Monday, October 29, 2012

Too Weird For Cosplay

Well, it's almost Halloween... the time of year when everyone's thinking about costumes.

Well, for some people it's a time of year.  For me, costuming is a year-round occupation.  I haven't talked much about costuming on this blog, but I should probably mention at some point that I am a hardcore competitive cosplayer.  I attend eight to ten conventions a year, and model between two and five costumes at each of them.  (If you do the math, that means I make a LOT of costumes).  Many of them are made entirely from scratch, but some costumes (the ones I wear just for fun, as opposed to for competition) are assembled from found items.

Usually these found items come from thrift stores; they start as normal clothing, and I alter them to work for my costume.  Every once in a while, I get lucky and find exactly the piece I'm looking for to complete my outfit.  Other times, I find an interesting piece of clothing at the thrift store and look for a costume that I can build around that unique item.

And then there are the times when NONE of the above happens -- when I find a piece of clothing so weird that even I, with my closets full of costumes and dozens of occasions to dress up like a superhero/video game character/historical replica/etc., can't think of a way to use.

This is one of them:

It's... shiny.

I can tell it's a skirt... but beyond that, I have no idea why it exists.  It's made of that cheap shiny stretch fabric that doesn't actually stretch (the silver spots are where the color has rubbed off the fabric).  It has a lace-trimmed tulle petticoat that hangs down (unevenly) below the hem.  The front panel is foam-reinforced.  The belt is more-or-less attached to the skirt.  It has a commercial tag sew into the back, so it wasn't homemade for a play or dance recital or something.  This was a retail product that someone paid money for.

From the godawful construction, the only thing I can think is that this is a remnant of one of those cheap prefab Halloween costumes (the kind that come in a bag for $24.99 in seasonal stores).  But seriously, I can't even make this work as part of a Halloween costume.  What costume would it be?  Lolita Supergirl?  Chambermaid Cheerleader?  Sexy Hipster In Short Blue Skirt With Lace?

And the even more mind-boggling question is... why did I buy it and bring it home to add to my random box of costume supplies?

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