I have been a cosplayer since my sophomore year in high school ( I'm far too lazy to do the math on how many years thats been) and a nerd far longer than that. I was always the kid on the play ground who had their nose in a book and I couldn't be bothered with those around me. Because after all books couldn't hurt you like other children could. Well sorta, I remember crying over the end of Old Yeller in third or fourth grade in the middle of class and my teacher trying her best to tell me its okay but it wasn't because oh my god that poor dog and why did it have to be so sad....
It was sixth grade I think when I picked up The Hobbit. I had read C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia in fourth grade and loved them. So I wound up doing a report on Lewis in middle school. It was in writing that, that I first came across the name Tolkien. Nothing too in depth, just about his and Lewis's friendship or something. I actually didn't read his works straight after that. There was this program called Accelerated Reader or AR for short ( Do they still have this program in schools? Was it all over the United States? I really wouldn't know. I remember it was supposed to encourage kids to read but just wound up making some kids really bitter towards reading because it wasn't encouraging them it was forcing them and being forced to do something was no fun. I enjoyed reading but I was one of the few.) I used to go through books far too quickly to the point where the librarian would tease that she was going to run out. I remember sitting there staring at the shelves in the library because my pickings were slim because I had already read through so much and we weren't supposed to reread stuff in AR. So I came across Tolkien's stuff sitting neatly (as neat as school library books could sit) and vaguely remembered coming across his name in my Lewis report. And I thought to myself, "Well, I haven't tried these yet." And try them I did. I read them in about two weeks or less. Because dear lord they were good. I have heard people accuse Tolkien's works of being a little long and wordy and to that I blow raspberries because to me they were perfect. This man laid so much foundation for the societies he created in his books. He gave his made up world so much history and such lively characters. He built companies and friendships whose loyalty ran so very deep. And I admired these friendships. I was a lonely girl who read far too much. Of course I admired it.
Fun fact, I didn't realize the movies existed until about a year later. I came across the VHS tapes of Return of the King and you could hear the angels sing because holy frigging baby hobbit in a basket there were movies. And so I watched that first. YES, I WATCHED RETURN OF THE KING FIRST, SO SUE ME. It was what I had and so it was what I watched. And it was beautiful. The way the characters were portrayed, the scenery, the battle, everything was so beautiful. Seeing that thing I loved actually on screen warmed my heart. Seeing the characters I felt kinship with be actual people was a dream. Theres something amazing about seeing your favorite books become movies, it takes them from something imaginary to something thats almost real because you can actually see it, almost experience it in a way. And I think it was there my love for Lord of the Rings was truly cemented.
And then when I was in high school the Hobbit movies came out and I loved them. I didn't get to be apart of the first Lord of the Rings hype but no one could keep me away from being excited about the Hobbit movies. Even the purists who were throwing fits and saying they sucked because OMG how dare they add a romance and how dare they add more orcs and blah blah blah. To me it was more of something I loved and thank you so much to anyone who was involved with it because now I had more to watch and enjoy. But you know whats hard about trying to be about that hype? It was hard to find any clothing that wasn't just a t-shirt with a photo or to find Lord of the Rings merchandise in stores much less any that wasn't going to cost an arm and a leg. In a time where one could got to Hot Topic and pick up tons of stuff of Avengers and such it sucked to see my main love blown over.
So whats my point you may ask. What am I leading up to? Well I'll get to that. Patience my dears, although bless whom ever has read this far. To explain where I'm going with this I have to explain some of my convention life and The Geek Fashion Show. As I have mentioned earlier I cosplay. What better way for me to show my love for characters and series than to pour my sanity into making costumes right? Doing this I have actually made quite a few good friends in the convention circuit. And one of these friends allowed for me to model for her in the Geek Fashion Show at Comikaze in 2014. Which was an amazing experience. To wear some one's original geeky inspired dress on stage was so much fun. And I got to be one of the pretty girls and I loved it. I cant tell you how much of a confidence booster it was. All I can say is if you ever get the chance to participate in one do it. It was at this show I saw 1138 Clothing's Smaug inspired dress on Alexandria the Red and a couple months later I bought it. And I was not usually one for buying dresses but this one embodied something I loved and I had to have it. Which got me inspired and thinking why am I waiting for people to make dresses that embody the things I love, why am I not doing it myself. But me being the lazy little hobbit I am I didn't do anything with that train of thought for while.
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| My first Geek Fashion show Comikaze 2014. Designer: Unicorn Sushi Models left to right: Raychul Moore, Steff Von Schweetz, Ashpash Cosplay(me), Glimmerwood Photography: Eurobeat Kasumi |
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| 1138 Clothing's Smaug inspired dress that I totally fell in love with modeled here by me. Photo credits to Karl Muller. |
Until September of last year that is. Billy Boyd was going to be at Wizard World San Jose. Billy freaking Boyd. Pippin. Oh my gosh. I was so excited. But it also got me thinking what does one wear when going to take a picture with one of their favorite hobbits? I could cosplay or wear a LotR t-shirt but I wanted to get a little more creative than that. I wanted to do something a little different. And so I made a dress inspired by Pippin's Knight of Gondor outfit. Billy Boyd loved it. And holy crap I shook so hard after he complimented it. I was so overwhelmed with joy. Not only did Billy Boyd like it but quite a few of my friends did to. The number of people actually surprised me. I was inspired and decided I need to do more. And thats what leads us up to here.
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| My Pippin Knight of Gondor inspired dress. Photo credit to Arian Hormozi Photography. |
Seven paragraphs in and I'm finally getting around to explaining the name of this blog and what its for. What is Lord of the Seams? To be honest its a name I came up with at like three in the morning one night and it stuck and I hated myself for liking the almost pun the the next morning. But it seemed like an appropriate title for for a Lord of the Rings based fashion project. I have decided I'm not going to wait for some one to make the clothing I want to wear. I am going to make it myself even if it may drive me to madness. A lot of this is going to be a challenge for me but one that I will learn form and hopefully one that will be worth the effort. So stick with me over the next year and we will see where this path may lead.
