Bitter Fat Chicks FTL.

Marcon had some scheduling issues this year, so we only got our panelist assignments last week. 

I will be doing :
Friday 8:30 - Steampunk on a Budget
I know about half the panelists, and will be bringing my backpack engine, my ice-skate boots, and my thrifted opera glasses.  Will also be wearing my new pseudo-polonaise made from that Simplicity pattern, and hopefully a new fascinator I made that features a pair of gold pince-nez.  Still working out what to wear under the jacket.

Saturday 1-4 - Iron Costumer
Once again I'm going to be lead judge and head cheerleader for this amazing improv fest.  In the past we have had "Secret Ingredients" of old VHS tapes, vinyl siding, rubber shelf liner, umbrellas, $2 prom dresses, and playing cards.  Even I don;'t know what they are throwing at the contestants this year.  I'll be wearing purple - corset, waterfall skirt, velvet top and "jaunty hat".

Saturday evening - Masquerade (Judge)
At least I know the MC will pronounce my name right - he's my Department Head at Windycon. Of course, I'm saving my showoff outfit for this - in green and black, with my wig and the frothy little mini-tricorn I finished last week.

Sunday 11:30 - Costuming for Your Body Type.
For this panel I have a long dress that I first got to wear to a cousin's wedding - Worn loose I look like a saggy housewife in a mumu, but add a black underbust corset, a petticoat, my rainbow yard dreads and a tiny top hat it's fun AND comfy.

Now, I've done this panel twice before - at CostumeCon in Milwaukee and at last year's Windycon.  I expect an audience full of mostly women who would LOVE to play dress-up, but are afraid of ending up as "that girl" - you know, the one that people snicker at behind her back.

Now gothpanda  is the only other panelist on there that I know.  She and I are both large girls, but we are very differently shaped - She's more pear-shaped and I'm more hourglassy, and she's got nice shapely legs while I am very long-waisted..  I suggested that we use a technique that has worked in the past - draping people's bodies in either lengths of fabric or loose-fitting clothing, and demonstrate with the aid of solid-colored scarves and lengths of fabric how color and cut and line can affect the eye.

Well, the first reply fro one of the other women - well, it sure looked like a slap in the face to me!  "I don't make costumes from scarves and bedsheets - I make meticulous recreations from the nig and small screens and also historicals. "  Way to miss the point!  She also totally disagreed with our hands-on approach in favor of "explaining" things - and she seemed really negative.  She even mentioned something about  no fat girls in  slave Leia outfits, and also said that she had been "asked to be on this panel" to present her point of view.

WTF?   

Then the other girl weighed in - again with a very judgemental take - that "I'm probably older than all of you, and I don't think you should show that much skin"  when dressing up.

Thanks for assuming that 1) our work is crap and 2) that we're all young 

gothpanda  was waaaay more polite than me - I managed to bite my tongue to a certain extent but really did need to point out that 1)I'm an ICG Master, with more than 20 years of professional costuming on a wide range of body types and that I judge masquerade competitions on the national level and 2) am 43 but that doesn't mean I'm not sexy! and 3) we were ALL  "asked to be on this panel".

It really sounds like they are both approaching this with the idea that they want to tell people what NOT to wear, where gothpanda  and I want to help people figure out what they CAN wear, and look and feel great.  'Cuz playing dress-up is supposed to be FUN.

I've watched "What Not To Wear" a couple of times, and it always left a bad taste in my mouth.  Mocking someone for the way they look isn't helpful (although if you really can't resist you can at least be polite about it and not do it in front of them.  I confess to having made fun of the Rapture Guy, but if I met him in person I would simply tell him that I thought his research was sloppy and that claiming to know the mind of god was a pretty arrogant things to do) 

Look - American women are already pretty emotionally screwed up about their body image, and that goes triple if you are larger than a size 10.  Add into that the fact that most fangirls grew up as outsiders anyway, and you have a group of women (and men as well) who are pretty conflicted about how they look. 

I have been known to be really harsh on people who mock the oversized women in lingerie or fetish-wear at conventions.  Yes, it's not a good look on everyone.  But I went through a similar phase as well when I first started going to conventions (only it was short dresses, feathers, and handcuffs back then) - because conventions were relatively safe space and full of guys who went O.O when I walked by, and that was a brand new experience for me.  Eventually, I got over it, and the pendulum swung back.  A lot of those women are in the same boat - they are dressing like that because for what may be the first time in their lives they are getting positive attention about their looks! 

I'm just getting a sort of nasty judgmental bitter vibe from them, and that kind of negativity isn't helpful.  We have a couple thousand years of fashion history, a huge variety of cultural dress, and an immeasurable amount of imaginative creations out there.  There is something out there that will look good on you - I want to give people the tools to find that.  It means that they look better, they feel better, I don't have to look at icky clothing choices and try to find something nice to say about them, and I get more people to play dress-up with.

I'm also a bit concerned that ALL of the panelists are large girls.  That makes it Costuming for *A* Body Type, not for YOUR Body Type.   I envy skinny women who can wear kimono and they envy my luscious cleavage.   I've asked if we can get a slender friend to come and be our token "skinny bitch" :)  Because slender women are insecure too.