume 63 -----------------------