The Futuristic Fashion Show originated with Bjo Trimble at the 1958 World Science Fiction Convention. By the 1970’s, it had evolved into the design contest - fashion folio - fashion show format, and was always a featured part of the conventions that Bjo ran. In the 1980’s, the concept was adopted and carried on by Costume-Con. Costume-Con 29 is proud to be part of a tradition that now has spanned 50+ years.
Long-time costumer and designer Fran Evans has been instrumental in developing the current set of Folio rules. She is associated with the web site www.alleycatscratch.com/ffashion (run by Cat Devereaux), which is a good outside resource for generic information pertaining to the Future Fashion Design Contest / Folio / Show.
Please note that the Future Fashion Folio is emailed to registered members of Costume-Con 29.
Part 1: The Design Contest
The Design Contest portion of the competition is open to anyone. You do not have to be a member of Costume-Con 29, a member of the International Costumer’s Guild, or even an active costumer to enter.
The Design Contest is a place where you are not limited by materials costs, laws of physics, body type, or ability to sew. Draw whatever comes to you, whether you think it can be made or not. You might be surprised.
No drawing skills? No problem. Go to http://www.alleycatscratch.com/ffashion/Figures.htm for a selection of “bodies” you can download and trace to use as the basis for your designs. However, over the years, there have been submissions for men, women, children, pets, and various kinds of aliens, as well as accessories, so please do not feel limited by the humanoid form. Also, our experienced judges are capable of seeing the quality of the design regardless of the quality of the art used to present it.
Your designs do not have to be grandiose and overpowering to win. While there are categories (Court, Ceremonial, Evening Wear) for the kinds of spectacular designs you would expect to see in a staged masquerade competition, the Design Contest is the place where simpler, more clothing-based designs also can shine. So enter all those designs that you came up with that you didn’t think were “big enough” for stage. They’ll be just fine here.
Example Design Categories:
Accessories (shoes, jewelry, etc.)
Aliens
Books (either based on a description in a book, or extrapolated from the world of the book)
Bridal Wear / Wedding Wear
Business / Occupational Wear
Ceremonial or Religious Wear
Children’s Wear
Couples
Court Wear
Day Wear
Entertainers (singers/actors/dancers/musicians)
Ethnic Outfits
Extrapolations based on the current “hot” science fiction shows on TV
Extrapolations based on classic science fiction shows
Festival Wear
Formal / Evening Wear
Heavy Worlders (higher gravity/larger body types)
Hostess Wear
Leisure Wear
Lingerie
Maternity Wear
Psuedo-Historical
Sports Wear (including sports not yet invented)
Teens Wear
Uniforms (civilian or military, every day or dress)
Vampires (any era, past or present)
Please do not feel limited by these categories—they are only given as an example, and you are welcome to make up your own categories, and to suggest categories to the judges.
There’s a detailed list of rules (below) that describe how to submit your designs for consideration. You may submit designs, using either mail or email, until the stated deadline. This year, the deadline is October 1, 2010.
Submit designs to:
Costume-Con 29 Future Fashion Design Contest
c/o Karen Dick
P.O. Box 1
Beallsville, PA 15313
Or designs can be emailed to:
Please read the rules below before submitting anything.
After the submission deadline, all designs will be examined by a panel of judges, who are typically people with strong costuming, fashion, or design credentials. These judges aim to give some kind of award to every deserving design; hence the large variety of categories.
Part 2: The Fashion Folio
After the judges have made their final decisions, the winning designs are put together into a booklet, the Fashion Folio, which is sent to all designers who entered the contest, and also to all members of the hosting Costume-Con (in this case, Costume-Con 29).
For many years, the Fashion Folio has been a printed booklet, sent via regular mail. Costume-Con 29 and Costume-Con 30 are trying a “greener” alternative—the Fashion Folio will be prepared as a .PDF document (as it would be to go to a printer), but then it will be emailed to members, or burned to CD and sent on-disk to members. Members desiring a hard copy can print their own at home. If, for some reason, you don’t have a computer or printer or have a problem with reading PDF files, please contact the Fashion Design Contest Director for alternatives.
Typically, the Fashion Folio is sent out 2-3 months after the Design Contest is judged. This year, we are aiming for a delivery date around December 15, 2010.
Part 3: The Fashion Show
After a brief waiting period to ensure that everyone has received the Folio, Costume-Con 29 members wishing to make a costume from the Folio may place a reservation with the Fashion Show Director. Participation in the Fashion Show is optional, but can be a fun part of the convention if you like translating from a 2-D drawing to a 3-D piece of clothing, or modeling a design that is already an award winner.
You must be a member of Costume-Con 29 to participate in the Fashion Show. It is permissible for a Fashion Show entry to be made by one person and modeled by another, but the person wearing the costume on stage must be a member of Costume-Con 29.
Reservations are “first come, first served,” with designers having first rights to their own designs. To ensure the greatest variety of designs from the Folio in the show, each design can only be reserved by one model, so it is prudent to list second and third choices when requesting designs.
Assume that reservations will start right around January 1, 2011, which gives participants approximately 4 months in which to make their costumes for the Fashion Show.
Once you have committed to make a design, please stay in touch with the Fashion Show Director. They may want to know the colors in your costume, or have you send them fabric swatches, so they can better plan the show. If, at any time, you cannot complete your Fashion Show costume and are forced to drop out, please let the Fashion Show Director know right away so they can made adjustments to the show.
At the convention, there will be a check-in table for the Fashion Show, same as check-in for the masquerades.
Awards for the Fashion Show are minimal, because it is a showcase of designs that have already won something. However, awards are typically given to the participants for Best Construction by Designer, Best Construction by Non-Designer, and Best Construction Overall.
RULES:
1. All designs must be ORIGINAL IDEAS. You can draw your design on a traced figure or have someone else draw it for you, but the idea itself must be original. If someone other than the designer is drawing the design, please give them credit on the back of the design. Please be neat.
2. All designs must be on 8.5" by 11" (or A4) sheets of paper. (We would prefer white.) Detail work or back views may be put on extra sheets.
3. DO NOT SEND US ORIGINAL ARTWORK. All designs should be photo-copies or any other clear, non-smudging reproduction.
4. You may—in fact, we encourage you to—submit your designs in color. But we MUST have a black and white line copy of your design for reproduction in the Fashion Folio. This means black ink on white 8.5" by 11" paper. Please make sure your black and white copy is clean and will reproduce well.
5. If you color your design, DO NOT use anything that requires spray fixative, or may smear, smudge, stick, or flake off on other people’s drawings.
6. Number entries consecutively on the back in the upper right hand corner. Example: If you submit 4 designs, they will be numbered as follows - #1 of 4, #2 of 4, etc. Your black and white set should be labeled B/W #1 of 4, etc. If a single design has multiple sheets, they should be numbered a, b, c, etc. (so if your design #13 takes 4 pages, they should be 13a, 13b, 13c, and 13d).
7. Your name and address MUST be marked clearly on the back of EACH AND EVERY design sheet submitted, NOT just on the envelope or just one of the entries.
8. If you are a first-time designer, please indicate this on the back of EACH of your design sheets.
9. If you are a designer 12 years of age or under, please indicate this on the back of EACH of your design sheets.
10. If you wish to reserve designs for yourself or friends to be made up for the Fashion Show if they win, please mark “RESERVED BY DESIGNER” on the back of those designs.
11. Please identify the source of your inspiration (if any) on the back of the design: book, poem, movie, TV, anime, videogame, or your own imagination.
12. Please let us know what category you think your design should be in--sportswear, bridal, ceremonial, etc. You can include design details, fabric suggestions, and colors if you want. The Folio Director and the Judges do reserve the right to shift the category of a design if necessary. (This sometimes happens in heavily entered categories to give more designs a chance to win.)
13. Enter as many designs as you wish and as often as you wish, PRIOR TO THE DEADLINE OF October 1, 2010. Designs must be IN OUR HANDS (not just postmarked) by that date.
14. Your designs will NOT be returned unless you request it and have also included a BIG ENOUGH SASE with SUFFICIENT POSTAGE on it, with your designs.
15. By submitting your designs to Costume-Con 29 you agree to the non-profit use and publication of said designs by Costume-Con 29, prior to and during the run of the convention, also their reproduction in the Fashion Show. All rights revert back to the designer after the convention.
16. Additionally, designers having designs made up for the Fashion Show will be contacted by representatives of the Costume-Con.org web site and the Costume-Con Archives for permission to display their design sketches next to photos of the finished products from the Fashion Show. These permissions are optional but highly encouraged so visitors to the Costume-Con web site or the Costume-Con Archives will better understand the transition from the Folio design winner drawing to the Fashion Show 3-D display piece.
RULES FOR ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION:
17. Please read through ALL the rules above for hard copy submission.
18. The requirement for a black and white line drawing as the primary submission still applies.
19. Designs should be scanned in at 300 dpi or better.
20. Preferred graphics format is .jpg.
21. Make your design drawing an attachment to an email. DO NOT embed the design in the body of an email.
22. Where rules 1-15 request information on the “back” of the drawing, place it in the body of the same email.
23. Only ONE DESIGN PER EMAIL, please. If a design has multiple drawings (to show the back or other detail), it is OK to have multiple attachments.
24. Send design emails to:
SPECIAL DESIGN CATEGORIES FOR COSTUME-CON 29:
These categories are OPTIONAL.
1. BIALYSTOCK & BLOOM BROADWAY MASHUP (suggested by Toni Lay):
The production company of Bialystock & Bloom, Inc. are looking for talented costume designers for future productions. Prospective designers may choose to design for one or several of the musicals listed below. Please submit sketches of your designs to Bialystock & Bloom, Inc. [Fashion Design Conteat Director’s Note: Basically, take your two favorite Broadway musicals, mash the titles and concepts together, and design the costumes for that show.]
These musicals are winners of the OFFY or OFFIE. This award is for ‘off-off-off-off-off-off-off-off-off-off Broadway, so far off they’re in Staten Island,’ musicals.
The Lion King and I
The Sound of the Music Man
The Phantom of 42nd Street
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Camelot
Kiss Me Evita
Fiddler on the Titanic
Damn Cats
Man of La Caberet
Man of La Cage aux Folles (suggested by Kathryn Draves)
2. REDESIGN YOUR FAVORITE MYTHOLOGY (suggested by Fran Evans, and $175 in cash prizes sponsored by www.museumofmythology.com ). Gods. Monsters, Heroes…here’s your opportunity to re-design your favorite mythology. To compete for the cash prizes, please submit designs in the categories: Egyptian, Atlantean/Greek, and Viking.
3. REDESIGN YOUR FAVORITE ANIME CHARACTER ($100 in cash prizes sponsored by Karen Dick): You know what your favorite characters wear in that anime you love, but what do YOU think they should wear when they’re out of uniform (or when they get drafted into the military), or on that special date, or going to that themed costume party? Extra points for believably recasting anime characters in Broadway musicals to suit the theme of the convention.
If you have any further questions, please send an email to Future Fashion Director,
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