Costume Ideas Wanted

[kerravonsen]

I am thinking of actually making a costume for Redemtion. I certainly need to, because most of my old costumes won't fit me any more. Being realistic, I don't want to make anything too elaborate or finicky, because I won't get it done. I was thinking of making a dryad costume by making a suitable green jacket and wearing white underneath and calling myself a Silver Birch, but after looking at Lincraft today and finding nothing at all that leapt out at me saying "I make people think of silver birches" (as a contrast with my old naiad costume, which was inspired by a beautiful gauze which made me think of water) I am inclined to think that the Silver Birch idea is a washout, because I don't want to go to all the effort of making something, only to find that it looks rather blah.

So I am calling for costume ideas. I don't want to make anything from B5, because I'm off B5. Which is a pity, because I really really like the Delenn costume that I made, because it was exotic and pretty, and I'd like to make something like that. But I can't think of any characters who would wear interesting things like that. I mean, there's nothing in B7, they're all wearing uniforms and tunics. Though tunics aren't bad, I suppose. But I'd rather make something that was in-the-style-of, rather than an exact reproduction of something, that way I don't have to worry so much about getting it wrong.

And it can really be from anything in SF, because even though Redemption is a B5/B7 con, the costumes tend to be a bit more eclectic than that. Mind you, there are exotic costumes in Stargate, but I don't really fancy dressing up as a Goa'uld...

Ideas, anyone? Especially things which don't have to be any particular colour, so I can chose a colour that suits me.

Comments

[communicator.livejournal.com]

I am thinking of actually making a costume for Redemtion

I don't have any suggestions, but I think it's a super idea.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

a beautiful gauze which made me think of water

Hee. I once went as water to a fancy-dress party. I modified a Mickey Mouse hat to have an O on the head and Hs on the ears, plus the atoms, and wore a tube shift of watery fabric.

I've also been a gangster several times (possessing all the necessary elements including fedora and braces) and at a bad-taste party I was Vera Everage, Dame Edna's mud-wrestling daughter. That was a lot of fun. Glittery pointy glasses made of gilded cardboard with cheap stud earrings driven through them to make diamantes, and brightly-coloured tight spandex. I also took a highly-decorated blue pavlova with me.

[kerravonsen]

Thanks.
But, please, ideas?

[kerravonsen]

Very creative, but not quite what I was looking for...
A blue pavlova? (boggles)

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

Not everybody in B7 wears uniforms. There's Meegat; you could be the person who had her job in the previous generation. There's Tara of Goth; you could be all mystical and cranky (sounds like a good one for me, now I think about it). You could be Governor LeGrand ::snort::. Or, hey, Chenie! That would be fun.

Mind you, my costumes tend to be more on the order of: Orange shirt and pants, green cardboard tube on head, cut features out of black felt and pin to shirt, go as a Jack-O'-Lantern.

Will keep thinking.

Er. What's a pavlova?

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It was a bad taste party. Blue food is rare. There was a lot worse there, I assure you.

Hmm. Orac? Zen? (Nice brown colours with gold rectangles.) The Liberator! (Green bulbous headwear and white dress with a broad gold belt.)

All right, I'll stop now.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

A large meringue dessert, named for the ballerina. I'm not sure whether she liked it, or whether the name reflects its lightness. Basically it's a big torte-sized meringue covered with cream and fruit.

go as a Tok'ra

[watervole.livejournal.com]

How about a member of the Tok'ra high council? They tend to have a nice line in slightly formal wear YOu can either do a copy or style your own. They seem to go for browns in general and fabrics with interesting textures.

[kerravonsen]

Brown and gold don't suit me, otherwise I'd dress all in yellow, gold and orange and go as a star... 8-)

[kerravonsen]

Hmmm, Meegat's grandmother, eh? I wonder what her name would be. Unless they were all named Meegat, of course; that's possible. "Meegat's grandmother Meegat..." I'll have to take another look at what Meegat, Tara and Chenie were wearing. Or I could just pretend to be one of the people at the Big Wheel -- a costume within a costume... though probably a bit too obscure.

Er. What's a pavlova?
Nico's already answered this, though I'd like to add that a perfect pavlova is crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. My mother made wonderful pavlovas, but I never learnt the art. She not only did fruit ones, but she invented the coffee pavlova: add a bit of instant coffee to the meringue while one is adding the sugar, cuts down on the sweet taste and has a lovely flavour, and in the centre (Mum always made them with higher sides and a lower centre, like a valley with mountains around it) when it's all cooked, put coffee cream, chocolate ice cream, vanilla ice cream and chocolate curls. Magnificent.

Re: go as a Tok'ra

[kerravonsen]

Hmmm, interesting, yes, though brown doesn't suit me. What episodes did the High Council appear in? Unfortunately my recollection of Tok'ra styles is browns, beiges and earth tones and those colours don't suit me at all. I'm better with jewel tones (emerald, purple, blue, crimson) or black/silver/white and I suspect they're just the kind of colours the Tok'ra would eschew, because they're too like the kind of thing the Goa'uld would wear, besides being things that don't fit the "desert camouflage" look they seem to cultivate...

Of course I could go as a Tok'ra going undercover as a Goa'uld (grin).

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

What colours do suit you? Could you be a nebula? There are some gorgeous ones on the Nasa's astronomy picture of the day archive here. Some good ones are:

2004 September 27: The Great Nebula in Orion
2003 October 07: The Colorful Horsehead Nebula
2003 September 21: Inside the Eagle Nebula
2001 June 23: The Cygnus Loop

The last one's both gorgeous and even relevant to B7. :-D

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I was going to mention the coffee ones. I love those best as they're not as sweet. And I agree with you about how a pavlova should be, though I only make and eat them at Christmas time now.

[kerravonsen]

Oh, they are gorgeous! Thank you! (Note to self: bookmark site).

This idea might actually work, too! I remember I have some lovely variegated blue velour which might do for this... get some black satin for trimmings... I wonder if I could find some sparkly sheer gauze to put over it for the stars... or maybe sew beads on, but that might be too finicky.

Brilliant idea!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Yay! Cygnus Nebula! I'd put the stars on the velour and have the gauze as the nebulous bits. You wouldn't need many stars as nebulas occlude them. Can you get multi-coloured gauze? If not, wispy layers of different colours would work well.

I'm glad I could help after all.

[(Anonymous)]

Governer LeGrand.

Dressing gowns are soooo comfortable...

SallyM

[kerravonsen]

Well, I've actually found, in going through my five boxes of cloth, that I have some rainbow-coloured crushed velour which might be even better. Only 3 metres of it, though -- not enough to make a dress. But maybe if I make a tunic, I could make a skirt out of this navy cloth I saw in Cleggs the other day, which is very subtly glittery, so I could have the skirt part be the night sky. And I won't bother with the gauze at all -- too much extra work, and it would hide the lovely velour... 8-)

I also went through my pattern box and realized I have to throw out half of them, because they are too small. I has really been a very long time since I've done any sewing. But I have just discovered http://www.voguepatterns.com/ which I've just been looking at with glee, as (a) they have an e-store and (b) they sell outside the US. You may ask, hey, why not go to Lincraft, to which the answer is, it's easier to surf...

[kerravonsen]

Of course then I find they say it takes 5 weeks to deliver -- I'm much too impatient for that! But I fear that my local sewing store simply won't have the patterns I found that I want, because they'll be having a six-month-old catalogue because of the season difference. 8-(

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, it is. I hate shopping. I buy most of my clothes mail-order, but then I have to take them up as they're all made for people over 6 foot.

Three pair of new trousers await me...

I'm going to have to see a pic of this when you make it. :-D