(4-6pm PT, 7-9pm ET) SiW Board members meet via Zoom to discuss chapter business and plan activities. Members are invited to join (contact the chapter Secretary secretary@siwcostumers.org to receive a link). A summary is sent to members after each meeting.

(4-6pm PT, 7-9pm ET) Meet with your fellow SiW members via Zoom. Each meeting will start with chapter reports, announcements, upcoming events, a show-and-tell, and then features a program topic for the month. Check the Silicon Web Events calendar for detailed meeting agendas. Members receive a link via email prior to each meeting (contact the chapter Secretary secretary@siwcostumers.org if you have not received one.)

Hugo Award nominated photographer Richard Man will talk about his project, "WorldBuilders of Science Fiction and Fantasy." Starting in 2015, Richard set out to photograph SF&F genre creators: writers, artists, occasionally editors, etc, Using a traditional large-format 4"x5" film camera. This painstaking photography process captures the essence of the person in front of the camera; a picture that tells a thousand-word story. Richard has also been photographing portraits of costumers with a similar setup and intent, and he will also discuss that project during his talk. See the August 2023 issue of VC for details

Delicate and luminous beetle wings have been used for embellishing costumes and accessories for at least 150 years. J. Leia Lima Baum, a fashion consultant whose interests are equally divided between the past, present, and future of fashion, offers a pictorial overview of beetle wings throughout history in various cultures, followed by the Indian tradition of metalwork embroidery and its subsequent spread worldwide, with a live demo of techniques. See the August 2023 issue of VC for details

The International Costumers' Guild's Pat and Peggy Kennedy Memorial Archives is the world's largest collection of photographs, video and paper ephemera records of the costuming art in relation to Science Fiction conventions. In this webinar, the Archives team will talk about their work preserving the history of costuming, including some recent project, their processes, the equipment and software they use, and how the digital and physical collection is stored. This is your chance for an inside look at the ICG Archives and what it does. See the August 2023 issue of VC for details

Over 250 Civil War soldiers were actually women disguised as men. The number is so vague because the historical record is incomplete due to these heroines' amazing ability to pull off their disguises. In her first full-length documentary, Reenactress, director and re-enactor J.R. Hardman explores the history of women warriors who fought bravely in the service of their countries during the Civil War, both Confederate and Union. In this webinar, J.R. will discuss how she was inspired to make the documentary and talk about the process of bringing these historical figures to life through reenactment. See the August 2023 issue of VC for details

Costume designer Edith Head is legendary in the world of costume design, winning a record eight Academy Awards for Best Costume Design between 1949 and 1973. With her one-woman show, "A Conversation with Edith Head,"" actress Susan Claassen created a highly-acclaimed theatrical performance based upon the legendary Hollywood costume designer that has toured around the world. In this webinar, Susan will talk about the show, and how she discovered her strong physical resemblance to Edith Head and realized that there was a compelling story to be told. She will also discuss her extensive research to gain deeper insight into the woman behind the legend, as well as her career as an actress and as the Managing Artistic Director of the Invisible Theatre in Tucson, Arizona. See the November 2023 issue of VC for details

Following Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in 1798, images of Egyptian archaeological sites and artifacts were widely distributed through the illustrated press and the wildly popular Description de l'Égypte series of publications. The mania for all things ancient Egyptian led to interpretations of its culture and iconography in fashion, art, music, and literature in wildly varying degrees of authenticity; the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 launched a later wave of Egyptomania. Leslie L. Johnston will discuss how the illustrated and popular press helped create the Egyptomania craze in popular culture, and show images of clothing, architecture, art, and music influenced by ancient Egypt from the 1790s through to the 1920s.

It's only natural to strive for "screen accuracy" when building cosplays. But what if you were told that "screen accuracy" is a myth, and a shortcut to frustration and bankruptcy? Johanna Mead will provide examples of how a costume can look completely different when it's off-screen and why. Learn from a cosplayer with 25+ years' experience about where you can most effectively expend your resources striving to duplicate the details, and when it's okay to compromise.