As best as I can tell, other than a few pieces of fest gear around the same time, I’m costuming for the first time since I made a zoot suit for Shoryl back in 2006.
It’s been…awhile. But on a whim, Shoryl and I got tickets to The Longest Night Midwinter Masque back in July. As I mentioned at the time, it wasn’t originally with the intent of making some very flashy costumes, but given the opportunity in front of me…
And from July to October I hemmed and hawed and tried to figure out what I wanted to do, both of us being rather older and fatter since I’d done any costuming. Shoryl already had a purple dragon mask, but I’d need a mask and an idea, both.
Etsy provided a stunning bird mask in teal and orange – perfect colors. And then I thought. And thought. Shoryl knew what they wanted: a dragon wing cloak. (How? Well, that was my problem to figure out.) Eventually, I settled on a houppelande for me, having read somewhere that Jacqueline Carey’s books (for which this is a fan event) took place in the 14th century. Potentially a bit late for that particular style, but it’s flattering on me in a way that a cotehardie definitely wouldn’t be. Besides, this is fantasy costume, not a historical one.
And so now I’m off: costuming again for the first time in decades, with a deadline slightly more reasonable than in the past.
A Twist of Metaphor 