Costume College - Sunday

I was pretty worn out on Sunday. No wonder, with the late night! Once again I did not make it to the Sunday Undies breakfast, although I did not sleep in very late.  I took it easy, did lots of final shopping, and went to a class on 1860s jewelry that was really good.

I knew I would be tired and not feeling like making a lot of effort, so I wore my block printed Regency gown. I didn't get any pictures in it, so here are some old ones from last year's DFWCG Georgian picnic.

Photo courtesy Jennifer Thompson

Photo courtesy Jennifer Thompson

This time I accessorized with my new red stone brooch, a green ribbon sash, and a turban made from a dark red shawl.  American Duchess's tutorial was really helpful!  I wore it with lots of curls, similarly to the black and white Regency from the Friday social. I also pinned on the clear rhinestone brooch to the turban. It looked good! Too bad I don't have any photo proof.


On Sunday afternoon, I changed into very casual vintage wear, to be comfy by the pool. I ended up visiting with Teresa for a long time, which was great.

When we made it to the pool, several other people were at the inside pool.  Lauren was wearing an amazing c. 1940 Vogue outfit, so I took a few pictures for her on a great stairway by the pool.

Photo courtesy of Aubry

Photo courtesy of Aubry

I accidentally left my swimsuit at Lauren's house, so I wasn't able to actually join in the swimming. But I did wade in as far as I could and threw the ball around!

Photo courtesy of Aubry

It was such a comfortable, relaxing time, a great end to Costume College proper.

The next day we went back to the garment district. I already covered that in my shopping post, so that's it for Costume College 2012!

Costume College - Saturday - Gala

Gala time!

Getting dressed was a breeze compared to last year. We missed the red carpet arrival entirely!  This year, I had a few tricky moments with safety pins, but on the whole my outfit went together easily.

Lauren and her husband ready to ago, with Perry the Platypus, who alas! did not make a red carpet appearance.

In tribute to the Golden Age of Hollywood, I went as Maid Marian, as played by Olivia de Haviland in the 1938 Robin Hood.  (With Errol Flynn, in Technicolor!)

Original film still

On the red carpet (photo courtesy Arandale)

I love this costume. Love it!  It took so much work to make, but the pieces really came together. It's amazing to wear.

I think we turned out pretty good! (One of the husbands was being silly behind the camera, and  can't control my face. :D) (Photo courtesy Beth)

Stephanie in blinged-out 1950s.

R. in silk charmeuse, copied from the 1930s Hitchcock Secret Agent.

Beth in Regency and husband in vintage formal wear. (Photo courtesy Arandale.)

Lauren's gold 1930s, complete with squined and (fake) furred cape. (Photo courtesy Beth.)

I had a lot of assistance replicating... (Photo courtesy Jitteringbug)

... this original continuity still.

Did it turn out all right?

We stayed for the entire Red Carpet arrival, then walked across the street to dinner at P. F. Chang's, which was new to me and YUM. Incidentally we (I?) made the night of two wee little girls who never said a word, but just hovered and grinned, and shyly showed me their sparkly shoes!

Beth took no risks with her gorgeous dress.

Afterward we watched the Gala dancing.

Lauren and Beth and their husbands danced to several songs. Ever seen the Balboa danced in a Regency gown before?

Two fabulous golden ladies (Lauren and Katherine) and their cameras.

The awesome and delightful Megan in her fully accessorized cross-barred silk francaise.

 Shortly after I took the above picture, Megan announced that the evening was to the point where she usually took her dress off.  "!!!" was my initial reaction. Aubry did not hear, so I sneakily got my camera ready.

Megan starts taking out pins and Aubry figures it out.

Dress coming off!

Back to the dance! (That wasn't so bad!)

I didn't stay for the end of the dance; we went back to our rooms, but not to bed right away.  We stayed up way too late talking and unwinding. It was a great night!

Costume College - Saturday - Daytime

Saturday at Costume College has a bit of a different feel, at least to me.  Most people are looking ahead to the big show of the Gala that night, and not a few run around in mundanes and/or curlers and/or simple costumes, saving effort and energy for the evening.  For example, these two gals, looking marvelously vintage and accidentally color-coordinated.

On the left is Stephanie, in the Wearing History Pattern "Chic Ahoy" - adorable!

One of the things I've always loved about Costume College, years before I ever considered going myself, is the online planning, with lots of discussions and eye candy.  This year, an idea by Loren of The Costumer's Closet was for Roman loungewear, inspired by shows like "Rome" and "Spartacus."  I'm not a fan of the shows, but film-inspired Roman sounded really fun! Particularly since the Costume College theme was classic Hollywood.  So I went for Technicolor Roman: brightly-colored, meticulously made up, and supported by classic 1950s foundations, as inspired by films like Ben-Hur, The Robe, and the original Spartacus.

Jeanne Simmons and Richard Burton, The Robe

Jeanne Simmons, The Robe

Jeanne Simmons and Lawrence Olivier, Spartacus

My Technicolor Roman actually debuted at Costumers' Lost Weekend, at the Time-Traveling Brunch.

I love how the sun lights up the satin right through the chiffon! (Photo courtesy Jennifer Thompson)

Photo courtesy Jennifer Thompson

I made a few changes for Costume College, including the hairstyle. I used my new hairpiece, anchoring it up higher, and changing the ornamentation a bit; and I curled my bangs, which ironically ended up looking more truly Roman than 1950s. :D I also switched shoulders on the chiffon over-robe, and figured out it both looked awesome and stayed out of my way when I carried it over one arm.  Technicolor Roman beauties don't trip on their own robes!

So far, I've only found one picture. Sadness! I like it, though.

Photo courtesy Noelle Paduan "Lbc42"

 While a Technicolor Roman I assisted in Jennifer Rosbrugh's Dressing the Silhouette class. It was pretty funny to be up there with those ladies all nicely dressed in their 19th and 20th century pretties, and me in my gaudy synthetic metallic draperies! It was fun.


I also went to Angela Burnley's class on the fabric swatches from London's foundling hospital. AMAZING!! The variety of prints is incredible. Also eye-opening was the very few solid colors of linen: blue, blue, and more blue, with some brown and some gold. Wow.  I also got the Threads of Feeling book, sold at Burnley & Trowbridge.

Then it was back to our rooms to prepare for the evening. More to come!

Costume College - Friday

Friday was the first full day of Costume College, with lots of classes.  It took me a little longer to get dressed than I had allowed for - 18th century doesn't have many pieces, but it sure takes me a while - so I ended up going with Lauren M. to a class on the movie designs of Howard Greer. I confess I'd never heard of Howard Greer, but I discovered I was already familiar with some of his designs!

After that, Lauren and I headed outside to the one good picture-place at the hotel to get some pics of her Tissot dress, a fluffy white bustle trimmed with lots of pleated flounces and yellow taffeta bows, and my new 1780s pink wool gown.  More about it later, but I have to say I LOVE it. As gorgeous as taffeta is, my favorite thing to work with and wear is lightweight wool. <3

Photo by Lauren M.

Photo by Lauren M.

Photo by Lauren M.

Photo by Lauren M.

 

I love how it flows!

Then we had a brief lunch break in our rooms, and Stephanie and I headed to Kendra's (Demode) class on 18th century dress variations. What an awesome class!  Kendra covered 20 different types of garment, tracing several primary styles as they morphed through the decades and relating them to their "jacket versions" (So much better than considering them individual garments!), plus touching on some of the weird "new" things that appeared late in the century. I took pretty much constant notes. It was great!

There was a little more picture-taking in the hall, with this young lady in an amazing powder blue flannel suit. Does anyone know who the costumer is? She does beautiful work!

By that time it was dinner. Beth and I - still in my wool gown - made an In 'n' Out run for our little group. I sure made a sensation! And Beth ran into a couple of women who were still flying high after Camp Hollywood the previous weekend. To reverse how Beth explained Costume College for them, Camp Hollywood is like Costume College for swing dancers. ;)

For the ice cream social that evening, Lauren stayed bustled up, but in her amazing giant plaid.  The itty bitty hat is actually a 1930s forward-tilt hat - but it looks perfect.

 

Beth and Stephanie were both Edwardian pretties, Beth in nautical whites and Stephanie in Lady Mary's garden party dress. Darling!

Picture by Lauren M.

I wore my old-faithful handsewn white trained Regency again, but this time with black and gold accents as gussied up for the DFWCG's Mourning Party the previous weekend.  And unlike on that occasion, I didn't leave the dress and petticoat at home! So I had the full glory of turban, feathers, overbodice, and black and metallic vintage trim all around the skirt. And gold-colored jewelry from India - I love that stuff!

Picture by Lauren M.

Picture by Lauren M.

It was amazing to see what everyone else had done for the social. I really loved the Disney princesses.

And I got to see Megan's "chess piece" dress for the first time in person!

Not to mention photographing the photographers.

Picture from A Factured Fairytale

Costume College - Wednesday and Thursday

 Backing up a little bit...

Wednesday was spent entirely on last minute sewing and trimming. Unlike last year, Lauren M. and I had determined NOT to do last-minute stressful sewing. So much for good intentions!  But we actually held to the spirit of our commitment, since neither one of us were stressed (unlike last year) and neither one of us had to sew at Costume College itself (again unlike last year).

So we talked and watched movies and compared opinions and dodged cats and watched our last-to-be-completed outfits take shape.

Mr. Charles approves of the Maid Marian dress.

The best movie for marathon sewing days.

Cat trap!

So Thursday morning we picked up Stephanie, The Girl with the Star-Spangled Heart, at the airport and headed straight to the garment district.  After several crazy hours, we left in good time to make it out of downtown Los Angeles and get to the hotel for registration. Apparently we arrived in the "sweet spot" between the beginning rush and the remaining bulk of attendees, since we had no wait in line and one of our rooms had a refrigerator. GREAT!  After taking all our stuff up, and Lauren M. checking her laptop with the A/V gear for compatibility, we found a grocery store and loaded up on breakfast and lunch items. Best way to save on time and money during Costume College. ;) Then we go dinner and headed back to the hotel for the Carmen Miranda pool party.

By the time we arrived apparently some people had left, and it was rather dark and not really at the pool - but it was still fun to see people.  Lauren (of Wearing History)  and Beth of V for Vintage took the theme and ran with it. Beth was amazing in full be-ruffled and be-fruited Carmen Miranda splendor - complete with banana'd turban! - and Lauren was amazing in white, fringe, and gold butterflies.  By contrast, Stephanie and I were country cousins in sports 40s halter bathing and play suits, respectively.

Beth. Photo by Lady Carolyn.

Lauren. Photo by Claudia La Rue.

Stephanie (right) and me (left). Photo by Val of Time Traveling in Costume.

I wish I had a better picture of my outfit, but I wasn't fully with it yet. :) The outfit started with the original 1940s chenille bathing cape. Lauren sent me an Etsy link probably 9 months ago and I couldn't resist. She's such an enabler!  It's hard to see, but there are red sailboats with blue sails all around the hem of the cape. It's darling.

For the rest of the outfit, I bought a white canvas/duck halter off Ebay, then found royal blue denim at Joann. I used an out of print Wearing History underthings pattern as a base for a bathing suit skirt, and added bands of blue denim to the halter.  I accessorized with a plastic bead necklace and earrings, a red (and totally invisible) crocheted snood, 1940s telephone cord purse, and Diet Pepsi. ;)

When we got tired we went back to our rooms, where we slowly got ready for bed and chatted way too late into the evening.