Short Article: Costuming Ideas

ľ Color Groups (i.e. greens with copper accents; black +red +silver, ), and what colors represent (i.e. purple for royalty, black for evil or Goth), color constellations (i.e.shades of olive and sage green combined with orange, rust, amber, gold and bronze for Harvest), all fluorescent colors
ľ Re-creation Costumes or costumes inspired by a particular "universe", i.e. Star Trek, Star Wars especially Jedi warriors, Lord of the Rings
ľ Inspired by historical clothing or just by a historical "profile", i.e. Pirates of the Caribbean-the 18th C. coat with gores for a full skirt, Tudor or Elizabethan plus fantasy
ľ Nature: Always fantastic: such as a Snow Queen-now add whatever color "grouping" you want-such as white with pale blues and lavender plus silver, Fire, Spring (greens/browns), Sky or weather, animals, gemstones, astronomy, water/oceans, animals (cats are eternally popular), rainbows
ľ Ethnic references: warriors/samurai/Roman legions, Native Americans/deerskins, bead patterns, Inuit/Pacific Northwest, Egyptian (always a classic), Polynesian, Japanese; or legends or myths of a culture
ľ Inspired by Media (rather than full re-creations)-characters from movies or book covers, manga, comics, superheroes. Video or computer games or characters; in Historical costuming, old photographs or paintings are often inspiration as well as a source
ľ Using the same pattern, but modifying it for different looks for different costumes-not just different fabric, but altering the sleeves, trim, adding excessive ribbon
ľ Combining two or more of these categories to initiate something new, or turn a category upside down (i.e. Malachite samurai)
ľ Wanting to learn a new technique-i.e. silk painting, airbrushing, foam carving, quilting, electronic flashes, working with fake fur or real fur, beading, fabric manipulation
ľ Wanting to use up a collection of stash fabric or items (maybe someone gave you 15 yards of something)
ľ A piece of fabric grabs you and holds you hostage-it could be the color or colors, the drape of the fabric, the sheen, the texture, the pattern or print
ľ Obligatory costumes: Snow Queen, Princess, Goth or vampire (black), mermaid, pirate, wizard, bride, alien
ľ Architectural ideas: "The House Dress", buildings, landscaping
ľ Aliens-can be earth creature based, such as reptiles, or totally different
ľ A specific soundtrack or piece of music can initiate a costume idea
ľ A bad pun, or, really, ANY pun (such as "Pre-Emptive Strike" a really sick parody of all the possible puns on Darth Maul, right after the movie came out); also mis-heard remarks (how many puns begin anyway)
ľ After-convention networking combined with sleep deprivation
ľ Any and all combinations of the above