Arkham Asylum Harley Quinn, by A Whites Photography
There are days when this assignment may not be in my best interest. I think this is one of these. I had the opportunity to interview the very talented Candy Keane and now I have a long list of items from her store that despite my efforts to convince myself otherwise, I am pretty sure I cannot live without.
Candy has been in business for a while and her lifelong love of costuming turned her into a cosplay convert and couture designer. Candy is the owner of Three Muses Clothing in Jacksonville, FL. As a Wonder Woman-ophile, I am going to say that her couture version is the best I have seen and her efforts on all things Milla Jovovich are stunningly precise.
To further enhance how wicked cool she is, Candy is also giving all Almost Nerdy readers a special promo code for her site! INORITE?!?! Just use NERDY15 when you check out for 15% off your order! You can find Candy’s blog here http://www.threemusesblog.com/ follow her on Twitter @3musesclothing and “Like” her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/threemusesinspiredclothing as well!
So read on fellow nerds and see just how great she is! Enjoy!
1. Knowing that you are a University of Florida graduate, the proper greeting for me to bestow on you as a Georgia native is, of course “Go Dawgs!”
Your cosplay work is so meticulous; it is hard to believe that you started that after your business. Do you think you could have done cosplay in college without it interfering with regular life?
I suppose I should reply with some sort of gator chomping motion…
I sort of think of myself as always cosplaying, just not having a label to go with it. I’ve always dressed up any chance I got. I won my first costume contest in kindergarten! I still have the Cinderella book I got as the prize. Making costumes and clothes, basically anything crafty was a big part of my childhood. It all laid the foundation for what I do now.
2. In going through your online catalog, I now have a long line of things I NEED. My husband asked me to relay “Thanks a lot Candy!” LOL You are very lucky to get to run a business you are so passionate about. Did your husband ever tell you to slow down or take it easy? Does he have any creative input in your ideas?
Alice and the Mad Hatter, by Jesse Nodels Photography
My husband has always been behind me 100%. Even when I told him I wanted to open a costume store right at the height of the recession. We’ve been together almost 13 years so he knows me pretty well by now, and trusts I know what I’m doing. He’s very ambitious himself, so he understands the drive I have to keep going. He does make a point of making sure we go out and enjoy life a bit as well since I can get totally immersed in work sometimes.
As far as creative input, I often run costume ideas by him. He even makes his own costumes!
Does your husband attend cosplay events with you? What are his favorite types of costumes?
Yes, he does go to the conventions with me and either dresses up or takes photos. We usually try to match when he dresses up but he also does his own thing. His favorite is Lorne from Angel. (the green demon lounge singer) That’s his go-to outfit. He even has a portable microphone so he can sing lounge tunes.
3. Previously you have made a career out of modeling, did you find that cosplay modeling was any different than your standard photo shoot? Do you have a preference for one or the other?
Yes, there is definitely a difference! With modeling, you are usually showing a product or showing the clothing. With cosplay, you are portraying a character. I always research each character to find out how they pose and get a little background info. I actually stopped doing commercial modeling several years ago because I just got bored with it. I needed more of a creative outlet and cosplay modeling was a good way to show and promote my work.
4. Somehow, I always seem to have sewing questions…this is on my list of things to learn and I just haven’t yet. Do you think anyone could learn to make their own costumes?
Yes, sewing is a skill and anyone can learn to follow a pattern. Design, innovation, and creativity are a little harder to come by. I never use a pattern. I try and then end up redrawing the whole thing and making it up as I go along. I approach costume design as more of an artist than a seamstress.
Spanish Rose Dawn, by SolKat Photography
5. You have an amazing variety available on your website, where is the furthest away that you have shipped and what was it? Do you get orders that surprise you?
I have shipped to every corner of the world. I always think it is neat to get orders from random places like Latvia, Croatia, Crete, etc. At least a quarter of my business is international with the most popular outfits being Wonder Woman and Madonna. The places I ship to most are the UK, Australia and Sweden. I always think its funny when I get orders from Taiwan because I’m like, don’t they make everything there already?
6. Was there anything about the convention culture that surprised you? How often do you still make appearances?
I go to 3-5 conventions a year and do tons of smaller local events throughout the year. There’s always an excuse to dress up if you look for it. What draws me to the conventions is the fact that those people are the ones that appreciate the effort you put into your outfit, the quality of the costume and the accurate character portrayal. They respect the hard work it took to get just the right look. The smaller events at bars mostly boil down to “oh look, hot chick in costume” and it doesn’t matter if you spent 5 months or 5 minutes on it.
7. In my experience, people that do not understand cosplay are quite judgmental. I can’t understand attending a football game when its 40 degrees, wearing no shirt, and painted blue, but I am not going to judge a fan from doing what they choose? Why do you think people have distorted perceptions of cosplayers?
Probably because alot of articles and documentaries skew it so they come off looking a little crazy. I’m usually worried how I’ll be portrayed after an interview, especially if I sense the interviewer is trying to lead me in a certain direction which has happened several times. And things can easily be taken out of context. But also, because there are plenty of slightly kooky folks out there as well, and they make for good TV/reading.
8. Many people feel they have to have an alter ego because of being treated badly by people who may know what they do in their free time. Have you ever been treated badly from people outside of cosplay for doing what you love? (reporters, professional clients, acquaintances)?
I always kind of wanted to have an alter-ego, but with a name like Candy Keane, what else could I go with? I think people who know me respect the fact that I turned my love for costuming into a full blown business. There’s always going to be people who just don’t get it and I’ve learned to ignore them for the most part.
9. What is your favorite costume that you have created?
Amazonia Wonder Woman
Every time I make a new one, that’s my favorite! But if I had to pick one that stands out, it would be my Amazonia Wonder Woman, based on the Elseworlds series. I like that one because it is an original design and not an exact replica. I liked the idea of a superhero in Victorian times with a bustled skirt instead of a cape, but I didn’t think the red, white, and blue worked for the time period so I went with a darker maroon, black, and gold theme.
10. What is the most expensive costume?
Alice from Resident Evil: Extinction. I’m horribly picky about getting things just right. The boots alone were $100, then add the wig, jacket, clothing pieces, goggles, boot conchos, bracelets, shemagh, gloves, right and left handed holsters attached to a grommet belt plus airsoft replicas of 2 Colt Double Eagles and a pistol-grip pump-action shotgun. I actually had cheap cap guns the first time I wore the outfit and then was totally embarrassed when people asked to “see what I was packing.” The next time I wore it I upgraded my weapons to something a little more realistic.
11. I noticed you do a ton of Milla Jovovich costumes…was that a conscious decision on your part? I LOVE the Resident Evil and 5th Element you did.
Alice from Resident Evil: Extinction
You are a sharp woman. No one else has mentioned my Milla costume stalking. It all started with the 5th Element. I had done Aeon Flux the year before (the Liquid Television one) and 5th Element came out and everyone kept telling me about this new movie that had a costume I just had to do for Halloween. They were referring to the white bandage outfit, but that one just didn’t look like any fun to wear so I went with the orange suspender outfit. After that Milla just kept doing kickass women characters with cool outfits. I’m sure there’s more to come!
12. As a seamstress, do you feel you obsess over the details? Are you ever dissatisfied and deconstruct something you spent a lot of time on?
I’m terribly obsessive over every detail! But that’s also what makes me a good seamstress. I’ll let small things slide if I’m making it for myself, but I won’t send anything out unless it’s perfect if I’m making it for someone else. I have scrapped entire projects and started over just to get things right. I think probably every seamstress and costumer can relate to that though.
13. What advice would you give novice cosplayers?
Don’t wear it right out of the package! Cheap packaged costumes aren’t all bad – they can be used as great starter pieces. Use them as building blocks for the costume you want. And the glue gun can be your best friend. Even if you can’t sew a stitch, you can usually hot glue an entire costume together! That’s how I made my first few outfits.
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