Costume: Amy Pond from "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship"

Posted: August 12, 2015
Worn: October 28, 2014

I initially only did superhero costuming at conventions. But at most of the cons I go to, this would be greatly off theme, so I wanted to branch out. I also wanted to take a break from the very sewing intensive costuming I had been doing. And I wanted to start costuming as more redheaded characters, since, much as I love wigs, wigs do not love me.

In November 2012, TimeGate, Atlanta's Doctor Who convention, held a one day mini con. I had a few weeks notice, so I decided to see if I could put together an Amy Pond costume. Her last episode as a companion had just aired, so most of her identified outfit pieces had long since been snapped up by other costumers, or even by mundanes. (Gasp!) Screen accurate pieces will intermittantly come available on eBay, the Doctor Who costuming LiveJournal, and a few other places, but you may have to wait a year or two for the right piece in the right size. So, on short notice, I chose one of the few pieces still in stock, the Reiss sweater, and bought the last one in my size from the Reiss website. It's appeared on the blog once before, though it isn't really my style and I've rarely worn it other than a few times as a costume piece.

Reiss "Chloe Stripe" sweater in Ultra Marine, 2012 (Screen Accurate)
Levi's "Bold Curve" blue jeans from Macy's, 2012
Wanted "Babe" oxfords in Brown from Amazon.com, 2012
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri nail polish in 430 Brisk Blue, 2012

I've never seen the Dune Lysdey brogues for sale anywhere at any price. But after a great deal of frantic shopping, (I believe I went to nine shoe stores, not counting a lot of searching online.) I found almost identical looking shoes by Wanted. They are, unfortunately, synthetic, which I can normally endure, except that the costume doesn't include socks. That part of the costume is always unpleasant.

Getting jeans that fit is such a challenge that I elected to stick with jeans I already had rather than buy the screen accurate jeans.

The key to an Amy Pond costume for me the hair and makeup -- straight to wavy hair, much of it hanging in front, rarely visible ears, very round hair line, black eyebrows, no freckles, and other features varying by episode. It's very different from my normal look, and, indeed, I can't match the hair texture very well at a humid dawn photoshoot. But I can match various hair lengths by pinning the hair under, the same technique I've used many times in the past for a faux bob. I barely turned it under at all for this costume, as Amy's hair was significantly longer in Series 7, which I think makes the technique a little less convincing.

I don't normally wear foundation, as I prefer the natural translucency of bare skin, but I wanted to at least take the edge off my freckles for the costume if I could. I think in this case, a bit less matte and a bit more dewy would have been helpful.

I took these pictures near Halloween only because the weather was finally cool enough. I usually don't costume at Halloween, as I normally don't have events to go to. I prioritized getting shots of this costume, as it is my least favorite of the five Amy Pond costumes I've assembled and I wanted to sell the sweater. Screen accurate pieces hold their value very well, so I turned a small profit on it.