Last weekend I attended the sophomore year of Figments & Filaments here in Kansas City (Overland Park, if you want to get specific). It's exciting to have a costuming convention starting up in my own town. And there was SO much awesome packed into such a small con.
I got to go to a great panel about the 14th C V-neck gown (houppelande) by Robin Netherton. She had many thinky thoughts on the evolution of the neckline and the construction there of. It left me wanting to make another go at making a houppelande, and possibly not out of heavy upholstery fabric this time. I also hit a panel on the use of silk and gold in Medieval textiles by Gale Owen Crocker that left me wanting to embroider everything in gold. A panel on leather working got the inspiration running and lead me make an inaugural visit to Tandy Leather for basic supplies. I also caught Jillian Venters catch-all panel on Goth Style which left me wanting to tweak and mod my way into something fabulous. I also hosted a panel on 18th C Womens' Fashions, focusing on the social and political climate that they were a part of. Wow, but it's been a while since I've had to do such concentrated prep work for something. It was like college all over again. But on the bright side, I now have a rough draft of a good programming topic put together that I can refine before bringing out another time. Not that spending hours collecting images of portraits and extant garments wasn't a fabulous use of my time. And I solidified a lot of things that I kinda knew, but didn't know well. Especially with regards to the timeline of events in the French and English courts and the people involved.
Pretty much everything else that I got up to can be summarized in photos. Luckily, the official con photographers and the couple of others that were flitting around were great about catching lots of photos of everyone and I got caught at one point or another in every costume that I wore.
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| I put the His & Hers 18th C Court Ensemble in the costume gallery. Photo by BMoon Studios |
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| I finally caught a few photos of me wearing my 1880s tea gown. Photo by Tom Ulrick |
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| Obligatory cup of tea with the tea gown. Photo by BMoon Studios |
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| As a guest lecturer, I scored an unexpected invite to the VIP meet-n-greet on opening night. Photo by BMoon Studios. |
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| I overslept and missed the opportunity to wear my chemise dress to my 18th c fashion panel, but it made a great outfit for lounging about on Saturday afternoon. Photo by BMoon Studios. |
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| Finishing my white work embroidery project started back at Costume College last year. Photo by Tom Ulrick. |
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| Aaaaand, I got to have a right and proper geek-gasm getting my photo taken with the lovely gentleman from Iron Brothers of Topeka. I've admired their suits from afar at other, more crowded events. So it was a real treat to get to check them out in a much more subdued venue. Photo by IBOT. |
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| Stephanie caught a photo of me in the Queen of Hearts costume that I wore for the fashion show. The look was well-received, but I creep myself out whenever I see pictures of that makeup job. The goal was to minimize the pretty and over-emphasize masculine mouth and jawline. *shivers* |
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| And here I am with Kimberly, scaring off new friends just as fast as I can make them. Photo stolen from Stephanie. |
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| It was SO hard staying in character for pictures. Everyone seemed to get a kick out of reacting to an angry queen, but I would bust up laughing in a matter of seconds. Photo by BMoon Studios. |
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| Lazy Sunday costume of my Medieval Sideless Surcoat. No wig, corset, makeup, or heels. |
