Intercon O is coming up this weekend! It’s like LARPer Christmas!… wait, no, that’s the day after Halloween.
Nevertheless, it’s big, and I have a lot of prep to get done, for games I’m running, games I’m playing, and stuff I’m doing at pre-con.
Here, have a to-do list:
- Finish Film Noir fashion presentation
- Review/update hand-sewing handouts
- Put together kits for hand-sewing workshop
- Put questions together for panels I’m moderating
- Do pin curls and 1940s makeup for presentation on Thursday night? Maybe? But that’s probably too ambitious. Pin curls are hard, yo.
- Finish packing Midsummer Mischief (we’re 90% there — but we still have romance contingencies, room envelopes, etc)
- Review Midsummer Mischief GM materials
- (Re)Read Shadow Over Mars materials
- Find pants for Shadow Over Mars costume (Savers?)
- (Re)Read Ex Ig materials — make notes, if necessary
- Assemble Ex Ig costume(s) — I’m imagining my costume evolving over the conference sessions
- Re(Read) Song of Mergers & Acquisitions materials
- Assemble Song of M&A costume
- Gather stuff I’m loaning
- Pack!
Probably my biggest task is putting together the presentation for my Film Noir Fashion (fashion of the 1940s) presentation. All of the history of costume presentations I’ve done in the past have been about eras that have significantly less documentation. But now I’m getting into the “we have photographic evidence of this period, and LOTS of it,” and it’s a little like trying to drink from a firehose.
For comfort, I look at pictures of Barbara Stanwyck, who, as we all know, is my spirit animal. Pinterest offers me much in this vein, from pictures of her as a 15-year-old Ziegfield girl who still went by Ruby Stevens, to her iconic blond-bewigged Double Indemnity femme fatale, to an elderly matron in The Big Valley. I have some definite favorites:
This one from 1940 will probably be in my presentation, since it’s a good example of a very popular color of the period (copen blue) and a very popular dress style. But man. That sultry look! That perfect cat-eye! The touch of animal print!
I don’t care who says she wasn’t “starlet beautiful,” I think she was gorgeous.
And she liked beagles!
Here she is with Clark Gable, flipping off the camera. I cackled when I came across this.
And a quote from her:
“My only problem is finding a way to play my fortieth fallen female in a different way from my thirty-ninth.”
Relevant for Intercon, too, I think 😉
