barbara stanwyck is my spirit animal

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!