COUNTDOWN TO COSTUME COLLEGE 2025

 

With only 13 days left until Costume College, I’m in the midst of getting everything together that I have to bring with me. On top of that, I also organized the Costume Exhibit there of costumes made by attendees. I hope everyone who is attending this year has some time to stop by and see these amazing outfits up close on display.

In planning my costumes, I determined I was only going to two events there that I would need them; the Friday Social “The Adventurer’s Club”, and the Saturday Gala Time Traveler’s Ball “Roaring ‘20s: Choose Your Century”.

I heard there was a mini-theme group for the Friday Social called the Space Jane Battalion, dedicated to the original symbol of Costume College, Space Jane. She was designed as a Victorian lady with spacewoman accessories since in the early ‘90s historical and SciFi were the popular genres at the conference.

Since I had recently finished and worn my 1870s blue striped seaside dress in Port Townsend, I knew I could just add accessories to that, and there was my costume. Easy peasy! I spent the last six months searching through Amazon and other websites for my accessories. I had hoped to buy a clear acrylic globe helmet, but the couple advertised were all sold out. So on to Plan B, wearing a headband with antenna balls. I found silver ones, and then some silver metallic gloves that coordinated very nicely with them. My raygun came from a party supplier and was very cheap, only $6! It has lights, color, and sound! It’s going to be fun with our duels! So yeah, this costume will be fun. And I only spent $23 total on my accessories.

My ideas for the Gala became more complicated. I don’t normally wear 1920s, and even though 1820s would interest me, I was too busy to try going into that decade. I was actually working on two Regency dresses and Spencers and wanted to focus on those.

I also wanted something that might be worn again, and in the daytime, so was looking at making a cotton dress in the right fabric that could pass for evening with some accessories. I looked at Egyptmania and Art Deco fabrics and even bought a digital pattern that I thought of using for one. It seemed simple to make but in reality, looking at the directions I wasn’t so sure. It would also need enlarging. It is really cute though.

And then I came across this photo on Pinterest, Erte! It was all drama! I wanted that!

So I made a deep dive into finding more Erte pictures. The “wings” appeared quite often too. I even have a pattern for a caftan but did I really want to make one just for this event. So off to Amazon for a bit of shopping!

I found lots of caftans but the bejeweled ones seemed to be more of what I was looking for and I found this one. Reviews for it said it was very long, and boy, was it! It was six inches longer on the floor. Hemming wouldn’t be a problem but the fabric was a pain. It was chiffon, so it fought back against my scissors the whole time I was cutting it. The neckline was also very wide and on my short shoulders, it was being dragged down in front by the heavy metal beading. In fact, later I noticed the gold design was much bigger than the photo on Amazon. To solve that, I had to take up the shoulders which gave me a smaller neck opening but it worked. My dress cost me $60.

 

And then off I went to Etsy to find some accessories, hoping not to spend too much on them. Since none of the photos show them wearing black gloves, I’ve decided to skip those. The easiest was a purse while searching for gold metallic ones. But it had to be big enough to hold my cellphone. My dress has no pockets, “gasp!”, and no way to add them that I could access. So it was a priority. I found the perfect one on etsy for $22 with plenty of room.

The earrings and a turban were the hardest to find. Yes, there are lots of Art Deco earrings but they’re pretty pricey for a one-time wear. I thought I found the perfect ones that were really cute and the length I wanted, but in real life, they’re more bronzey than the gold shown in the photo, and I’m not really happy with them next to my purse and dress trims. But I still have a bit more time to maybe find something better. “Sigh” if only they were gold but I’m looking for around $22.

  

 

 

I finally found one lady on etsy who made black velvet turbans and ordered one. But when it arrived, it seemed smaller than the one shown in the photo. She must have a very small head because mine doesn’t go down that far to my neck. Nor does it have any height. It’s a stretchy velvet, so I’ve stuffed it with tissue to puff it up a bit. I also ordered the one with a rhinestone on the forehead for more drama.

To copy my inspiration photo, I bought some black ostrich feathers, then gave them a haircut so they were very narrow. I cut a small hole in the front behind the rhinestone and sewed them in. I used some Fray-Check on the hole just in case it wanted to stretch. The feathers do have a tendency to twirl around though. I still want the turban to be a little more fluffy on my head so I may add “something” inside to do that. I don’t have a lot of hair and didn’t like the ‘20s wig I had under it. So it will just be my bangs hanging out.

 
My flat black ballet slippers are my final accessories, hoping not to trip over the chiffon hem, and I’m done. All under $120, unless I end up buying more earrings.

This is the pose I’ll be going for while at CoCo. Maybe also both arms up to the side. It all depends on how shy I’ll feel at the moment, or if I’m ready to bring on the drama.