Glamourising the Self
Updated: Jul 5, 2021
Makeup, wigs, contacts and fangs. What is costume and what is glamour, really?
Is it illusion, a visual lie, a trick for the eyes of others? Is it a way to seek empowerment or to work out who we really are? What happens inside ourselves when we don costumery?
BONUS! Skip to the bottom for a list of local costuming & creative groups for SW Western Australia. (Let us know of any we can add to the list!)
Costume can be part of storytelling or a powerful declaration of self expression. There are only so many things we can say with language alone. Without a visual representation of ourselves, how long would it take for someone to learn who we are, our passions and what we stand for? A garment, prop or accessory can be translated in a hundred different ways depending on the wearer. A heavy, full body cloak can either comfort and hide with it's warm embrace or it can be used in dance for huge dramatic movements or to offer teasing glimpses of the body. Jewellery pieces are often religiously symbolic, a person's universal truth in precious metal and stone.
Traditionally a wedding band is worn on the fourth finger of the left hand, stemming from the Roman belief that therein lie a vein running directly to the heart; Vena Amoris.
Fangs can very well be used to ward off others, a repelling visual warning that can work as armour if need be; one only has to open the mouth. Opposite to this, fangs can be kittenish; used to invoke a sense of feisty play and innocence. The beauty of garments, makeup, wigs and contacts lie in the fact that they are interchangeable; taken on and off at our whim. We are dynamic, ever evolving and growing, constantly learning.
Be the changes big or small, they're all important steps in our own journey towards realising our True Self.
Local Costuming & Creative Groups for SW Western Australia South West Cosplay Community Beautifully Haunted: Gothic Belly Dance & Burlesque Sisters of Ishtar Belly Dance (Donnybrook) The Grey Company (medieval reenactment) Shattered World LARP West Australian Medieval Balingup Medieval Carnivale
