Costuming is an art form that connects culture and crafting through clothing. Whether someone is cosplaying as their favorite video game character or creating a historically-inspired outfit, costuming is a craft with a diverse range of mediums that draws in people of all ages.
Carlmont senior Emily Muscolina founded the Costume Club two years ago. The club has acquired 15 members and has gone to a myriad of different events. These range from historical or fantasy-inspired, like The Great Dicken’s Christmas Fair, to fandom and other media-based community conventions, such as Fan Expo.
At Carlmont, the club meets every other week. During these meetings, the club members brainstorm future costumes and decide what events or conventions to attend. According to Muscolina, the club attracts people with many different interests and hobbies due to the nature of their craft and its level of variety.
“I wanted to start costuming because of how versatile it is,” Muscolina said. “It overlaps with theater, pop culture, art, and history. Even before I started costuming, I’d always loved coming up with my Halloween costumes.”
In addition to the community events, many students within the club gain new skills or improve on old ones.
“I started sewing around a year ago,” said Gianna Johnson, a freshman club member. “I didn’t do it a lot at first and only had a few small projects, but now I’m really getting into it. I even made a full Halloween costume and a few other clothing pieces.”
The costumes made in the club take a lot of time, effort, and materials. According to Muscolina, the average time it takes to make a costume is 48 hours.
“The quickest I’ve made a costume was about a month,” Muscolina said. “Most costumes also require at least eight yards of fabric, and a single yard ranges from $15 to $50. This means that there’s usually a lot of commitment required when making your own costumes.”
There are additional ways to form a costume beyond designing or making it from a pattern. According to senior club member Vivianna Bouvier, while most club members tend to make their costumes at least partially, she and some other members more often rent costumes. There is also the option to purchase fully-made costumes or to purchase clothing pieces and then style them together into one design.
“It’s similar to improv,” Bouvier said. “Most of the time, my friends and I will just go to a thrift store and look for secondhand clothes that we can patch together into a costume. I usually dig through my closet to find things from Halloween or other stores that look historical when I want to assemble a costume.”
The main reason people joined was for the community it offered. Many members had already been costuming and wanted to connect with other people who had the same passion.
Conventions and costuming events around the world came to a pause during the pandemic, but now that things have reopened, people are excited to find local communities they can share their craft with.
“Ever since I was a little kid, I loved Halloween, and that’s what inspired me to become a costumer,” Bouvier said. “I originally joined the club because my friends were already part of it, but hearing about conventions and people who made costumes for fun year-round made me really excited. I love the friends I’ve made in the group.”
