How may costumes per con?

[TMBountyHunter]

Just curious about how people like their cons.

For example do you have the same costume the whole weekend? Do you show off a different one each day? Do you wear something old on fridays, debut something new at the saturday masquerade and then wear it again sunday so that people can get a better look? Or some other routine entirely?

 

[Bizarro Lois]

I'm assuming you're talking about the bigger cons, like SDCC or DCon. This year was my first DCon, and I made a specific costume for the show. I decided I wanted to take part in a photo shoot, so I also ended up bringing an old favorite. I was also part of the group and we wanted to wear the new costumes for a panel featuring actors whose characters we were dressing as. So the schedule for the panel and the photo shoot dictated what day we were wearing what. Not to mention one of my friends had to wear his mustache for one costume and shave for the other. I don't know what we would have done if the schedule had been different.

 

[Cal]

I took four one year to Dragoncon. Never again. I want a costume I can wear the entire time and I do not get sick of wearing. It is a real pain trying to get an elevator when your physically exhausted from wearing your costume only to find out there is a half an hour wait to get to your room.

 

[Auryn]

This year was our first time at DCon too.
I planned and brought 2 costumes.
The plan was to do super heroes friday and for the parade and then steampunk the rest of saturday.
Friday went as planned, woke up too late to put on all my makeup saturday so we paraded in steampunk and after the parade ended up changing into civies for the whole rest of the day. We got so over heated in the parade that I couldn't wait to get into shorts and a t-shirt.
I know one woman who brough 10 different costumes and actually wore them all.
I don't know how people do that. I spent the whole day in one costume and still was constantly feeling like I was out of time.

I would definitely consider bringing a separate costume for the masquerade and maybe for the LOTR costume contest.
but otherwise its 1 costume per day for me I think.
But I do feel like I almost want to wear one costume the whole time to give it the exposure time it deserves.

This is a good thread, can't wait to see what ppl say.

 

[CelticRuins]

Wheww...Dragon*con is your ULTIMATE costuming con. In fact, that's about 75% of the con.

I've taken up to 7 costumes to D*Con, but it can be a bit of a headache. No shocker there.

If you're going to take that many costumes, obviously you'll need to draw up a schedule. Make sure you know what times during the day you're going to need to change in and out of costume, and schedule accordingly. Take note how long a costume takes to get on, whether it needs makeup, hair styling, etc.

Of course, over-scheduling might put a damper on your con experience. This past D*Con, my boyfriend and I only took 4 costumes each...a huge change from past years. It was alot more manageable. Though, we always take one extra costume each, just in case we get bored and want to be random!

 

[Jango Wes]

I took 6. Never again will I do that. Next year, I'm only doing 3. I just stretched myself too thin between the parade and different photo shoots.

 

[Labrynth]

Depends on the year and what I have planned. In the last few years I've been sucked into some group stuff that meant I brought stuff I might have left at home. I also make sure I have at least 1 very simple, easy costume for the days I just don't want to put a lot of effort into it. This year it was Ramona Flowers. Last year it was Jill Valentine.

This year I had 5 planned but only 3 ended up going with due to problems with the pieces once I made it back from Afghanistan.

http://www.therpf.com/f24/d-c-2011-ramona-flowers-black-queen-baroness-126212/

I am already tossing around ideas for next year but probably won't settle on anything specific until the beginning of the year 2012.

As someone else noted, if you're doing multiple costumes, you have to schedule accordingly. I almost missed a photoshoot because something took me way longer to get into and situated than I planned. Also, my Baroness costume this year required help getting in to since the buckles were mostly in the back and I couldn't see them to do it myself.

There's something about wearing the same clothes for 4 days that I just can't do. LOL

 

[booksandcorsets]

I usually bring 2 or 3 max to Dragoncon (and if it's 3, one MUST be comfortable!). Other cons get 1-2 max. It's too rough going back and forth to a hotel to change when the hotel is not "at con" (see: SDCC and many other events).

 

[Talisen]

I brought 4 different ones, but one of those could be worn 3 different ways (Origins Wolverine - Jacket, red button down, wife beater) So in essence - 6! The BSG Viper suit was only for a few hours due to the heat of wearing it, my Wolverine "Patch" suit was for the Thursday "New Year" D*Con party, then the variations of Logan and my leather Comic Wolverine for the rest of the weekend.

 

[Rdmaul]

4-5 day cons I take 2 costumes to cut down on the Stress. I also like to relax and enjoy the con a couple days out of costume!

 

[Aideon]

I took 9 to Dragon*Con this year, and found a chance to wear them all.

Some I wore for a photoshoot only, because they were obscure and I knew people weren't going to get it, but I wanted good pictures.

Some I wore more than once because they turned out to be unexpected crowd favorites.

ETA: I also break my con up into 3 parts per day. Morning, Afternoon/early evening, Late Evening

 

[Kavan]

My limit for DragonCon is 3. 2 of which were ment for groups and we only got to pull off one once.

 

[tkRyno]

I've always wondered this. I'm working on my first stormtrooper and am wondering how long and how many days I'd even want to hold out.

 

[Art Andrews]

I don't know how some of you do it. I am not a big costumer, but if I do bring a costume, it is usually just one.

 

[Jaedena]

A good rule of thumb is one per day. This year at D*C I ended up bringing more because of the group photo shoot thing, but in the future I'm thinking of bypassing the group shots.

 

[Auryn]

Jaedena
if you don't mind me asking, why do you think you won't do the group shots again??
I was actually thinking of maybe doing one next year.

 

[Talisen]

The group shot thing was a bit of a mess at times. Locations changed, times changed. Being new to some of these hotels it was difficult finding places. We were in the Marvel shot, but so far back that you can't even see either of us. Missed the BSG cause we slept in, and could find the Tron (both moved in time and place).

So really, just be warned.

 

[TMBountyHunter]

Oh wow.

I expected maybe 4-5 costumes max for 3 days cons but it looks like quite a few people are doing more D:

 

[DarkJedi1500]

For D*Con 2010 we brought two: ODST and Ghostbusters. Both are comfortable to wear for extended periods of time. We ended up spending all friday in ODST and all saturday in GB gear. I also threw the pack on the day we left.

For D*Con 2011 we (Torsoboy and I) had 3 each. For me it was Thomas (part of a daft punk group costume), Subject Delta, and the Portal Gun with a lab coat. We ended up spending most of early friday in Daft Punk, then put Delta on for the costume contest. For the other days I stayed in my Portal gear because Delta can only be worn comfortably for about an hour and requires several spotters, and my visability in Thomas was bad enough I would be missing most of the convention if I left it on.

While we are still planning for next year, I would say at most you would want 3. For me this means one competative piece (the big impressive one that is a pain to move in), one casual (think deadmau5 or cowboy bebop), and one for dedicated photo op time (ghostbusters or something similar).

Also, be sure you know why you are wearing a suit. If you are going to socialize, wearing something that cover's your face may not be the best idea.

 

[CelticRuins]

The group shot thing was a bit of a mess at times. Locations changed, times changed. Being new to some of these hotels it was difficult finding places. We were in the Marvel shot, but so far back that you can't even see either of us. Missed the BSG cause we slept in, and could find the Tron (both moved in time and place).

So really, just be warned.

OMG. So much this. I swear...I double checked ALL the photoshoot times before leaving to DCon, and when I got there, right when the time they said they were starting, it was if they had been doing the photoshoot for about half an hour. -_-.

I know it's no one's fault with the Marvel shoot...but there should have been a secondary location in case of rain -_-.

The Tron shoot started early, but I don't think the place changed. We were running maybe 10 minutes late to that.