Posted in: Comics | Tagged: comikaze, doctor who, harley quinn, High Fashion, star trek

Stan Lee's Comikaze Takes On High Fashion

Published Sat, 02 Nov 2013 16:00:52 -0500

Last updated Mon, 04 Nov 2013 19:37:37 -0600

Michele Brittany writes for Bleeding Cool from Comikaze:

For the first time in the short history of Stan Lee's Comikaze, being held at the Los Angeles Convention Center from Friday, November 1^st through Sunday, November 3^rd, held a Geek Fashion Show early Friday evening. After reading through the offerings for the first day, I was intrigued by the concept, especially where cosplay is commonplace, but designer geek fashion? Honestly, all sorts of images crossed my mind – pvc, metal and perhaps some lacey accents.

Espionage Cosmetics and Castle Corsetry sponsored the show, with professional cosplayer Kit Quinn taking on hosting duties with modeling one of the corsets designed by Lauren Bregman of Castle Corsetry.

Leading off the show were the cocktail dresses designed by Raie of Unicorn Sushi from San Jose, California. The dresses showcased were inspired by the very popular Star Trek series. Utilizing the familiar uniforms from the series, Raie incorporated cutouts, off the shoulder, and opaque panels to soften and give a sexy allure against the bold reds, yellows, blues, and blacks that the series was known for. The effect was playful and flirtatious.

Ashley Mertz's Go Follow Rabbits designs were up next. Each woman modeled playful full skirts that incorporated such pop culture iconography from the cube from Portal, a Pokeball, and even a retro video game controller. The fuller skirts provided a mesmerizing swish and were quite pretty when one woman took a twirl in the Ring of Fire pattern – orange-red flames along the hem of a predominately black skirt – and feminized by the garters and stockings worn underneath.

Concluding the show was Castle Corsetry, designed by local Los Angeles designer, Lauren Bregman. As her company name suggests, corsets were front and center on the various models as they took the runway. Bregman's designs blended sexy and a bit naughtiness to her long lined corsets and waist cincher corsets, celebrating such themes as Doctor Who, Harley Quinn, and Marvel, among others. Bregman took the stage in her nod to the Slytherin House from the Harry Potter series with a long line corset that set off her small waist against her black skirt and black heeled shoes.

I was pleasantly surprised by the carefree playfulness of the designs that took geek and nerdiness to a higher level. Not a single panel of pvc or metal were to be seen, but rather smart, clean designs that any geek woman could feel sexy, flirtatious, and naughty all wrapped into one.

Castle Corsetry and Espionage Cosmetics are located at booths 731 and 1133 respectively at the con that continues through Sunday.

Michele Brittany is an independent pop culture scholar and semi-professional photographer currently editing an upcoming anthology on the influence of James Bond on popular culture, and she regularly posts reviews and analysis on the spy/espionage genre on her blog, Spyfi & Superspies.

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