Sydney Supanova

And that brings me up to last weekend. On Friday, my brother and I flew down to Sydney so that we could attend Supanova. Friday itself was terrible. We arrive at the airport with enough time to check in our bags (costumes, so need full luggage). Once we pick up our tickets, the man at the counter tells us that our flight is delayed from 4.15 to 5.00. 45 minutes - I can handle that. Things went downhill from there. Our flight didn't leave Brisbane until 6.30pm. Which meant that we were really late getting to Sydney - and we just made it to Supanova before the doors closed, as it is we had to beg to get our wristbands so that we wouldn't have to line up on Saturday. Then, to top it off, we though we would grab maccas for a very late dinner - and they are closed because apparently they have run out of food. What a load of rubbish - they were up and selling the next morning. So I stopped off at Cold Rock Ice Creamery instead. Then to top it all off, I was sharing a room with my brother who snores like a freight train - I barely got 4 hours of sleep.

Saturday dawned. Raining. I dressed in my costume for the day - Ariel from The Little Mermaid, and helped my brother with his new costume that I had whipped up for him - Uncle Fester, from the Addams Family. And we made our way over to the doors into the convention. It was packed. I had a fantastic time though, spending time with my Sydney-side friends, attending talks and the general awesomeness that goes on at a con. My favourite purchase of the day was a stuffed toy of Sebastian. We finished off the evening with a group dinner at a local steak joint - the food was fabulous but there was just soooo much.

Come Sunday, the skies were blue. It was a beautiful day, and I was dressed as Saber Lion from Fate Stay Night. And this time, I was actually recognised in my costume - it doesn't happen much as it is a rather obscure costume. I even found a classic Saber to have my photo with. I got a couple of autographs - one from Jennifer Hale who is the voice of Leah in Diablo 3 (among many other games and cartoons), and shopped some more. By the end of the day, my suitcase was full, and my wallet was empty as we made our way to the train station.

All in all though, I had an amazing time at Syd-nova and would totally be interested in going again next year. But that will depend on how the plans go for another trip to Japan. One thing is for certain though, I certainly won't be sharing a room with my brother. Sunday night, back in my own bed, with no snoring to hear, I slept like the dead.

And some of the other amazing costumes on show...

History Alive 2012

Once again, I camped out at Queensland's biggest re-enactment event for the weekend earlier this month. Namely History Alive. I attended with my group - RIFF - in regency on Saturday and in late victorian with EDAS on Sunday - doing Bartitsu.

I didn't take many photos, mainly because I was in full re-enactment mode - which generally means we can't pull out the cameras. We started Saturday off with a full historical breakfast. I then did a talk on dressing a Regency Lady and got dressed in front of my audience - starting in my undergarments. Our day from then on was pretty easy - I was making a bonnet until we hosted the annual Officers Tiffen. We finished out our day with a full Regency dinner.

Come Sunday, I dressed in late Victorian for the Bartitsu club - we practiced calisthenics and our cane fighting skills. But as the day was wet and windy it was freezing cold, so it was a little inconvenient to do any more fighting. All in all though, I had a great weekend.

A 75th Anniversary

Phew. It has been a busy couple of weeks. I will start with a couple of weekends ago when I attended a 75th Anniversary fete. The hosting school had asked the Australian Costumers Guild Queensland members to attend in vintage ensemble. Pretty much anything from the 1930s onwards.

I wasn't really inclined to make something new for the event, so I pulled out one of my 1950s dresses. This one just happened to have been very recently made and not yet worn, so it was like having something brand new for the event anyway. It is a halter dress made from yellow cotton hailspot. The design has a side seam zip and two pieces of boning in the back to make it sit nice and flush against the body - a trick that I think is really fabulous. It was a very cold day out, so I made sure to pop on all my vintage undergarments - stockings, shapewear, slip, petticoats and my original vintage bullet strapless bra. I also dragged out one of my wool cardigans to keep warm and my 1950s cream and black hat. I was very pleased with how my outfit turned out, so onto the photos...

Modern Woman

How can a costumer resist when an exhibition comes to town displaying works from 1850-1910? The girls in Brisbane certainly can't. We were lucky enough to find a mutual date for all of us to attend the Modern Woman Exhibition at the Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) in May. The exhibition displayed a selection of works from male and female artists throughout history. There were some truly amazing pieces on display and we all gazed in awe at the detail achieved with pastels - there may be some art lessons in our future. One truly unique piece on display featured a musical evening scene that was painted to be made into a fan. On our way to the gallery shop, we were sidetracked by many other pieces of historical art on display - these ones owned by the QAG, so were able to photographed. Three hours later, we sat down to lunch. While there, we decided that these sort of outings need to by much more frequent - it was a lovely and relaxing way to spend a Saturday morning.

I decided that I wanted to wear my gold and orange bustle ensemble again, but was a little loathe to have it exactly the same as last time. So, I paired it with my first gold skirt with the massive train and I styled my wig a little differently than last time. I think it worked successfully, and it made me feel like I was wearing a different outfit. I am now considering making a different hat that would go with it all so that I can mix and match just that little more. And of course, I am planning to turn it all into an evening ensemble with a new bodice for the heritage ball later this year. It really is a good thing that I was able to get more of that gold fabric...