The Many Costumes of Nancy Lorenz

[logansrogue]

I was looking through my photos today and it struck me how many times I dress up. I do it a lot. To date I've attempted to dress up as the following characters/people:

- Xena
- Aphrodite
- Rogue
- Nefertiri
- Alti
- Jubilee
- An Amazon
- A Pirate
- Columbia
- Jazz Kitten
- Napalm Nacey (made up superhero)
- Vampira
- A Viking
- A Jungle Woman

I tend to repeat myself with my costuming choices, mainly because it's easy and impressive. It also struck me how many photos I have of these different events and that most of you haven't seen me as anything other than maybe Rogue or a Pirate.

So I thought I'd share my fandom history with you through pictures of me dressing up. I'll try to be as chronological as possible. It'll also give away a terrible secret - I've aged!! Most of you don't realise how much, but after seeing these photos you'll see how much!



So. Let's go all the way back to the year 2000. It's June and I'm in Los Angeles for the Pasadena Xena and Hercules Convention!


Here I am. Con virgin. I have no idea what lies ahead of me. Little did I know that the experience would be heady and addictive!!


I'm posing for a photo here.


Posing again cause people kept asking!


Close up of my face.

The next day I dressed up as Aphrodite.


I was *much* skinnier back then!!


Me with the Big Doof. You know, someone once met me in that blonde wig here in Australia when I dressed up as a character from a Terry Pratchett novel. When she met me at a later party with brown hair, she violently protested that I wasn't allowed to be brunette and that it didn't look right. Very odd.

Day three I went as the X-Woman herself.


I actually had my fringe cut in that totally daggy manner JUST for the trip. But it paid off, folks...


WINNAR! Well, second place but hey, I was happy, I got a ton of shit. And that metal on the armour? Real beaten copper!


Ooh. How'd that get in there? *looks furtive* (That IS me first thing in the morning, hence, I look like shite).

Now, the following year I went to the con again. As I said, it's addictive. Xena was in full swing, the cons were at their best and this one was a total HOOT. I only changed one costume that year - I was no longer going to be an Amazon. I was going to be Alti!


Here I am at home, testing the outfit.


I reprised Aphrodite that year, too! Better costume, this time!


Claire Stansfield loved my outfit, she said I looked "fuckin' awesome" or something roughly of that nature.


Ted Raimi didn't think I looked too bad either, bless his soul!

So! I come home! With the help of a new best friend I start Wild & Untamed Things, a Rocky Horror Audience Participation Cast for the tiny city of Perth! And my character?


COLUMBIA! Now, before you piss on the costume, understand that the jacket was actually my real jacket that I bought from a second-hand store, independent of my needs as a Rocky fan. I bought it cause I thought it would look hot on stage. Same with the glittery-tube top, shoes and glittery socks. Of course I had to make the pants and buy the hat. We were on a shoe-string budget. I was on unemployment and most of the budget we'd gathered between the members went to hiring the reel and the cinema for the night. So costumes weren't movie-exact!


I still think we look pretty fabulous, though.

A new movie poster was up while I was doing Rocky Horror. It was Lord of the Rings and since I loved the books I was looking forward to the movie. After seeing it? TOTAL. FAN-GIRL.


Here I am as a rare Scottish Hobbit. Gunn Tartan.


After a year or so I got a decent hobbit outfit. It's the most unflattering costume ever. I realised then why everyone preferred to be Elves.

There was a party with some new friends I'd made where we had to dress up as Made-Up or Silly Superheroes. I went as Napalm Nacey:



It was some time after this that I discovered the joys of Harry Potter.


Trying my best to be Hermione. This isn't my best Hermione outfit, by the way. My best Hermione outfit has the socks, the proper sweater and grey skirt and when I was wearing it my hair was permed and frizzy, so at some point I looked really damned good.


Me being one of the Gryffindor Quidditch girls.

Now, I'd been a fan of X-Men since 2001, but I couldn't let the third movie go by without dressing up as Rogue good and proper!



It was about 2004 or so when I developed my passion for pirates.



Mad Bonney's look took some time to develop.


I slowly collected bits and pieces to make my costume better. I made that leather stay corset.







My hair got curlier for the role.


And I worked at it being bustier, too!

Often, at the drop of the hat, I'll dress as a belly-dancer:



Or an Egyptian:



I even dressed up in drag once:



Not real drag where I tried to be as manly as possible - I hated that. No, Tipping The Velvet sort of drag. And you know what? I didn't enjoy it.


I did it again, though, for Tom. Mainly because I was getting paid for it.

Now, you might wonder, was I always such a chameleon? Did I always love changing my look and being someone else?


Short answer? Yes. (Here I am as an early Settler of Australia with a German taste in footwear).



This, by all means, is not the limit of my dress-up-scapades. It's only what I've managed to photograph and what I thought was worth photographing. And it won't certainly be the end of my endeavours. Swancon lies ahead and I have a Masquerade Ball to go to!

Comments

[kellygreen.livejournal.com]

These costumes are fabulous!! Do you make them all yourself??

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

If I didn't make them, I bought them as separate pieces of clothing and used them for the occasion, much like th gold jacket. So the gold skirt I bought cause I liked it and needed a neat, shiny hippy skirt for special occassions. The suits are some that were given to us for my brother's movie-making purposes. I made the Egyptian one, all the Xena ones, the hobbit one (shirt, corset and skirt), the Harry Potter ones and the corset of the pirate outfit. :)