Sign In / Register
Three creative women from the Hibiscus Coast recently returned from a lively weekend in Rotorua, where they attended the annual Costumiers’ NZ Fantasy Masquerade Ball, an event that draws hundreds of costume enthusiasts from around the country and offshore.
Ōrewa College teaching assistant Louise Sill, design teacher Deb Thearle, and geotechnical engineer Chrissie Peterson spent months preparing their costumes for the event, which celebrates imagination, character building, and the joy of dressing up.
For Louise, dressing up has been a lifelong love. She said she always enjoyed themed parties and fancy dress as a child and continued to embrace costumes through adulthood. It wasn’t until she saw Deb in steampunk attire, though, that she felt inspired to take it further. Her character is crystal-loving steampunk rogue, land lets her express a different side of herself, even creating a character, she says.
“It’s adult dress-up, but done extremely well,” Louise says. She took pride in contributing more to her costume this year, adding embellishments, sewing on feathers, and creating her own hat. As a former television and film hairdresser, she enjoys crafting full looks with makeup and hair. “As a 55-year-old woman on the larger side, just being myself, non-apologetic… it’s a wonderful way to celebrate yourself.”
Deb, who teaches design technology at Ōrewa College, has a professional background in film and theatre costume design in the UK and Australia. She brings her expertise into the classroom and recently ran a cosplay course for Year 10 students. She said watching students blend their alter egos with costume was “amazing,” saying that the costuming scene gives people permission to be themselves in a non-judgmental space.
“What I love about the whole scene is the empowerment that people get from costume,” Deb says. “It allows the world to look at them differently.” She believes costuming supports sustainability too, by teaching people to adapt and customise clothing instead of buying new.
Stanmore Bay resident Chrissie Peterson, a self-described introvert, said cosplay helped her find confidence and connect with others. “If I go in costume as a character, I’m not me. I can step out of myself,” she says.
Her journey began about eight years ago with a costume for Armageddon Expo. Since then, she’s expanded her skills by repurposing second-hand items and building on them to create intricate outfits.
For this year’s ball, Chrissie dressed as the Nine-Tailed Fox from the Korean drama Tale of the Nine Tailed. “Getting the fabric is the challenge,” she says, “and trying to work out how to connect it.” But she finds that the costuming community is very supportive.
“If you don’t know how to do something, you just reach out, and someone will turn around and say, ‘You do it like this!’”
The trio agree that costuming is about more than clothes, it’s about community, creativity, and stepping into a version of yourself you may not get to express every day. Whether drawing on professional skills, lifelong passions, or new-found courage, they each returned from the ball inspired and already thinking about their next project.
The costumiers ball is taking a break for 2026 and will be back in 2027.
Details at https://cnzwildadventures.com
