We were lucky to catch up with Lynsey Loudermilk recently and have shared our conversation below.
Lynsey, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Some of the most interesting parts of our journey emerge from areas where we believe something that most people in our industry do not – do you have something like that?
Social media should be the last to know when a project is finished. Posting about the creative process take up a lot of time. Rather than doing that you could be working. Also telling someone you are going to do something puts a time clock on the work and a person is less likely to finish it. So I like to move in the shadows when it comes to my work. I don’t talk about current projects or new incoming ones. I only say something when its already over. Yes that leaves long gaps in my social media presents. But in doing so I have more time to fine tune my work. Because my designs could fail easily or other people opinions could come into play. Plus all of my clients want to be the first to post about their new cosplay or costume. As they should they brought it. A designer’s words should come last when its finished and not before.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My beginning and introduction into my craft started with an insecurity. I am a plus size women and have been that way most of my life. Buying clothing was always a hard for me. Because even as a kid I had to shop in the adult section. Which isn’t great with looks you can get. So I became aware of my body shape more than I probably should have. As a kid, I didn’t understand that people come in all different shapes and sizes.
I turned away from the world using escapism of cartoons and anime to comfort myself. Just so i wouldn’t have to think about my own negative body image. Still even those shows I watched had tall beautiful women with a perfect figure. I was so jealous of their beautiful flowing dresses. I dreamed of having something I could wear so seamlessly. Looking so effortless like a dream. My mother was lucky enough to be born as 4 or 5 generation seamstress. I am not really sure which generation started it. But it was a homegrown skill that almost every women and some men in my family learned it.
So at 15 years old, tired of my constant asking for alterations for my clothes. She finally set me up on her white and blue brother sewing machine. I would be it last user. She showed me the general setup and then turned me loose. I was terrible like any beginner at anything. I learned through trial and error. But come to find out I am autodactic, its a very nice word for self-starter and determined. I practiced a lot over the years and even now i try to practice at least once a day for about an hour. Because I heard somewhere that if you stop doing something for 3 days you get out of practice. Unsure if it’s true but I worried about it.
What I didn’t know it at the time was other people felt the same way I did about clothing. How it didn’t always fit them right or off sizing. Because fast fashion and vanity sizing was feeding people’s insecurity enough to cause body dysmorphia. People are custom so their clothes have to be custom. I ended breaking into a dying market. Seamstresses are hard to find, even more difficult to find are ones under the age of 60. The market is improving with the spread of the internet, but again its few and far between. So the minor monopoly I created was supporting me through college. Even into my current career working for a production studio that makes films. Which is surprising because I never thought I would get this far. On something I thought was just a hobby. I fell like I am still the same kid with my mother’s sewing machine. I still want to make flowing dresses, but now it extends to other people and their dreams. Even if I can only help a little, it was worth it. I love the feeling of people having their own moment of ‘yes, it fits.’
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I lost a costume contest to someone who later I found out cheated. They used store brought costumes in a craftsmanship competition. I hand made 90% of our costumes and didn’t even place. That’s still a hard pill to swallow. So I turned right around and entered another costume contest solo. And I won but didn’t bring me excitement or joy of any kind. But after that day is when I realized something. Winning didn’t matter to me. It felt so hollow and the anxiety of getting on stage didn’t help either. The costume was what made me happy, not awards. Because as long as I was happy with the out come of my costumes that’s all that really matter. My client opinion was all that mattered. Shiny trophy or not, I didn’t care. I cared about how the costume made me feel and how it made people around me feel. Because nothing will brighten someone’s day more than a little kid running up to you asking if your a real princess? Because of course you are, even if your not a princess and a demon queen from hell. That doesn’t matter to them its real and this moment is real. Because even adults smile and look at me like I am silly. I am silly. A silly adult who still likes to play dress and dream.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
Quality over quality everytime.
I used to have to have new costumes at every convention I went too. Were they any good, not really and my hands suffered some real pain for it. I gave myself arthritis in my hands and back pain from sitting to long. A hard lesson I had to learn. There is nothing wrong with taking time to build things out, making draft, mockups and test pieces. Take the time learn how to do something rather than rush it for convention day. If it fails let it fail. Stress test it if you need too. Pre wash fabric to see if it holds up or test the fibers. My greatest failures is someone else’s grandmaster piece. Which will still bother me but I will let it go. Because not everything is perfect and not everything has to be. This why battle damage and weathering exists to cover mistake. But its important to take the time. Because all nighters armed with a glue gun and a prayer isn’t a pretty story. Just a lot of burn scars and bandaids.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @nightless_kingdom
- Facebook: lynsey loudermilk
- Linkedin: lynsey loudermilk
- Youtube: Nightless_kingsom
- Other: [email protected]
Image Credits
Destroyer X productions photography by Christopher Eastman
Hing photography, model Brian jones
Model Uriah Gripka & Eugenia Gripka
Model Raven Ott