Alena grew up in the 1980s. Alena likes the band Queen. Alena enjoys cheesy sci-fi adventure movies.
So when Indy PopCon announced that they were bringing actor Sam Jones to town and sponsoring a special screening of the 1980 classic Flash Gordon (the one with the soundtrack by Queen) at The Historic Artcraft Theatre, Alena declared that oh, yes, she was going in costume (in spite of being out of town most of that month, and being a PopCon sponsor, and running workshops, and having pretty much no time to make one).
After scouring the internet and fabric stores in three states for screen-accurate bugle beaded fabric, she eventually gave up and settled for not-screen-accurate-but-still-very-shiny microsequins for Dale Arden’s wedding dress. The dress pattern was drafted in the week before the convention, and the dress itself was cut and sewn the day and night before (finished, as usual, on the way to the Artcraft). The headdress is covered in nearly two ounces of glitter — that’s a LOT, if you were wondering — and the shoulder cage is draped in chains of around 5,000 hand-threaded bugle beads (mostly strung during Pathfinder sessions — thank goodness for game nights!). Laura’s Emperor Ming was also created in the 24 hours or so before the film. Mark got off easy for the movie screening, since Flash’s replica T-shirt is commercially available, but Alena later made the signature tank top and belt buckle for him to complete the sequin set.
Characters
- Mark as Flash Gordon
- Alena as Dale Arden
- Laura as Emperor Ming
Awards
- Best In Show, Midoricon 2016
