| Title: | Masquerade: The Magazine of Science Fiction Costuming |
| Publisher: | Once in a Blue Moon |
| First Issue: | 1980 |
| Number of Issues | 1 |
| Years | 1980 |
| Country / language | English |
Details
It began, like so many other fannish traditions, with Forry Ackerman, who showed up at the very first Woerldcon back in 1939 dressed in a futuristic outfit. Fandom took the concept of a Worldcon masquerade to heart, and by the late 1950s the costume ball (it wain’t a rigid competition back then) was the biggest crowd attraction of the convention, featuring such well-remembered costumed stalwarts as Karen An- derson, Olga Ley, and a seemingly endless series of BEMs created by Stu Hoffman. Soon Jon and Joni Stopa and Bruce Pelz joined the annual parade of masqueraders, the bands and dancing were left behind, and the era of the elegant and elaborate costumes had arrived. This magazine is a child of that era,
It was at NorthAmericon in Louisville that I suggested the possibility of a costumer’s APA to Ann Chancellor and Sandra Miesel, who both promptly embraced the idea. But after giving the matter some thought, I finally decided that an APA simply wouldn’t work at this time: first, because we would not be able to reproduce photographs; and second, because most costume enthusiasts are unwilling to talk about their current or future costumes. Still, no publication had ever been devoted to this particular subject, and there was and is a growing masquerade fandom, so I finally decided to edit an APA of One: MASQUERADE. Each contributor was asked to dis- cuss all prior costumes-sources, materials, problems, awards, etc.-and a number of them also volunteered articles of a more general nature.
Link
Masquerade #1 (eBay)