Supanova Brisbane 2014: Vintage geek costumes

I don’t normally talk about cosplay here (though I do share my Facebook page between pinup and cosplay), but a couple of weeks at Brisbane Supanova, both of my cosplays were vintage-themed, so I figured it would fit with things here!

If you do follow me on Facebook, you’ll know that on the Saturday I re-wore the pinup Little Mermaid costume that I made for Oz Comic Con earlier in the year. At the time, I wasn’t exactly happy with the singlet I bought for it, so I replaced it with a purple (the wrong purple, but whatever!) Pinup Girl Clothing Sean top from my favourite shop in the world, That Shop in Woolloongabba. I really wish this shirt came in the right lavender, because boy, is it ever flattering. It’s fitted, but comfortable, sexy but not too revealing. Basically, it’s the perfect shirt. Over the cosplay off season, I’d like to do some work on this costume and make it more obviously Ariel, but I’m pretty happy with it overall.

 

Eric is Matt Perry as Loki

And for Sunday I debuted the costume I've been the most excited about this year, DC Bombshells Mera, based on the artwork of Ant Lucia.

I have loved these Bombshell covers since the day I saw them because they do combine both of my great loves together! But I didn’t even know I wanted to be Mera until I was making my Loki sceptre earlier in the year and found an off-cut of wood in my dad’s shed that I knew would be a perfect base for Mera’s trident. From there, I was off and racing.

In many ways, this was kind of a simple costume. I modified a vintage swimsuit I already had and then just made the small details. My dad helped with putting the trident together, but I did all the foam sculpting to make it work, and still be acceptable under the con’s weapons policy (because I decided she didn’t work as a costume without the trident, so I didn’t want it to be checked all day). The sarong was just a simple piece of poplin with some finishing to neaten it off and so it sat nicely all day. Eventually though, I’d like to learn a bit of embroidery and add some pretty details to it. It was a spray paint and glue-heavy costume, so it took a lot of time for pieces to be ready to go together, with the trident and the shoes taking the longest.

But I worked at it steadily for about four months and was completely finished two weeks before Nova. It meant for the least stress, plus it was actually weather appropriate (last year, I was in my Ygritte coat at Nova in 40 degree heat)!

Photo by What a Big Camera

I did have moments of body panic… (am I too fat for this? Are people going to be grossed out?). But I think I did okay.

Photo by What a Big Camera

What was really great about this costume was that I got to spend most of the day with this rad group of ladies who’d put together their own Bombshell costumes.

Photo by What Big Camera

Early next year, I’ll be shooting Mera in a proper ocean setting, but I’ll also be adding Poison Ivy (*gulp* —my first ever lingerie shoot) and Wonder Woman to my Bombshell list (though I don’t know whether these will end up as con costumes yet).

My wardrobe loves: Geeky vintage skirts from Seams Nostalgic

You may have gathered, especially from my Miss Cooly Rocks On posts, that I enjoy dressing to a theme. Sometimes that theme is subtle and only noticeable if you’re really looking, other days, it’s super obvious.

This outfit is one of those super obvious ones:

I first discovered Seams Nostalgic at Gold Coast Supanova at the start of the year. Abigael makes gorgeous skirts, but even better than that, she’s a nerdy/pinup loving girl who weaves both of those things into her creations. This, of course appeals greatly to me as a fellow pinup nerd! Her staple seller at the time wrap skirts with geek-themed pockets, plus some more vintage-style ones and some gorgeous, soft fluffy petticoats.

I’d been lusting after her Little Mermaid skirt from around the time I was searching for outfits for Cooly, and happily, a few months ago, I picked this beauty up.

I was really lucky to be asked to model the same skirt for her at the fashion showcase as a part of Raw Art Brisbane a couple of months ago. I had an absolute blast being done up as a mermaid for the night, but I was also lucky to get a special preview of her much-anticipated DC and Marvel “Alter Ego” skirt collections, the day before they released.

Photo by Elliot Tonks of Live Exposure

What’s most impressive about Abi’s work though, is how passionate she is about her creations. She’s put an unbelievable amount of effort into designing each and every one of her skirts, matching them to specific outfits in comics and movies, weaving the fandom element in so her skirts can be worn in the office in a sort of undercover cosplay just as easily as they can be worn to a convention as an actual cosplay. She’s made patterns, bought materials and sewn them all too. Everything is finished off beautifully, which just adds to the value of her pieces.

Photo by Elliot Tonks of Live Exposure

I’ve just started sewing properly in the last year and as I’ve taken almost a month to finish a dress that’s a bit rough inside, I’ve got a newfound appreciation for people who actually work as seamstresses for a living — and Abigael isn’t just a seamstress, she’s a designer, a patternmaker, a marketer, and administrator, a packer and all of those other things that come along with having a small business. She’s an impressive, talented lady, and I am super glad that I came across her at Supanova. I can’t wait to pick up my piece of her DC collection at this weekend’s Supanova, a Wonder Woman circle skirt (modelled in our group shot by the fabulous Cleo DeFleur).

Abigael is the one with the gorgeous pink & green hair!
Photo by Elliot Tonks of Live Exposure

The Marvel and DC collections are limited, but you can jump on her Etsy store and see what’s there, and have a chance to own your own gorgeous piece of Seams Nostaglic. If you’re going to be at Supanova this weekend, Abigael has a table so you’ll be able to meet the designer herself and pick up one of her skirts (or five or six!). Check out the Seams Nostalgic Facebook page for updates!!

Miss Cooly Rocks On 2014: Part One

On the way to the parade, bright and early!

I know I promised updates in the lead-up to Miss Cooly Rocks On, but I ended up with two weekends to organise and pack all my outfits and writing time just got away from me. That, and the fact I wanted to try and keep my outfits a little bit secret squirrel for the weekend and then immediately after, I flew to Sydney for Supanova. So, two weeks later here’s the first part of my Miss Cooly Rocks On experience and my outfits with a few special thank yous thrown in for good measure.


For the pageant, we needed three outfits: daywear, swimwear/beachwear and evening wear. But there were also other official events: a meet and greet with the pageant organisers, sponsors and the other lovely finalists the night before; and an appearance on the Morning Show on Channel Nine and in the parade on the Saturday. So that’s a total of five outfits.

In the lead up to the finalist announcement, I hadn't really allowed myself too much planning time — I didn' want to get too disappointed if I wasn't announced as a finalist. But I had gone so far as deciding I wanted to do a nerdy pinup theme if I did. I’d sketched out some rough ideas, mostly inspired by the new DC Comics Bombshell variant covers, but it wasn't until I was announced that I finally came up with:

• Meet and Greet – the Joker
• Parade – Ariel

(And for the actual pageant? Well, you’ll have to wait and see in part two…)

Meet and Greet:

With my my number 1 support girl for the pageant.

I had heaps of fun with Kelly and Steffii at That Shop in Woolloongabba picking out outfits. Once I let my comic book/nerdy theme slip, the girls got all excited and the dresses and ideas just kept getting put in the change room and I kept falling in love. I never would have found this dress if it wasn’t for them; I usually stay away from wiggle dresses (my style is more cute pinup than vampy sexy pinup), but the second I put this dress on, I had to have it. The purple goes perfectly with my orangey-red hair and rather than clinging to my lumps and bumps, it clings exactly where you want it to and hides all the bits you want it to hide.

When Steffii presented me with this bright green Banned cardigan, she called me the Joker and I was sold. I searched for a pair of green heels to match, but being autumn here, there were no bright colours to be found. In the end, I went with a simple pair of black wedges (courtesy of Mum’s wardrobe). My handbag was made by me from materials purchased at the best fabric shop in the world, Make It Hobby ‘n’ Craft in Boondall.

I was so nervous going to the meet and greet (I've always been a bit shy around new people) and we were a bit late because of the traffic, which meant that by the time I got there, I was shaking and anxious. But a couple of minutes after we walked in the door at the Sands Hotel, Karen (owner of That Shop and pageant organiser extraordinaire) found me and put me immediately at ease. The other girls were all beautiful and nice and easy to talk to and it was lovely to meet some of the other pageant organisers, judges and sponsors.

One of the highlights of the night was finding out that the Pacific Pillow Company, one of the amazing sponsors, had generously made every single one of us a pillow with our photo on it! You can view all of the gorgeous girls with their pillows by clicking here and visiting our official photographer and another of the pageant’s wonderful sponsors; Megan Rizzo Photography.

Morning Show/Parade
It was up bright and early the next day as we were appearing on Channel Nine’s Weekend Today Show as a part of Abbey’s weather report. This was mermaid day for me…

My outfit basically revolved around a gorgeous pair of Iron Fist mermaid shoes that I bought from That Shop, the Erstwilder 'Sea Maiden Jane' brooch I picked up at the Woolloongabba Antique Centre and the Little Mermaid tote bag I’d sewn from material picked up at Make it Hobby N Craft. I was set on a lavender Jenny dress from Pinup Girl Clothing or a Lavender Karen dress from Hell Bunny, but of course both colours have been out for a while and finding them proved extremely difficult.


Finally, after a lot of online searching and a million emails, Kirstin from Ursalady Creations at Stones Corner came to my rescue. It was meant to be, I think, because they had one dress left in my size that had just been sitting on the racks for ages. Kirstin was lovely enough to hold the dress for me and even offered to stay back at the shop a bit later until I could get away from work — talk about going above and beyond for customer service!!

I also decided this was the perfect outfit to show off one of my nanna’s lovely 50s hats. I’ve worn this hat a few times before because the colour is so easy to match, but I’ve always had trouble getting it to stay on my head. Then, when I was packing I realised I’d lost my hat pin which was going to make it even harder to keep on. I took off in a hurry (my hair wasn’t even brushed) and drove straight to Atomic Martini Vintage in Clayfield where I rushed in, asked Lisa to “HEEEEEELP!” She sent me off for a coffee and when I came back, not only had she picked out a pin for me, but she’d steamed Nanna’s hat back into shape. She gave me a lesson in how to pin it and I went off feeling extremely grateful and a lot less panicked. Again, another wonderful person in this vintage community who is prepared to go above and beyond for her customers. Thanks so much Lisa.

The Morning Show appearance was over before we knew it, but it was lots of fun and really nice for family and friends who couldn’t make it to Cooly to get a glimpse of what the festival was like. If you want to see the video, pop over to my Facebook page where one of my lovely friends has posted it for everyone to catch up on!


Then, it was on to the parade. Boy oh boy was it fun! We got to ride in an awesome car, I met Denise Drysdale, Frankie J Holden and Wilbur Wilde; was waved and cheered to like I was a celebrity and smiled so much my mouth hurt. It was so much fun; everyone in the crowd was happy and excited and everyone in the parade was too.

After the parade, we walked around handing out some cards for our wonderful sponsors and then headed off to enjoy the festival. I had a nap in the car (not very pinup of me, but I did need my beauty sleep) and then headed off to get my makeup done.

With Miss Brydie and Nerida before the parade

With the gorgeous Miss Carly (photo by Matthew Balaam)

Want to read all about the pageant? Well, the update is too big to cram in here, so stay tuned for later in the week!