Earlier in the summer I was introduced to the Bristol Renaissance Faire by close friends of mine and instead of going once… I went multiple times. Why? Because I was trying to put together a costume for an upcoming convention in Rochester, Minnesota called FablesCon.

After much deliberation, timeline, feasibility, etc… I have finally figured out who I am going as… and considering most of the piece are almost done all I have left are a couple of essential accessories… W00t! Let’s hope I get this done in time for March.

However… I digress. After the plans for the aforementioned costume were put in motion, my friends and I helped another friend in deciding what to do for his costume which in time turned over to “so when you go to the Ren Faire next year what are you going to dress up as?”

Well… I don’t know, I never really thought about it. Darn them for planting seeds so that I have to think about it now… grr.

So yeah… what the heck could I possibly put together that fits my personality? Something that could blend in… but not really. Something that would stand out… but not right away.

The issues I was running into is that what is readily available is also rather common and unfortunately I don’t do “common”, I tend to toe the line with some of my pieces.

I like wearing items that takes a second glance. Meaning at first glance one wouldn’t notice anything out of the ordinary… until one looks again… and again… and again. Most of my favorite pieces in my closet are like that dresses, blouses, etc that at first glance wouldn’t seem like much until the second glance. So what could possibly fit?

One idea was a “steam punk” rendition of a belly dancer… but the issue is that I didn’t want to go down the steampunk realm. It was way too “hot” at the moment and I would much rather have a “base” costume of sorts and if I want to delve into the steampunk realm, I can with a few changes to accessories and wardrobe.

Then someone thought of doing a “warrior fairy” which tickled my fancy until I started going down into the nitty gritty of putting the costume together and realized that it would be far too much original work to get started and the upkeep would be even higher. Basically in the grand scheme of things I would only be able to wear the costume a few times before it would be unusable and I would have to start from scratch again.

*sighs*

I thought about being a siren… a water maiden whose musical voice would draw wayward sailors in, but that would be replicating the trio of Sirena that I saw at the Bristol Renaissance Faire… and the idea became too much of a fantasy and a lot less of a reality.

In the end, the preference is something realistic so that it would make sense that it came from that time period, but out there enough that it is a rarity. All without going into the realm of fantasy or fantastical.

Picky? Of course… but I prefer to really push the point home as much as possible and if my friends are wanting me to put together a costume and join them in this endeavor… well, I am going to go all out so it would be something that I can use in a multitude of realms.

But what? Fortunately… there is something that came to mind between myself and my friends that made sense and fit everything that I am looking for and then some. Granted there are specific pieces in this particular costume that have to shine without question… in essence the costume could make or break with these pieces. Thankfully there is one piece that is in process of being made and now it is the matter of finding other pieces that would fit over time…

In case you haven’t figured it out, this isn’t going to be a costume that I would just put together within a year, but something that would be many years of planning, researching, etc. that’s just something I do. If I was going to put a costume together… I would go all out and I will be thorough about it.

Eventually I will post pictures… eventually. So stay tuned. 🙂 But in the meantime… here is one final picture of one of my other friends at Ren Faire as she takes a break due to the extreme heat…