Adventures in Cosplay: Jareth the Goblin King

Shortly after David Bowie's death earlier this year (I won't go into how much his death affected me -- I "met" him at all the wrong moments in my life, but I still loved him), my partner-in-crime, Nicole, asked if I would be her Goblin King at our spring convention. She thought that the time was right to make her Sarah ballgown costume (something that had been on her to-do list for the past 10 years), and course she needed a Goblin King.

Photo by T.T.

Of course I said yes ;)

We purchased 5 metres of teal taffeta and a metric butt-ton of jewels in blue, black and silver (this is a very technical measurement), and got to work. I created the shirt, jabot, vest, and coat, and wore a pair of black pants and boots I already owned. Nicole sourced the wig, and spent around 40 hours (with some assistance from other friends) gluing jewels to the coat.

It was quite an experience. The sewing itself was very easy, if time-intensive. While I have decided that writing and posting about my mental health is not the ideal way to deal with it, I do want to touch on it briefly. I started experiencing full-blown anxiety attacks in the middle of this sewing, and I was finally self-aware enough to recognize them as such. It's been quite a roller coaster ride, learning to manage them, and I have a long way to go yet. They seriously coloured the creation and wearing of this costume.

I started with McCalls 6818, a Once Upon a Time costume pattern, modifying the skirt, collar, sleeves and cuffs. The shirt was made with Simplicity 4923, with a lot of width taken out of the body and sleeves. The jabot is a rectangle with circular ruffles sewn to it, and a fun necklace part on top. The vest is a pillow case with some nice floral mesh sewn on top. The final touch was to sew a string of blue LED lights to the edges, to go with Nicole's lighted skirt. I ended up sewing them on the night before I wore it. Not recommended. One of my ongoing costume goals is "no last minute sewing", but I really didn't make it for this con. Next time! I will strive to do better.

The day we wore them, I used a YouTube tutorial to create my makeup, and eventually we set out to the con. We had entered the costume contest in the master category. While I usually don't enter contests, Nicole wanted to, so I figured I could do it this time, and she has won more than enough contests to place her squarely in the master category. That was its own set of fun (part of the anxiety manifests as stage fright...) but we (ok, myself, mostly) got through it and then we had to wait for the results.

Photo by T.T.

Photo by T.T.

Photo by T.T.

I was a little surprised that we won best in class: craftsmanship, and then even more surprised when we won best in show as well. It really made all of the stress and headaches of the construction and sewing at 11pm and removing part of my eyebrows worth it.

Accepting our Best in Show award. Photo by Calgary Expo crew.

We even had someone make fan art of our pictures! Some of the nicest things people said to me over the weekend was how much I looked like David Bowie, and I didn't quite realize it myself until I saw this manipulation of the movie poster and myself side by side. Super thanks to that YouTube tutorial!

I'm so sorry, I don't know your name, awesome person! Please let me know so I can credit you!

Honestly, the experience was not my ideal situation, but it was so amazing at the same time. We waited a long time before going on stage, with others in our category, and everyone was so nice and so supportive of each other. After the contest was over, as we left, we got delayed over and over as people stopped us to congratulate us. People reached out to me on Facebook with the same, both people I know and total strangers, and I felt really connected to the cosplay community. It was really wonderful, and I am glad I took part in it (shhh don't tell Nicole. She'll make remove part of my eyebrows again! ;)) Thank you, everyone, so much, for creating a welcoming and warm community where even anxiety-ridden oldies like me feel at home.