Is your

competition-ready?

» Winning and other such nonsense
from a costume competition veteran

Brittney MacDonald
Staff Writer

H alloween is just around the
corner, and with it comes
the bragging rights of having
an amazing costume. But what
if you want more than that?
What if you want that cash
prize from your favourite bar
or club? Making costumes that
are competition-ready is no
easy feat, but making yourself
competition-ready is even
harder.

I have been making
costumes and modelling my
creations for conventions and
photo shoots for over seven
years, but I didn’t bother with
competitions until around
three years ago. To be honest I
was intimidated by the idea of

having someone judge my work.

As someone who is self-taught,
with no real formal training
beyond YouTube and a few
outdated sewing catalogues,

I was always terrified people

: would think my stuff just wasn’t
: up to snuff. But I eventually had
: to get over that, and I applied

: everything I learned by simply

: sitting back and listening,

: and moved on to win several

: competitions both locally

: and in the US, resulting in

: cash, nerdy swag, and gaming

: consoles.

So now that we’ve

: established I might have

: some idea of what I’m talking
: about, I'll move on to let you

: know how you might go about
: deciding if your costume is

: competition-ready—whether

: it’s for a convention or just a

: Halloween club crawl.

Before you consider
entering even the most basic

: competition, you have to know
: that anything store-bought just
: isn’t going to do it. You might

: think it'll work for that $100

: the bar is offering, but if you