stephanie is: 
spooky…
Happy Halloween!
So, as I’ve mentioned, all month long I have been sewing my Halloween costume. I have been in love with mermaids all my life (kind of funny since I am scared to go in the ocean), so it has always been my “dream” costume. Anyone who has seen some of my college artwork would know my facination with them. Well, I decided this year I’d finially try to sew up my vision of a mermaid.
I am a perfectionist when it comes to things I make, so there are a few things I wish I could have fixed, but I was limited by the amount of fabric and time I had. For about 3 weeks I was working on the skirt (only slightly changed from my orginal concept sketch – I decided to do the fins on both sides instead of just the back) and seashell bra. I sewed the skirt on the sewing machine danny got me last Christmas, and then I hand-sewed on all of the sequins and sea shells. I had initially ordered all my fabric online, but had to go to a fabric store two more times as I kept wanting to improve it. I am very glad I decided to make a lining – that glittery fabric was very scratchy! I had thought about making some sort of shell and pearl headdress to go across my forhead, but decided that would be annoying to wear. I found a wire beading headband in my supplu drawer that I embelished with shells and pearls into a tiara instead. I ordered a pack of aqua blue braiding hair and the morning before the club night, I made 20 braids to add to my hair that night.
Saturday evening, 
magnetic99 picked me up. We had dinner at an Italian place (that I always seem to have bad service at, but no big deal) before heading to his house. I was excited to learn his lovely wife would be joining us at the club. Since we had time before we planned on heading out to the club, we did a little impromptu photoshoot. I hadn’t brough anything but my Halloween costume, but all I really need is black eyeliner and some props… We messed around with various gloves he had purchased recently, and we used the long black coat I wore there and some fabric. I am excited to see them all after looking at some of his preview pictures last night. One of the sets was very Maitrix-meets-Elton-John. Another was kind of Barbarella-Greek-Goddess-Superhero. Fun stuff! I’ll harrass him for pictures to post here and in my gallery. I think I might actually be able to find my way there, so perhaps we can collaborate more in the future when we aren’t as rushed.
We had to stop the photoshoot when we realized how late it was getting. We all started getting into our costumes. Danny and I had found the perfect glittery aqua eyeshadow at the maul when I needed body glitter. My makeup was a perfect match! I took the aqua braids I had made earlier and pinned a bunch under my hair. The rest I attached with rubber bands on the top layer of my hair. I added some faux pearl strands then braided the front back so my tiara would stay on. It all really came together! I wanted some photos of my costume, so we went back into Kollin’s home studio to do one more quick shoot.
images © www.kollinbliss.net (omp)
(the last photo is a quick photoshop job by me last night)
When we realized it was getting pretty late, we got all of our stuff together and headed into the city. Because they so kindly drove, I paid for us to park in the secure parking lot. When I got out the the car, the lot attendents were like “Wooo! Are you a mermaid? What size are you? You look great!” I knew my costume was going to get a good response if two big black guys working a parking lot in SE were impressed. It was only a two minute walk to the club from the car (basically out of the lot and across one street) so I decided to leave my coat in the car. They had a heating lamp on right inside the club, so it was all good.
As soon as I rounded the corner into the club area, everyone was all paparazzi-like for a good five minutes. I got to see a bunch of friends I hadn’t seen in a long time (and meet a few new people as well). It was fun seeign everyone all dressed up in costumes!
Oh! And as always, if I “talked” to you in the club, please accept my ongoing appology: I can’t hear in clubs. If I am talking to you, I am probably reading your lips. If I’m not, I am probably only undersanding every other word. I couldn’t even tell what they were saying on the microphone during the costume contest. Luckily, I could tell when she said “mermaid”. So if I don’t even try to talk to you at the club, don’t be offended – I just get too frustraited trying to hear. You’ll just have to go out to dinner with me sometime where we can actually sit and talk!
I did some dancing after I finally made it all the way to the dance floor. I could only get my knees about a foot apart in my mermaid skirt, so I couldn’t flail around quite as much as usual, but I tried! The wonderful mreraser, whom I had just met a week before, asked if I’d like to be in the costume contest at midnight. Of course! The stage lights were really bright when I was up there, so I couldn’t see anyone beyond the first row of people. The lovely kelowna, who runs Chiaroscuro, had everyone step forward and do a little twirl for the audience. There were some great costumes. I didn’t expect to win because there was a very professional looking one (from The Mask movie, maybe?) and the judges were very excited about the mummy. When Kelowna said it looked like “the tummies are winning”, I knew I had a chance (I have a tummy!). And then they announced it was me! Holy crap! I won $250! she had me do another twirl, then I stood there looking like a dork. i am quite good at that. The mummy won second place – a $100 gift certificate at a sex shop (I was glad to not get that one). Apparently I left a chunk of aqua hair on the stage. Someone gave it to me later that night. I gave it to Laura.
After the contest, I went and had a tarot reading by the beautiful enlightened77. Very interesting stuff. Apparently, someone stabbed me in the back recently. Which one of you is guilty! I also need to relax and let change happen – otherwise there is no room for fate to bring what it will… Or something. 🙂 I got to do a little more dancing. I’m not sure who was spinning, but they were rocking the old school synthpop from back in the day when I was still a club rat. So of course I had to dance around singing to them all. Around 2/3 am (time change? huh? wha?!) we collected my prize money and headed home.
images © www.kollinbliss.net (omp)
(mouseover for captions; click to view the image)
All pictures in this entry are taken by the wonderful Kollin Bliss. The club candids thumbnails are all linked to his gallery. You can go to the start of the gallery if you want to see the shots of people other than me and my friends. There are some cool shots in there.