1980 medieval wedding celebration
green gables, jennerstown, pa

George R. Paczolt, mike glicksohn, sally c. fink

As George and I had been married in a private Catholic church ceremony two months earlier, this wedding celebration was the party and reception for our family and friends. I was working at a fabric store as assistant manager at the time and was able to order the crushed burgundy velvet for my gown from New York. Unlike today, during the 1970’s and 1980’s beautiful metallic brocades were much easier to find. I am not positive where I found George’s silver and blue brocade but it was likely Roaring River Mills in Altoona, PA (long defunct now). The costumes were medieval-ish, certainly not anything authentic or period. The interesting thing about these outfits was that I made them years before I was ever part of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). Hugo award winner Mike Glicksohn, a very good friend, was the officiator.

We wore the costumes in the Balticon 14 masquerade (April 1980), titled them “Deryni Lord and Lady” from Kathryn Kurtz’s series, and they won first place for costumes taken from a book.

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1980 Noreascon, Boston, MA
Sword and Sorcery

Another of my genre costumes, “Sword and Sorcery” look very simple by today’s standards. I have always had a dress rehearsal before the convention and I learned from this one not to stand with my legs apart (just seemed unattractive). Thus the crossed legs in all the photos. I took a black bodysuit and inset sheer stretch fabric down the front and along the arms, which was then edged with sew-on gems and sequins. George’s helmet had started life as a wrecked motorcycle helmet that he added to with fiberglass, then painted and glittered. The big sword was real this time and George twirled it as part of our presentation. We won Best Sword and Sorcery.

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1981 Denvention, Denver, CO
Alien Love

As far as I know this was the first Worldcon where the class system went into effect, and having won numerous prizes by this point, I entered in the Master Class.

“Alien Love” was by far the nudest set of costumes I’ve ever done. Though it looks as though George and I are completely bare, the outfits are based on sheer bodysuits using stretch sheer I’d gotten in LA years before. Because we were so bare, I made over capes, basically for modesty in the halls, but which weren’t shed until we appeared on stage as part of the presentation—first time I’d done a reveal costume and it was very well received. I also snapped up my wings at the end of the presentation to another round of applause; again, the first time I’d done a transformation on stage. The wing motifs were applied to bridal netting, very strong but which disappeared from a few feet away. And by this time I was becoming well known for my large headpieces.

The costumes won First Place Master Division.

Since presenting these costumes, any time I’m asked if I get nervous going on stage or speaking in public I say, “I once stood in front of 3,000 people with barely any clothes on. Nope, not nervous!”

1981 Philcon, Philadelphia, PA
The Foundation Trilogy

I had planned these costumes for years, but had to wait for a convention where Isaac Asimov was in attendance. He was listed as the featured speaker for Philcon 1981. The day of the masquerade, George and I attended his afternoon speech where he talked about his plan to write the fourth Foundation book, setting himself up perfectly for these costumes.

We were supposed to go on last in the masquerade but were informed Asimov was tiring and would probably not stay for the entire show, so we were first instead. George, Danny Gear (son of Marty Gear) and I appeared on stage shrouded in capes, which we flicked back to reveal “The Foundation Trilogy,” George and Danny in corsets and fishnet hose, me in bra, panties, garter belt and fishnets, all with identifying sashes as to which book we represented. We were a hit!

Asimov later described our presentation as part of his article in the July 1982 issue of the Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine.

Though the costumes received only an honorable mention, I was thrilled with Asimov’s reaction. We had pictures taken with him afterwards and George swore the man never looked at my face—his eyes were glued to my push up bra!

1981 equicon/Filmcon, los angeles, CA
Superman

A new costume for Superman from the 1981 Equicon which I didn’t attend but for which I’d entered Fashion Show sketches under the pseudonym Civi Poth in an attempt to determine if it was my name or my designs that were winning. Must have been the designs because all 14 I entered won. Though I’d tried to disguise my artistic style, it was too obviously mine and Karen Schnaubelt soon figured out my duplicity.

The outfit was made by Barbara Willis and worn by Jay Smith. I was gobsmacked recently to learn that Academy award winner make-up artist Ve Neill did Jay’s face! According to Jay, “Ve took an 8x10 of Christopher Reeves as Superman in one hand and my face in the other. Two hours later I was beautiful. I still remember in the shower that night, bar of soap in hand, saying over and over again, ‘Please don’t wash off. Please don’t wash off.’ It did. Sniff.”

1982 chicon, chicago, Il
jherek and the iron orchid

Iron Orchid veiled

Jherek and the Iron Orchid as they first appeared on stage.

George and I had devoured Michael Moorcock’s Dancers at the End of Time series and I decided to make costumes from them. George would be Jherek, of course, in a glitzed out version of late 19th century clothing, and I would be his mother the Iron Orchid. Though I had worn purple costumes previously, I’m pretty sure this was where my serious love affair with purple began. As I was now known for my large headpieces and transforming costumes, this entry had to have both.

The Iron Orchid transformation, pulling the sleeves over themselves to reveal the insides.

The back of the Iron Orchid, before and after the transformation.

My purple velour bodysuit was once again inset with disappearing sheer in the front, lots of hanging beads and rhinestones. The rest of the costume utilized beautiful brocades, mylar and that wonderful glitzy fabric called “sand.” For the tall crown part of the headpiece I softened a large ceiling light panel of nubbly plastic in the oven and shaped it into a cylinder, then surrounded it with fabric-covered cardboard, decorated it with rhinestones, glitz and Christmas balls. George’s costume was total glitz—from the blue waistcoat and pants, gold tissue shirt ruffles and gold top hat to the cane, a hollow plastic tube I had filled with gold glitter and capped at both ends.

George appeared on stage first, twirling his cane, while I stood draped in a semi-sheer purple ombre veil in the background. First transformation: I moved to center front and George whipped the veil off me with his cane. I did a few turns with arms straight out to show off the sleeves, then returned to my original position, dropped my arms and unsnapped the sides of the overgown. As I turned away again, George quickly unsnapped the back of the overgown, it slid off and he handed it to a gopher at the back of the stage. Meanwhile I had continued to turn to face the audience with my arms bent at shoulder level in front of me. As the music started to fanfare, I pulled the sleeves over my arms to reveal their undersides and a completely new undercostume to a crash of music, the second transformation.

Mother later told me that even though she had seen everything in rehearsal, she was still as amazed as the rest of the audience. This was a brutal masquerade with around 90 entries. The Sanders did “Fantasy and Science Fiction,” Karen Schnaubelt and Company did “Pyrogenesis,” Janet Wilson did “The Searcher and the Priest,” Carol Salemi did an amazing centaur. And due to a mix up, we were not judged by the class system. But I was very happy with the Most Beautiful and Contestants’ Choice awards that I received.

Jherek and the Iron Orchid Finale!