The Costume Presentation

Since images of winged beings date back nearly as far as recorded history,
I thought about trying to incorporate as many cultures into the look of the 
costume as I could.  The problem was, I couldn't seem to find the right 
elements of ethnic clothing that would fit together.  I kept coming back to a 
rather simple garment -- a robe.  

For recognition purposes and ease of construction, I fell back on the 
"traditional" perception of what an angel looks like. I began looking into 
books about people who supposedly have met angels. Most were 
described as wearing a robe that looked like pure white light. And the 
wing feathers were pure white. That didn't give me much to go on, from 
a designer's standpoint.

During this time, I made two discoveries that finally helped "gel" things into a concept: The first was finding books on the subject of Near Death Experiences. Through learning about this phenomena, I found out about a local chapter of the International Association for Near Death Studies, where I came into contact people who supposedly "came back from the dead", but those who claimed to have met angels.

My second discovery was a small print of the painting "St. Bride" by from 1913. This was the inspiration I needed. Drawing upon accounts where Near Death Experiencers had seen brilliant, otherworldly hues in their visions, I would make my angel wings multi-colored. And where the robes of the angels had images of the life of Christ on them, mine would have images of my departed pets. I would also invite others to contribute images of their pets, making it a participatory project. My direction finally realized, I began researching for more information on angels, possible guardian angels of animals, animal ghosts and any mentions of animals in NDEs.

Constructing the costume was an arduous 2 year task, on and off. The robe was relatively easy -- it was coming up with a way to build a pair of feathered wings that opened and closed that took a lot of the time. First, I had to come up with a skeleton, then figure a way to mount the whole thing on my back. From there, I had to cover the structure and then sew by hand all the turkey feathers required.

The design of the costume was dictated by the presentation I had in mind. I also had to come up with a cat puppet with wings that worked. The music I planned to use,  by Himekama (a New Age artist), suggested my choreography. The presentation starts with the stage dark. On the soundtrack, the sound of screeching car tires is heard, followed by someone calling out a name in anguish. The lights and music slowly come up and a shrouded "something" is seen on the stage. An angel enters, stoops near it and slowly draws the veil away, revealing a mostly white cat with wings. The angel strokes the cat for a moment, then with a nod of encouragement, they both open their wings and the cat is lifted towards Heaven. After the lights go out, an announcement thanks all who participated with their pet photos and the presentation is dedicated to Dmitri's memory.

I had originally intended to only present this at Costume Con 13, in Toronto, but didn't get it done in time. As serious, emotional and important this was to me, I was unsure how it might be received at Archon, where the audience is accustomed to humorous presentations. I finally decided to give it a go, which forced me to speed up my pace of construction. I put in several very long nights sewing all the feathers into place, and barely had enough time for Nora to airbrush the colors on.

I was a nervous wreck all the way up until I actually walked on stage. Even with assistants, I was literally working up until the last moment to get everything to work properly. At that point, I was pretty much resigned to whatever happened (obviously, with lots of worries about everything going right).

As the presentation unfolded, the audience wasn't quite sure what to make of it. The other entries before mine had been humorous, up to this point. There were a few chuckles, at first, but by the end, the room was almost dead silent. The applause afterward was gratifying -- they understood. Fortunately, there was another funny presentation after mine, to bring the mood in the room back up. At the end of the masquerade I received the Best In Show Award, and was given a standing ovation by the audience. I had indeed touched their hearts.

Several months later, I took the costume to the International event, Costume Con.  There were more participants, and a higher quality in the competition class I was in.  Yet, I still managed to win awards for workmanship and presentation, although I didn't take Best In Show. Nonetheless, more than one tear was shed by my audience, and one or two grateful people had later mentioned they'd lost a pet recently.

In the time since, the costume has been stored in our basement. It has been displayed once, at a Costume Con, but other than that, I've not worn it since.  I have added a couple of images to it, but for the most part, that project is now behind me.  Maybe someday I'll make some smaller wings for it and wear it to conventions. Fortunately, I have videotape of both performances for posterity. I don't play them very often, though -- even after all these years, it's still hard to watch.  I even have difficulty talking about the costume's meaning.  This presentation touches some deep part of many people, including myself, who remember their pets.  It will always be one of my most important and meaningful works, and I'm glad it might have given some people some comfort, even if it made them cry.