Today’s question is…
“How do you decide what costumes to make?”
“How do you decide what costumes to wear at a convention?”
“How do you schedule your costumes for a con?”
Well, when deciding what costumes to make, first we decide on what conventions we are going to – generally we do one “new” convention (like C2E2 this past year, Timegate in 2012, Emerald City ComicCon in 2011), 2-3 local cons, and Dragoncon. I’ll usually make 4-6 costumes for Dragoncon, maybe 1 for the “new” con, and perhaps 1 for a local con/Halloween. That’s not a hard and fast rule by any means, but it’s what’s become average over the past few years.
I keep a folder full of pictures of characters and costumes I like. At the beginning of every year I go through this folder and pick out what I want to make throughout the year – I go ahead and make a rough construction schedule & budget. Sometimes the conventions I’m heading to dictate what I make and when. Around May/June, I’ll revise the list because I inevitably lose interest in one or two and feel the need to add something else to Dragoncon to round out my costume list. I have a tendancy to like a really well-balanced variety of costumes at Dragoncon; and while I haven’t always been as successful at that as I’d like, I do like to try.
A lot of what goes into picking a new costume is time/money/on hand supplies. I’m not a millionaire so if I want to do a project that’s going to be expensive, I have to budget for it, and move things around to make it possible. I’ll often times pick new costumes simply for the fact that I can re-use a wig or shoes I already have, because that’s a huge money saver.
Sometimes all that planning goes right out the window if I see something I just HAVE to do, though. 🙂
I sometimes have a stand-by costume that I want to make, that I will end up making if end with the extra time or money to make it. This past year it was Supergirl – I wasn’t planning on it, but when I realized I did have the time and money to throw it together, I did. Sometimes I like having a little, quick project like that to take my mind off the bigger, more complex costumes.
(I keep my references for the year on the corkboard in my office usually.)
I always see a lot of new cosplayers asking, “ Who should I cosplay as ?” Cosplay whoever you like. Don’t let a stranger on the internet decide for you; it’s a personal thing, choosing who to be. Don’t worry about whether or not you look like a character… I mean, I’m far too short to ever really be Wonder Woman, but whatever, I love her so I’ve made multiple costumes. Look at your favourite movies, tv shows, comics, video games – pick whatever moves you, whatever you think you’re comfortable attempting to put together or make. Don’t be disuaded by someone who may have done it better or first, or if it’s super popular – if you want to do it, do it.
(There were a ton of Adventure Time costumes at C2E2 to the point of over-saturation. I didn’t care, I loved wearing my Fionna costume.)
So, as for picking non-new costumes to take with me, they call into three categories:
1. For a photoshoot or group – I’m bringing it just for a big group photoshoot; ie, I brought Queen Hippolyta back to Dragoncon last year just for the Wonder Woman universe photoshoot.
2. I felt like it. That’s it, nothing more scientific than that. I think, I didn’t wear this very long last time I wore it, I’d like to wear it again. And that’s all there is to it!
3. Can I transport it? Do I have room? For instance, if I’m flying somewhere, I’m not taking Marie Antoinette because it’s just too large and fragile. For C2E2, when we flew, I took 3 costumes that were easy to pack into a carry-on. For Dragoncon, which we drive to, all I have to think of is what I can fit in the back of our SUV 🙂
As for scheduling, it can be kind-of willy-nilly. Most conventions these days are “wear what I want when I want.” The only things I think of at, say, Dragoncon, are crowds – I don’t want to wear something huge or elaborate during the most crowded times. Dragoncon is really the only convention these days I really try to break down a schedule – but that’s difficult when 9 times out of 10 I’m just wearing a particular costume because I feel like it.
I do tend to keep one or two things as surprise until the con, usually just for fun. It’s not some secretive thing. Sometimes it just that I don’t know if I’ll get it finished so I don’t want to promise it until it’s for sure!
(There’s always one person who says, “you’re going as a blur? wow haha”)
Anyway, all this boils down to, I’m a planner. I like to make lists and check things off. So I plan everything in advance, even if it’s not necessary. Like Dragoncon this past year – it wasn’t really necessary since I only had 2 or 3 things I needed to wear specific costumes to. But yet I wrote out a schedule 3 or 4 times, and then completely ignored it at the con. Typical.