Last Saturday B. and I attended an annual Steampunk event that has been held in Auckland since 2012, Aethercon. I am not going to go into what Steampunk is, so many others have written brilliant articles describing the aesthetic already, so if you aren’t sure, google can help you out 😉 We have attended this event every year since its conception but this year is the first year I have not prepared a costume or entered the costume contest. This was for a few reasons, 1. I am already more than sufficiently loaded up with projects for B. and I for Armageddon later this year and 2. to be perfectly honest, after doing it for so many years, I’m a little over Steampunk (or at least making Steampunk costumes). Now that’s not to say it isn’t worth checking out! The NZ Steampunk community is a wonderful and supportive group of people, many of whom have become friends over the years and I highly recommend attending a local event in your area if it seems like something that would interest you. If you are in Auckland, Aethercon is a perfect place to start! This year also had a partner event running for the first time at the same location called Costume Fest, which was more focused on cosplay and costume construction.
The convention has moved a few times since its first year but it is now held at the Ellerslie Events Centre on the top floor. This is a nice location (the best so far in fact) but we did get a little lost so some more signage would have been good. I think most of the confusion came from the fact that Aethercon and Costume Fest were advertised to be two separate events running simultaneously, which they were, but not in the way we imagined. Where we expected to find a different room for each convention we actually found one floor to be all of the main stalls and events and the next floor down to be the talks for Costume Fest about costume construction. We weren’t the only ones lost and confused and we found many others also looking for ‘Costume Fest’. I think being the first year, this can be expected. It always takes a while for a new convention to work out the kinks and to build attendance and I think it will definitely get there, I just expected to find more fellow cosplayers at the event, but sadly my poor little hunter was lost in a sea of Victorian ladies and gentleman. *tear*
First trial of this costume worn all together at a con. SO glad I decided to do a test run! Definitely a few issues to work through before its finished and Armageddon safe!
We did find Oogie though!
The highlight of the convention is always the costume contest. As I said earlier, this was the first year I didn’t partake, but it was nice to take a step back and observe for the first time this year. Every year the costumes get more elaborate and the back-stories get more entertaining but as usual, there are only a select number of prizes. This year the contest was split into 3 categories, ladies fashion, mens fashion and childrens fashion. This worked better than previous years where there was no categories and instead just a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winner overall. The winners this year were each given a prize sponsored by Weta workshop.
Ladies Fashion Winner
Childrens Fashion Winner
Mens Fashion Winner
One last thing to mention would be the wonderful stalls that are scattered around the convention. Each stall is run by a local costumer or artisan and the wares available for sale are of excellent quality and all hand crafted. One such stall is run by a friend of the blog, Amy Beales, owner and creator of Northwic Fashion. Her work is stunning and I encourage you all to take a look at her work. She is available for commission work as well as having some pre-made items for sale on her facebook page https://www.facebook.com/northwicnz I promise you will be blown away by her work!
So all in all, it was an enjoyable convention, definitely something to take a look at for those new to the Steampunk scene. There are other events that run as part of this convention such as the Aethercon Ball and the Cosplay Rave which B and I did not attend but from what I have heard, were highly praised. There is certainly a few changes that could be made to make the event run smoother but I have come to know the creator of this con and he really puts his heart and soul into making sure everyone enjoys themselves and I think he has achieved that. I look forward to watching this convention grow as I’m sure given a few more years, it will become one of the staple costume events for all of Auckland.
Costumes I have worn to previous Steampunk events, all of which have placed in the competitions.
What are some conventions you are looking forward to in your area? Are you getting into Steampunk yourself? Stay tuned for our write ups over the next few months about other conventions we will be attending and cosplays we are wearing!
As always,
Tune In – Geek Out
K.
Geek Frequency 