Edwardian Ball in San Francisco - Circus and Costumes

Saturday night, my hubby and I got dressed up and went to the Edwardian Ball in San Francisco.  I've heard about this event for years & years and I've never made it before.. it was absolutely delightful (if a bit too crowded).  If I do it again next year, I am getting there much earlier.

But Oh! the costumes!  And the circus acts!!  We managed to find all the people I knew for sure were going, plus bump into a couple more we didn't expect.  It was one of those places, though, where every single person you see looks almost exactly like someone you used to know, or should know, or met once at a party.  Everyone was eye-catching.  In my costume I fit in perfectly, but did not stand out.  I'll get more extreme and wacky next year.. I like to be on the line between fitting in and standing out.  :)

To that end, I spent a huge amount of time shopping in the vendor's hall, and acquired my first bustle.  It LIGHTS UP!!  It's red and gold and poofy and it lights up with little red lights.  It was made by Katherine the Great at Blue Moon Designs .. she had SO much gorgeous stuff.  Actually, everyone had so much gorgeous stuff! 

The whole experience got me ruminating.  Upstairs, amazing and inspiring circus performers.  Downstairs, amazing and inspiring fashionistas.  If I were going to participate in this event next year, would I rather be upstairs?  Or downstairs?

His hat has a hat!

Immediately I answered "upstairs!  on the stage!!"... but as I thought about it more, and truly explored my heart for the answer, the quieter voice inside me whispered, "downstairs.. with the costumers.. watching people try on things I made." 

This is significant.  Of course, I LOVE performing, love being on stage.. but this is the first time that I've presented myself with that kind of choice and felt like I was 51% on the "downstairs" side and just 49% on the "upstairs" side.  I really, REALLY love costumes.  Maybe I feel like after 10 years of being a full-time performer, I'm ready to start making a change? 

This gives me a little hope for the future.  Being a performer, well, has an early retirement age.  I've probably got another 10 years in me, if I'm careful and wear sunscreen and do a lot of yoga.. but not much more than that, at least, for the super active circus stuff.  But if my passion migrates over to costuming.. well, I can do that for the rest of my life.  Until this week it's always felt like an inevitable concession.. eventually I'd "have to give up" performing and "fall back" on sewing.  This week was the first time I've ever made the voluntary choice to choose sewing over performing.