"...Who can that attractive girl be? Such a pretty face, such a pretty dress..."

[hazelchaz]

Some more ideas for Costume College. Is Costume College a strict historical costuming convention? Or is it reaching out and expanding its focus?

Assuming that C.C. can draw on new instructors for new classes, workshops, and lectures, they ought to take advantage of their proximity to Hollywood. Surely there's something that C.C. members might learn from studio costume designers? (Do the Costumers Guilds' members know that the studio union is called the Costume Designers Guild, by the way?) And I bet some of the studio designers would come away from C.C. having learned something too.

The Costume Exhibit had a room full of s-f, fantasy, and anime costumes. (Plus Ghosts of Christmas Past/Future, which were fantasy I suppose. The "Future" was very interesting in that it wasn't just plain flat black -- the black materials used had a lot of texture to them.) Did any of the classes relate in any way to those exhibits? One of them was based on a Nene Thomas painting. Making costumes based on 2-D drawings isn't restricted to the anime costumers. The two anime costumes in the exhibit were interesting, although the headpiece was positioned wrong on one of them. If C.C. were to label the rooms "Historical, S.F., Fantasy and Anime Costume Exhibits" it would draw a little more attention to including anime in future exhibits.

I can think of a couple of people that might have something interesting to say about cosplay. Starting with, say, karisu_sama. But if they're limited to only choosing from people who got into next year's Costume College before they sold out, then she won't be available. There are some amazing master-class costumes that show up at anime conventions. C.C. should broaden their scope. (See previous message about surveying C.C. members about cons they go to.)

Comments

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

I used to participate with the Costumers Guild West. Yes, they do know the name of the Costume Designers Guild and purposely made their name different. Costume eras are past, present and future, the membership base coming from diverse backgrounds from RenFaires to Sci-Fi Masquerades and some do both past and future! [Guilty as charged.]

I do have to agree about broadening scope. Reproductions of costumes from film and other media is considered by some as a different art form than designing one's own work. However, many of the skills involved overlap heavily. Like, say, SEWING. [grin]