Last night’s episode of Project Runway featured an androgynous challenge where the designers had to come up with looks for both a male and female model. As one might expect, there was a nice broad spectrum of ‘success’ and ‘failure’. When designers fail at this sort of challenge, they really fail. (Emilio, on the other hand, basically created runway magic but more on that below.) The biggest take away of the night, however, was how last night’s runway was basically a fashion show meant for the Glitterati. The Glitterati, aka twins Jaryn and Kerith, are two playable characters in the popular Xbox game ‘Dance Central’ and wear some pretty outrageous outfits that also read totally fabulous on them.
Even though Casanova ended up in the bottom three, I instantly sat up and shouted ‘GLITTERATI!’ the moment his looks appeared on the runway. Sure Casanova’s looks might not have embodied androgyny but the construction was flawless and absolutely everything about them read Glitterati from the cutouts to the strange bits around the girl’s knees.
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And now we get to Emilio and his two FABULOUS looks. I don’t think there was any doubt that he absolutely deserved to win this challenge because WOW. The collar on the guy’s look is incredibly reminiscent of Kerith’s Haute Blooded look from Dance Central 3. These might not be the best outfits to dance in but I could definitely see the twins rocking these while drinking wine. Especially with the hats.
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Uli’s garments also gave me a bit of a Glitterati vibe mostly because of the leggings. I’m pretty sure that both Jaryn and Kerith are already plotting how to steal these from the workroom. Of course, if they’re already going through the effort, they might as well go for the tops too. I personally loved the girl’s top without the jacket. It’s just a great piece. Both looks read as a high fashion mixture of their Crew outfits and the Street Style outfits.
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Sometimes, it’s just love at first sight with a t-shirt. Or at least that’s what it felt like for me with the Padme Nouveau t-shirt from Her Universe. Until ten minutes before, I had never even heard of Her Universe and yet there me and my friends were, chatting with the lovely Ashley Eckstein, and that gorgeous red shirt was just sitting there on display and calling to me. (I swear. It was actually saying “Briiiiaaaa! Buuuuuy meeeeee!”) Twenty minutes later, I just had to give in and I’ve never regretted buying it. It’s honestly one of my favourite t-shirts and getting to wear it with something besides jeans is always fun.
Plus? I rediscovered these unworn tights at the bottom of my drawer while looking for something to help jazz up this outfit and am super glad I did.
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Padme Nouveau T-Shirt: Her Universe
Cardigan: Express
Pleated Skirt: Guess
Tights: Hue
Gold Flats: Lauren by Ralph Lauren
Headband: BCBG
Welcome to Cosplay Tuesday! Every week we feature one of our costumes and talk a little more in-depth about it. This week, in honour of her return to the Avengers, we’ll be turning the spotlight on Lin’s Wasp aka Janet Van Dyne!
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Wasp and Ant-Man | Photo: Grace Moss
How do I even begin to explain Janet Van Dyne. Flawless, hair insured, does car commercials in Japan, etc.
But really, if there was a superhero that was an insta Yes, This Is Totally Fictional Me, there would be a tiny checkmark right beside her name. All the best things about her — brightness and zeal for a life worth living large, a passionate relationship with fashion, doing what’s right and just all the same. I like to think I have a little bit of that in me, too. It’s a nice thought to live up to.
(Just as a lot her faults are mine, too. Eep.)
Before this becomes a completely teary testemonial, let’s start with… which outfit? New Mission, New Outfit. Right. Well, I was having a hard time picking — the modern black/gold one was out, because I was really aiming for a retro vibe with more than a little George Pérez inspo. I finally decided on a style with a few personlisations; mainly, the colour combi.
Because this was being made for an Avengers photoshoot, I wanted something a little more iconic — so I flipped the palette for red/yellow, which is more synonymous with classic Wasp outfits. Aaaand, there you go. Of course, not before agonising forever with Bria, who now probably knows more about the history of Wasp outfits than she could ever want.
Avengers Assemble | Photo: Judy Stephens
The construction was actually ridic easy, because I stumbled on the perfect red leotard. From there, it was as simple as modifying the neckline with a “W” and making wristlets from black spandex, and getting a pair of yellow leggings. Boots poached from Quasar; wig bought and slightly styled for ultimate retro chic; belt borrowed from Nico Minoru ver. 3.0.
Sadly, there’s no real good picture of my wings. So here’s a lame instagram progress picture!
The wings were made from 12-gauge wire, shaped and layered over with electrical tape WHICH IS THE BEST BY THE WAY; the iridescent film is actually just gift wrap plastic sheeting. My leotard has a low back, and underneath it I’m wearing a sort of bracer with two channels sewn in — the wings have two prongs that get slotted into these channels, and is held in place by the belt. It’s actually quite easy and comfortable, if a little hard to sit in!
And can I just say. The Avengers Assembling @ Dragon*Con 2012. Best time or bestest time ever. It was seriously really amazing this year, and though coming together with friends is always a joy and a blessing especially when we’re being freakin’ superheroes, this year was really something. So, as always, the highest of fives to my costuming compatriots from The Superhero Costuming Forum, and for our Captain America for making the magic happen.
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Want to relive the magic? We always love re-watching the Epic Dragon*Con videos made by beatdownboogie and DistractotronChannel for that good time feeling. Or if you want to check out more of Lin’s costumes, just head over to her cosplay gallery!
Hey folks! We hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are stuffed full with turkey and pie if you’re in the States or that you had a nice weekend if you’re not! We just wanted to take a minute to talk to you guys about a couple of things.
- Bria’s uploaded a new costume to her gallery along with the pictures from her photoshoot with Zhobot. She’s pretty psyched about how they turned out so make sure you give it a look. The costume is Winter Celchu based upon the artwork from the forthcoming Star Wars Expanded Universe novel ‘Scoundrels’ by Timothy Zahn.
- Cyber Monday is tomorrow so make sure you have your mouse and typing fingers ready! Personally, we recommend checking out Her Universe and their awesome new items. We also suggest heading over to Black Milk if you’re a fan of cool leggings. 50% off AND free shipping doesn’t happen very often. We’ll try and tweet or update this post if we spot any other cool geeky/fashion Cyber Monday sales.
- Also Bria would like to direct those of you who like digital comics over to Fantom Comics’s Comixology Digital Store Front. They currently have a lot of issues on sale for 50% off and will even have issues on sale for 80% off on Monday. It’s no different that using Comixology except that the store gets a share of the profits and, well, that store was Bria’s LCS and place for employment during university so she appreciates it when people give them their patronage.
- Our ‘Every Day is Wednesday’ section is feeling kind of empty and we’re trying to think of more ways to fill it. What do you guys think? Pick of the Week? Retrospective looks at comic arcs or series? More looks forward at comic series we’re eagerly anticipating? Impassioned defenses of our favourite characters that everyone else hates?
- As you may or may not have noticed, we’ve added a link roll on the left hand side of the page. We’ve linked to a few of the places that we love so make sure you check them out.
Finally, we’d love to hear from you guys! What would you like to see more of on this blog? More Outfits? More Inspo posts? Let us know! (Heck, we might even take requests for outfits. You never know where inspiration might come from.)
Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Tumblr and we’ll see you around the internet!
EDIT:
The Official Star War website compiled a list of Cyber Monday deals including 30% off Star Wars fabric at Jo-Ann’s Fabric Store. Also, We Love Fine is offering 25% off all of their Star Wars merchandise with the code STARWARSCYBER25. Thanks to Tricia over at Fangirl Cantina for the heads up about these.
Also, as of the editing of this post, the TARDIS leggings and the dress are still in stock over at Black Milk for 50% off. We’re just saying.
So I totally bat for Team Blazer and if we want to drop more pop culture references, I would be Putting A Blazer On It to the tune of this. So when it comes to styling tees, I take a note from my comic book fashion buddy Quintavius Quirinius Quire.
Here’s a second take on the Marvel NYCC tee; check out the first time here! Also: I love clear lucite / perspex heels on things.
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ROUND TWO: I NEED TO GO TO WORK BUT IT’S STILL CASUAL DAYTIME!!
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Top: Marvel NYCC
Pleated Skirt: Zara
Asymmetric Blazer: yesstyle.com
Heeled Oxfords: Simone Rocha inspos
I wore those heeled oxfords in NYC and some sassy gay dude totally complimented me on them. Gold star.
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But no, seriously, I really dig Quentin’s style persona. I hope that one day he grows up into a little Yohji Yamamoto and Rick Owens hottie and that Jamie McKelvie will draw his adventures and limitless asymmetric haircut possibilities. I will talk about this one day.