CC08-H-03: Victorian Wedding Dress
Competition Staff & Rules
Historical Masquerade Rules and Divisions
Historical Reproduction Masquerade Staff:
- Masquerade Director: Adrian Butterfield‡
- Master of Ceremonies: Catherine Keegan
- Presentation Judges: Mela Hoyt-Heydon, Bobby Gear‡, Carolyn-Kayta Martz‡, Jennifer Tifft
Rules:
RULES FOR BOTH MASQUERADES:
1) There will be a $1.00 per entry Polaroid fee for each masquerade, payable at the time you register. The Polaroids are to help the judges remember which costume was which, and you can pick them up after the masquerade in the Con Suite.
2) These masquerades are rated PG-13 – please, no flagrant nudity! (And remember–no costume is NO COSTUME!)
3) NO NOXIOUS SUBSTANCES BACKSTAGE. No messy substances, wet, dry, or oily, that might ruin the costume of any other contestant will be allowed in the green room or on stage. (The No-Peanut-Butter-or-Jelly Rule)
4) Each contestant may appear only once on stage. However, you may enter more than one costume, as long as it appears on another body.
5) Costumes previously worn in the hallways at this convention are ineligible for competition, since we are recognizing hall costumes separately.
6) Purchased or rented costumes are ineligible for competition.
7) There will be no live microphones. We encourage you to bring music/dialogue on a prerecorded cassette, or typed copy for the MC to read.
TAPES: Label the tape box and both sides of the tape with your name and costume name. Mark the side you want played “PLAY THIS SIDE”. Mark the other side “WRONG SIDE”. Make sure your tape is cued up and ready to play, so the sound man need only drop it in the player and press the button. DO NOT GIVE US COMMERCIAL TAPES CUED TO YOUR SONG. If they accidently get played, we will not be able to find your cuing again. Dupe the music onto a separate tape with only your music on it. We suggest you put your music on the beginning of both sides of the tape, just in case. Leave a three second leader before the music. If you have any questions, you can discuss them with Craig Jones, our sound engineer before the masquerade.
There will be NO FLASH PHOTOS during the Masquerade for the safety of the contestants. We ask all contestants to go through Official Photography in the Green Room before going on stage, if at all possible. You will go through general photo after you come off stage. There will be a separate photo area set up for general photographers in the Lake Arrowhead room. We also ask all contestants to stick around briefly after the masquerade ends, so people who were in the audience can get pictures too.
SPECIAL PRIZES:
Rusty Dawe of 3D Video (our video chief is donating two CC8 video tapes for the winners of Best in Show at each masquerade.
Physicians Formula Cosmetics will be awarding prizes for makeup use: Most Creative Makeup in the SF, Most Authentic Makeup Look in the Historical.
FINAL AUTHORITY: We reserve the right to disqualify anyone from participation in the Masquerade on the basis of taste, behavior, danger to the audience or contestants, violation of the above rules or any other reason deemed sufficient. There will be no appeal. (The necessity to eliminate a contestant from competition has never yet arisen, but this policy is meant to protect the convention from real “loons”.)
GENERAL ADVICE: Please be kind to yourself on the day of competition. Try to finish your costume ahead of time, so you can get some sleep the night before. Register early and turn in all your materials. Don’t forget to eat and drink something a couple of hours before you go on. We will have snacks and beverages backstage for you. Check in on time and let your Den Mother take care of you beforehand. Stay in one place so you can be found when it’s your turn to go on. Let the crew help you on and offstage so you don’t fall. Let your Den Mother take care of your excess belongings, and let the catcher crew retrieve anything you leave onstage. Let us know what we can do for you to make your presentation everything you want it to be!
Historical Masquerade Guidelines
DEADLINE FOR ALL ENTRY FORMS AND TAPES: NOON SUNDAY
DEADLINE FOR PRE-JUDGING SIGN-UP: NOON SATURDAY
Turn in paperwork and sign-up at the Masquerade Registration desk across from Registration.
DIVISIONS: The divisions for the Historical masquerade are slightly different from those used for the Science Fiction/Fantasy masquerade, but serve the same purpose, i.e. they protect the inexperienced costumer from having to compete with those more expert in this field.
NOVICE: A contestant with no previous award in any historical competition; a first entry in an historic competition with some experience in another field of costuming; a first entry in any costume competition.
JOURNEYMAN: A contestant who has won a major award in a previous Costume Con historical masquerade but fewer than four such awards; an historic costumer with no professional experience and fewer than four major awards in any historic costume competitions; an experienced costumer who has won major awards in other fields of costuming but with little or no experience in historical costuming.
MASTER: A contestant who has won “Best-in-Show” in an historic masquerade in a previous Costume Con; a contestant who has won four or more major awards in any historic costume competitions; a costuming professional who earns a significant portion of their income making or designing historic costumes. Any entrant may compete in a higher division than the one in which they are placed by the above guidelines but may not compete in a lower one. IF YOU ARE UNCERTAIN OF WHICH DIVISION TO ENTER, ASK THE MASQUERADE DIRECTOR WHEN YOU REGISTER. The Director’s judgement is final.
CATEGORIES: The historical masquerade will once again feature categories for reproduction and interpretation of historical reality. Entries in both will, of course, be eligible for Best in Show, but otherwise will not be in competition with each other.
HISTORICAL REPRODUCTIONS: These are garments and accessories which are carefully researched, documented, patterned, sewn, and presented in a manner appropriate to the year they represent. Your costume is judged on correctness of scale, line, cut, fit, fabric, detailing, and finish.
Your documentation is your chance to show just how accurate your reproduction is. This is also very important to movie reproduction, or costumes copying art (ex: Rape of the Lock). You should provide the judges with stills of the costume from the movie, or a copy of the artwork the entry is based on. Movie costumes can be judged from the skin out, like historical reproduction costumes, if the entrant wishes. Undergarments should be whatever the actor wore in the film, Hollywood “authentic”, peri-oide, or the 1940’s push-up bra under the 1690’s ball gown.
Costumes copying art will be judged on how well they re-create the appearance of the costume in the media. The exception to this would be color, clothing in black and white photos need not be done in shades of gray (unless that is the effect you’re going for).
HISTORICAI, INTERPRETATIONS: These are costumes with an obvious historical basis, but designed with heavy fantasy influence. (What would you have worn to the Duchess of Devonshire’s masque if you had all the fabrics and techniques available today?) Documentation is frequently unnecessary to this category of costume, and is not part of the scoring. Authenticity also is, obviously, not applicable. Workmanship, complexity, design excellence, creativity, and quality of finish will be the judging criteria in this category.
SUBMISSION OF DOCUMENTATION: All documentation MUST be turned in to convention registration by 6:00 P.M. FRIDAY!! The judges have committed themselves to reading all documentation before the historical masquerade, this being the only way that any sort of sane timing on the judging can be maintained.
PRE-JUDGING: Sign up for a pre-judging time slot by NOON SATURDAY.
It is not necessary for every entrant to be pre-judged. Persons entering an historical reproduction must be. Persons entering an interpretation probably should be. Persons entering reproductions without documentation can be anyway. Persons entering for the thrill of going on stage, the fun of entertaining the audience, and the chance of getting a presentation award don’t need to be.
JUDGING AND SCORING:
DOCUMENTATION:
0 – No documentation or obviously inaccurate.
1 – Minimal information; place, year pattern source.
2 – As above with photocopies, but no additional details.
3 – As above with more details, listing of primary sources, specific examples, and rationale for major design elements, fabric choice, and construction methods.
4 – As 3 plus information proving correctness of all elements of the costume, including the minor details; displaying understanding of style of the period, explanations of any deviations from the period norm.
AUTHENTICITY:
0 – Blatantly out of period or modem.
1 – Period elements incorrectly combined.
2 – Looks authentic on the surface, but has incorrect elements in design, fabrics, etc.
3 – Authentic in look and fell; attempt made to reproduce period techniques and fabric types.
4 – As above, plus real overall achievement of period effect; accessories made by the entrant, a fully detailed piece of historical reality.
CREATIVITY:
0 – Copied from a modem source, such as Folkwear Patterns.
1 – A common style for the period, from a familiar source such as “The Evolution of Fashion.”
2 – Logical combination of elements correct to the period, taken from various sources.
3 – Individual interpretation, correct to the year.
4 – Innovative combination of design elements, stylish choice of accessories; looks like the work of a talented designer of the period.
WORKMANSHIP:
Judges will award points on:
- Technical expertise – seam finish, neatness of work.
- Fit and Patterning – correctness to period, achievement of line and style, drape, hang, subtleties of cut.
- Choice of fabric – is it real or an incredible simulation?
- Details – handling of linings, buttonholes, application of trim, subtleties of infrastructure.
COMPLEXITY:
Judges will award points on:
- Scope of the attempt.
- Variety of techniques used.
- Difficulty of the techniques used.
- Extent of original patterning.
OVERALL OBSERVATION:
One final, thorough, look at the entire forest, trees and all.
BONUS POINTS are also possible for those who have spent their fortune on silk taffeta or their life sewing it by hand. This will not “save” a costume that is otherwise mediocre, but could decide a tie between two otherwise similarly scoring entries.
PRESENTATION AWARDS:
Since no study of historical dress is truly complete without knowledge of the movement and effect that these glories from our past (or imagination) have on the person wearing them, the presentations on the stage in the historical masquerade frequently rival the scope of those in the sci-fi and fantasy competition. There will be awards given solely for presentation, above and beyond those given to “pre-judged” entrants.
Remember, judges at their whim and as necessity dictates, will present awards to acknowledge excellence wherever it merits it for embroidery, underpinnings, a special presentation on stage, humor (yes, we do have a sense of humor!) or whatever highlights deserve them.
Entrants wishing to discuss the judging of their costume may approach the judges after the masquerade.
