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).