The Highlight of the weekend at Archon is the Grand Masquerade. For most that enter the costume contest, preparation started right after last year's Archon. This is a showcase for their creativity and talent in costuming.
I want you to meet this year's Masquerade winner, Vera Campbell. We met her first on Friday, the first day of Archon. Vera was dressed as Alice from Alice in Wonderland. This costume was beautiful. I asked Ms. Campbell where she came up with her costume. The Alice dress took her seven months to hand embroider the entire thing. The photo on this humble blogger's site does not do this talented young costumer justice. The entirety of the bottom is hand embroidered rabbits. Since Alice’s dress did not have pockets and a modern woman needs something to carry her cell phone and credit cards in, she created a hand embroidered purse as well. But this is not the costume that won the prize.
On Saturday, we did not see Vera until the Masquerade. Throngs of people lined up almost two hours early to get a good seat at this event. The costumes ranged from strange to amazing. Vera Campbell’s stood out among all forty-four contestants. My eye is not trained, but you could see even from a distance that the workmanship and beauty was phenomenal. Ms Campbell’s creation was of Senator Padme Amidala’s Dress in a scene that was apparently cut from the movie. This piece also won the workmanship award for Best Tailoring.
For the rest of the contestants, if a picture is worth a thousand words, find below thousands of words dedicated to the hard work and talent of the designers as well as the fans who came to see them.
LINE UP FOR MASQUERADE
MASQUERADE CROWD
WORKMANSHIP BEST IN SHOW "LET MY PEOPLE GO"
WORKMANSHIP AWARD--BEST SCULPTURE WORK ROCK A BYE FAIRY
JUDGES CHOICE FOR BEST REIMAGINING OF A CHARACTER
WORKMANSHIP AWARD--THE MAGIC IS IN THE DETAILS
JUDGES CHOICE-- BEST HUMOR
WORKMANSHIP AWARD-- BEST FIT & FINISH
WORKMANSHIP-- BEST HEADDRESS
STEAM PUNK AIRSHIP CAPTAIN
WORKMANSHIP AWARD-- BEST DETAIL WORK
WORKMANSHIP AWARD--BEST TAILORING
TEA PARTY LADIES
MANY WHO CAME TO SEE THE MASQUERADE