Frankintiens bride & Igor

This year I started planning for Halloween early, we are having a party and David is away for 6 weeks before hand so I wanted to get most of the planning done before he left. I've ordered supplies, made shopping lists and menus, I have even got most of the decorations sorted.

I wanted to invite my friends for a dinner party, make a very fancy formal invite and then when they arrived up it would be a ghost house with cobwebs and a graveyard : D We are still doing that but now that David is going to be home early we have made it to a full blown party with cocktails canepes and 25 guests.

I had an idea of 16th century dress in silver and talc in my hair to make me look like a ghostly lady of the court and I did buy a dress pattern but money was the main issue, not to mention a lack of sewing machine. Last week David and I were in a new charity shop in Saffron Walden and I got this perfect bridal gown at a steal for only £5! Its home made so its all frayed and the roses are perfect, I hardly needs modifying, only pulling in the train and taking in the waist so I am very happy : ) I found some hair crimpers at a car boot but I still need to find someone to help to put my hair into a beehive though >_>

I have drawn up plans for Davids hunch back costume, I'm going to use brown cotton sheets to make a sack cloth type tunic with thick straw colour embroidery thread and a pillow strappe to his back underneath for the hunch back. A pair of old trousers/jeans with the bottoms rolled up and some drawn on scars/stitches will finish it of : ) He is in Canada at the moment and they have lots of Halloween things much like they do in the US so he might pick up some treats like a wig or eye piece.

New hat

I have a love for vintage hats that comes third in my fondness for attire, after costumes and shoes. When I saw this beautiful hat in a charity shop in Saffron Walden this weekend, I was drawn in. A couple of years ago I bought a pair of unworn black leather boots there for £10 and they have been worn often and loved a great deal.

The hat was overpriced I'd say for a charity shop at £12.50 considering it was not a designer name and it is not dis-similar of the cream hat I wore at my hen party last year, despite these things I bought it : ) The veil is much longer than my other hat, which can be pulled down to cover the face, the fabric is better and the feathers are fabulous! And as a bonus I already have gloves to match hehe lets hope I have an excuse to wear them soon : ) My old hat is for sale if your interested.

Cosplay plans

Well the most recent anime convention went well as far as wardrobe was concerned! And we have all started thinking and talking about plans for next year before it even finished lol

I still have a few of my long term ideas up there - Belle ball gown, Alice in wonderland and a lolita maid - but have some more definite ideas. I'll definitely love to dress as Nanoha - one of my fav animes - but seeing as I am not 8 years old so can't pull of her original battle armour and i'm not keen on her "Strikers" costume I've chosen her Time Space Administration Bureau uniform which is a bit obscure but lets hope at the UKs biggest Anime conventions someone will at least recognise me.

I'm sure that a refreshing take on Mario characters will be appreciated if not glomped (lets face it i'm not keen on the latter) I'm keen to try out my own take on Daisy, David's Mario costume is still unused but he'd like to be a prop, a coin box would be easiest but he wants a B-Bomb lol Laila suggested toodette although I think she would make a great Birdo ; ) My Peach was a bit luke warm in 2007 but I've learnt now to go with my natural colourings, blonde does not suit my skin tone lol check out this perfect Peach cosplay, by Jenni Kallberg, how amazing it that??

Another one David was keen to do is Faye and Spike from Cowboy Bebop (my all time fav anime) but you wouldn't catch me wearing a yellow PVC hot pants with my tummy on show LOL Dave has offered (drunkenly) to don the get up and I'm going to make a custom tailored blue suit for myself and cut a massive fringe to spike up : ) What do you think?

A few other options still floating around are Motoko Kusangi from another of my favourites - Ghost in a shell, as well as several sailor fuku and generic outfits. I'm keen to avoid UK/American cosplay stereotypes as I dislike nauturo and bleach but I also want to be recognised by others. One subject that will never go away in UK cosplay is Final Fantasy, we all love it and we all know them so they go down well. There are a range of easily bought costumes but this amazing Lulu, made by Cat and modeled by J, is the best I have ever seen : ) You do have to remember though that a lot of Japanese cos-players are models and the makers/fans are not the ones wearing their costumes in the photos.

Im keen to try something different, any suggestions for ladies with long dark hair?? Although I disliek the 2 previous mainstream animes I might be a bit lenient with Davids fav anime - Dragon ball Z, I think he would make a good Goku ; ) The professionals from copslay.com really make me feel motivated to get a good quality and acurate cosplay so I'm sure ltos of time and money will go into next years costumes : )

Alcon 2009

I'm happy to say that the wardrobe for Alcon went without a hitch! My dresses all looked fantastic, including Arieths dress and David looked swish and cool all weekend : ) It was a good weekend with friends although I think I will stick to the bigger conventions in the future. Check out my blog for a full review and a few photos of us at the weekend, enjoy : )