Costober 2021 : Wrap Up

Whew! Turns out a post for every day is way harder when it’s not the height of a pandemic. In October 2020, I was working from home, there were no in-person events, and little to nothing to do outside the home. In October 2021, I was back on campus, I attended two conferences and a party, and I went to Salem for a day. Plus my job shifted last Spring so I have a lot more responsibility at work, my house has undergone (and is still undergoing!) major repairs for months, and the pandemic has not let up making everything at least twice as complicated and ten times as stressful. Therefore I present: a rundown of the Costober looks that didn’t get a full post.

About My Looks

Day 9: Seska (Star Trek: Voyager)

I wore this to NYCC, to attend the Star Trek: Discovery panel, and posed with the Star Trek: Prodigy poster for the above photo. Seska is one of my most favorite Star Trek characters, and checks off many of my favorite boxes. She’s an angry young woman, a spy, a product of her evil society and therefore a villain, but she really just wants love and respect and to belong. And, of course, canon misuses, destroys, and discards her.

Seska is a Cardassian, but poses as a Bajoran in the Maquis and subsequently on Voyager. I found this sweater, originally from We Love Fine, on Poshmark. There is very little give in the fabric, but I really love the design. The mesh top allows it to breathe, which is super for cons!, and the badge is embroidered so I don’t have to worry about it falling off. I wore it over a simple black undershirt and black jeans.

Day 10: Velma Kelly (Chicago)

This was my third day at NYCC. I attended the Star Trek : Prodigy screening and panel, met Dawnn Lewis, and was a part of an incredible panel, “The Women Who Built Fandom”, along with Sue Kisenwether and Karen Walsh. We had a full room, even at 3pm on the last day of the con, and the audience was hugely engaged. It was a blast!

Velma Kelly is a variant of real life murderess Belva Gaertner. I found this dress at Savers, an incredible find!, and got the gloves, fishnets, and wig at Spirit Halloween. You can’t see it in these photos but I had a great rhinestone barrette from Nana. I definitely want to do a proper photoshoot of this one, when I’ve got a chance.

Day 12: Jaina Solo (Star Wars Legends)

Jacen and Jaina Solo are Han and Leia’s eldest children, twins, in the post-OT novels introduced in the nineties. Since Disney’s acquisition they’ve been rebranded as “legends”, and Ben Solo has enough in common with Jacen to be considered a variant. And Jaina shares traits with Rey.

There are a few different cover illustrations of Jaina, but I designed this look after my own imaginings of the character. As a tween I made up an OC child of Han and Leia for myself to play who ended up quite like Jaina, so I’ve been thinking about it for a while. My skirt was found on Poshmark. It was by Her Universe, based on Han Solo’s trousers. The necklace was made to promote the Solo film; I purchased it at Hot Topic back in 2018. The top was also found on Poshmark. It resembles the Han Solo collection by Her Universe, and the lines remind me of Hyperspace.

Day 13: Barbie

I spent October 13 at the Wadsworth Mansion for a Biophysics conference. So I decided to play it up and be Barbie (you can see more here on TikTok). My faculty were initially a bit skeptical about Barbie + Science but they liked the actual look. And we all agreed that women and girls should be encouraged to participate in STEMM even if they also like pink dresses.

I found this dress at Savers. I was initially going to use it for an Elle Woods Costober, but I decided to go with Barbie, who Elle was referencing, too. It’s Calvin Klein, I suspect from the early 2000s, when Legally Blonde was first big.

Day 14: The Multiverse

This was so fun. You can’t have ANY variants without the multiverse!

My earrings are from Claires. I bought them in hopes of someday cosplaying Jadzia Dax’s bachelorette party dress. My skirt and top were both found at Savers and purchased without any specific look in mind. I just knew they would work for something. This is pretty much how I shop for clothes now — everything I find is for one everyday cosplay or another.

Day 15: Lois Lane (DC Comics)

These photos were taken in March, as part of my HerstoryBound project for Women’s History Month. Lois Lane was the fictional storyteller that was meant to parallel Zelda Fitzgerald. I took the photos, but didn’t get the post up in time. I wore the sweater again in October, but decided this photoshoot was good so I didn’t redo it.

The sweater was another great thift store find. I’m not the biggest Superman fan (Bats is more my type) but this is adorable. And I do love Lois Lane, who is way more than Supes’ love interest. She’s a storyteller and a truth teller and an investigator and a role model. I paired the sweater with grey trousers that would definitely be worn in the newsroom, also purchased second hand, and (plastic) pearls that I last wore for Catwoman (aka Batman’s love interest). I think that is also adorable.

Day 18: Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star Wars)

I found this sweatshirt at Savers and immediately knew what I would use it for. I love a good modern au take on Star Wars characters! Obi-Wan is a particularly fun one to do because he’s so precise in his presentation as a Jedi. I bought the hooded top secondhand as well, imaging it as part of a Rey modern au. When plotting this year’s Costober I landed the idea of wrapping it into Obi-Wan’s look. The pants were also purchased secondhand and initially used in my Tiki Bar Sylvie cosplay for Connecticon.

The beaten Anakin (I had the high ground!) was made for Disney Infinity, a console extension playset since retired (still sad about it). I have three Anakins. This one lives in my Star Wars shelf with all his friends. I have one still in the box, as part of a second playset I purchased after the retirement for back up (seriously, I love this game, and also it was like $4 then). And the third, received as a gift, is on my desk at work, surrounded by dinosaurs.

They are his pets, obviously.

Day 21: Grogu

My ability to fit into clothing created for children is a huge asset to everyday cosplay. I got this hoodie from Target, in the boys section but the link shows lots of little girls as Baby Yoda, too. I wore it with a skirt and posed with the same coffee cup I used in my Grogu look last year.

I didn’t plan to do Grugu again this year. I bought the hoodie as a back-up Costober look, because it’s super easy, the one piece does all the heavy lifting. And I didn’t mind not using it because it’s adorable and super cozy. The cooler weather and my busy weeks drove me to go for this one and it was very popular at work!

Day 22: Lyanna Mormont

A fan community on Tumblr set up an appreciation week for “Jorleesi” aka the relationship between Jorah Mormont and Daenerys Targaryen, whom he calls Khaleesi, in Game of Thrones. The prompt for October 22 was “Bear Island” so I plotted to incorporate it into a Costober look.

I found the top on ThreadUp and the pajama pants at Savers — I especially liked the crowned bear on those as they fit “bear (Jorah) + queen (Daenerys)” quite well. But I decided to build it out to a Lyanna Mormont look because she’s one of the very best parts of the last few seasons of the series. I already owned the rest of the pieces and used the jacket previously in my Ygritte and Arya Stark looks. It is very of the North!

Day 25: Princess Sorsha

Sorsha is another fantasy warrior, and in fact, I credit my love of Sorsha for why I love Ygritte so much. They share similar traits and story beats. The romance between Sorsha and Madmartigan is also why I love the ‘enemies to lovers’ trope. The moment they kiss in the middle of battle is etched in my memory forever.

Growing up we had a Willow board game where Sorsha and General Kael started on the same, evil, side, but if the Sorsha token landed on the same square as the Madmartigan token, she would switchover to the good side. Me being me, I always played Sorsha and I always ignored the gameplay in favor of stalking Madmartigan around the board. My brothers would get so annoyed, particularly whichever one got stuck playing Kael that round. I admit, I wasn’t playing the game. I was playing the movie, and the romance I loved.

Sorsha wears dark armor for nearly all of the movie, an outer layer of metal scales over a leather corset under a mesh top. I found the top on the left at Savers and the top on the right at ThreadUp. I am very pleased with both and the whole effect. My black jeans were also purchased secondhand and were a part of many other looks.

Day 26: Christopher Robin

Like Grogu above (and Artoo below) this is a sweater and look I had in my back pocket, and chose to wear because I was too cold and busy to do something more complex. But I also think this look is pretty successful and definitely cute.

The sweater is hand knit by a friend, a ‘pandemic special’, a garment made during lockdown. The little heart at the bottom is my favorite part, so cute. It was not created with Christopher Robin, or any character, in mind, but that’s who it reminded me of, specifically the version in the old Disney cartoons. Paired with blue jeans I think it’s a sweet little Disneybound version. And I enjoyed posing with my plush animals.

Day 28: R2-D2

This is another great example of one item selling the whole look.

Etc.

And that’s a wrap! Well, almost, I’ve not yet posted my final two looks, worn for Halloween Weekend. I hope to get that up soon, and I have a few more looks planned for the upcoming holiday season. As always, feel free to ask any questions here or social media: twitter, facebook, instagram. More images of all these looks can be found on instagram as well.

Leave a Reply