Costume College® is an educational conference on all subjects relating to costuming and clothing.
This year Costume College® will be held on August 6 - 9, 2010. (Note: Thursday and Monday are Tour days only: no classes will be held.)
From the Dean:
We're sorry, but Costume College 2010 applications are closed.
Likewise, Gala tickets are no longer being sold.
Tea tickets are sold out.
Please email Colleen Crosby at costumecollegedean@yahoo.com if you have questions.
From the Roommates Coordinator:
The Costume College Roommate Matching Service is open for business. Do you need a roommate for a single night, the entire event or even just a portion of the event? Send us an email and we will put you in touch with someone to share a room.
Remember, if you have room reservations and would like a roommate, the Roommate Matching Service work for you too!
How to use the Roommate Matching Service:
Email the Roommate Coordinator at roommate4costumecollege@yahoo.com with “ Roommate Request Costume College ‘10” in the subject line. In the body of the email please include the following information:
- Your Name
- Your Telephone Number
- Your Email Address
- The number of nights you are looking for a roommate? (Please indicate if they are consecutive or individual nights)
- The number of people with whom you are willing to share a room
- Whether you are willing to share a bed with someone
- Have you booked a room?
- If you have booked a room, do you have any roommates lined up? Do you need a 3rd or 4th person?
- Are you new to Costume College ?
- Your gender and whether you have a gender preference for a roommate.
Note, we do not begin matching roommates until sufficient emails are received.
It is important to remember, the Roommate Matching Services is only responsible for providing you contact information for your potential roommate based on the answers you provide to the required questions. Once you receive the contact information for the potential roommate, you are responsible for making contact with the other person and all your own hotel reservations.
Our hotel is the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills, California. Please take a virtual tour, find out about the hotel, and book your room.
Each year we will offer a special bonus track. This is a series of classes that focus on a particular subject. The bonus track insures that there is always something new and fresh each year. However, this bonus track is only a small fraction of our total classes. The bonus track for 2009 was "The Eighteenth Century," and classes on that topic comprised 25% of the class totals. The bonus track for 2010 will be "Steampunk." and classes on that topic will be 9% of the total number of classes.
by Elizabeth Reed, Colleen Crosby and Shawn Crosby
The steampunk world is essentially set in what we think of as the Victorian Era, when Queen Victoria was Queen of England: 1837-1901.
Technology is driven by steam power, but can be quite advanced in its application, i.e., ray guns.
The mode of dress mostly follows the Victorian silhouette and mimics Victorian sense of class and station in life, and also incorporates our romanticized notions of what “Victorian” is, i.e., lush fabrics, ornate accessories, dramatic settings. Think “Grand Victorian” and you get the idea.
The aesthetic relies heavily on “pulp” notions of adventure, exploration, and fantastical gadgetry.
Most of what differentiates a steampunk character from a purely Victorian character are the accessories.
Just as there is a wide range of hobbies and careers in the “real” world, so there should be in the steampunk world, i.e. not everyone is a captain of an airship or a time traveler. There are mothers, bankers, salespeople, waiters, janitors, drunks, beggars, and everything else under the sun!
None of this is to say that other guidelines are incorrect. I have seen really fabulous post-apocalypse steampunks, pirate steampunks, and all sorts of other interpretations. As someone said, the characters and costumes that are always the best ones are those that don’t evoke the question “So what are you?” The great costumes and characters out there are put together from top to bottom, and well thought out and executed. When I see them, I feel inspired.
Steampunk is a fantasy universe. It could be anything. But how much more fun is it when there is a group of like-minded folks who adhere to the same general ideas? Then you get to play more! Get several groups together, and you have a universe to play in. Even when those groups follow different aesthetic ideals, having more than one person in a certain style gives more room for interaction between them all from an acting/improv standpoint. But that is an entirely different subject…
The Costumer's Guild West Inc. is a community of costumers dedicated to promoting the art of costuming and needlework in all forms. Through Costume College, we present an educational forum where members can learn about the history of clothing, expressing their imagination in costuming, and creating links to the past, present, and future in the fashion arts.
"Hands on" is our primary method of teaching at Costume College. We offer an extensive selection of lectures, workshops, and demonstrations targeting every level of costumer (i.e., beginner, amateur, semiprofessional, professional, and just people who like to dress-up). We offer over 100 classes presented by more than 65 teachers and cover every imaginable topic! To give you a taste of what's coming, click on "Classes" to find out the sort of wonderful things we offer.
In addition to a fabulous and extensive selection of costuming courses, the CGW, Inc. provides a series of fun events during the weekend of Costume College. Friday we have an welcoming ceremony for our attendees, the Costumer's Marketplace opens after the ceremonies, and following is a welcome event at the Hospitality Suite. Saturday night, we host the Time Traveler's Gala, a fancy dress dinner dance showcasing attendees' costumes and fashions of all types. Music at the Gala features something for everyone, from waltzes to rock and roll. Sunday afternoon is the Fantasy Tea, another costume-encouraged event, as well as our Sunday evening "School's Out" party in the Hospitality Suite. Want to know more? Click on Events.
Our teachers are from a wide cross-section within the costuming, museum, and theatrical community. Many are professionals, many highly respected self-educated costume enthusiasts, and even a few are curators at world-class museums. Several have won awards for costuming within the masquerade world and other areas of competition. Some have written books and published articles, or do consultation/construction for films and historical reenactment. Our teachers come from all over the U.S. Most have been costuming for a minimum of 15 years, and all are very knowledgeable in their particular field. Click on Teachers to learn more.