Congratulations!
This was a wonderful contest, with a ton of amazing entries, and it took me two full days and a lot of angst to choose between them (yes, even though I made some of the decisions weeks in advance).  In the end, though, it came down to the one thing that none of the entrants could predict:  my story characters.  No matter how much I'd love your dress IRL, no matter how elegant or cute or unique it was, could I see it on a character?  None of you were told just who my characters are, so that no one would have an unfair advantage.  That was a random factor, and it played a key role in determining not only which designs won a prize, but which prize(s) they won.

And speaking of the Super Special Awesome Prize... don't forget to read to the bottom of this journal!




Grand Prize Winner
Yinxabell, with her seductive design of golden flames, red gem 'sparks,' a touch of smoke, and a see-through skirt of red lace.  I might not have paid this one too much attention, but that little crown caught my eye, and I did a doubletake.  Unnecessary crown?  Fire theme?  TOTALLY SCANDALOUS?  That's Princess Ambassador Holly!  Unbeknownst to Yinx (or anyone else, even my friends), Holly was the character I was thinking of when I chose the theme for this contest.  I expected to find clothes for a lot of my characters, but I was truly hoping to find something for the daring ambassador.  Yinx filled that need smashingly, and I might have had a silly reaction.

Yinxabell won:
  12 month subscription to dA (or 4k   or $50  )
  journal feature of her work and gallery
  her choice of any poster or print on deviantart
  complete weapon/object/character design or poem/short story by me
  one commission (up to 50 USD) of any dA artist, paid for by me





First Prize Winner
Ninnkigal, with their villainous design of what I can only assume is illegally harvested dragon skin, and crystals grown from the blood and tears of the slain!  Ambassador Holly had a tough negotiation to keep her dress on top, because this stand-out design crystalized and gave horrific life to a dark character whose presence in my stories, until now, has been felt mainly through her ancient logbook.  Her name is the ND Experimenter (:bademoticon: dragcave friends~), and Holly had to concede the Super Special Awesome Prize to keep this First Placer in her... place.

All puns intentional.

NinnKigal won:
  6 month subscription to dA (or 2.4k or $30 )
  journal feature of their work and gallery
  their choice of any poster or print on deviantart





Second Prize Winners
These dresses were ones where I knew, after just a little bit of thought, exactly which of my characters would wear them.  Please join me in congratulating this tier's winners!

Merruschka, with her vintage cocktail dress and [perhaps unintentional] temporal theme!  I originally thought that this dress would do well for an anonymous background character at a time traveler's ball, 1940's theme.  But as I looked closer, I realized that the artist herself had told me the character, by the face and hair she'd drawn with it.  This is Jean!  Jean Perfontaine, French-American psychic of the early 1900's, whose sense of fashion is understated but definitely there.  And as I write this, I remember one more detail of her story and must laugh-- Jean's best friend IS a time traveler, who frequently hosts "time traveler parties" with era themes, which normal people (time travelers being few and far between) are welcome to attend.  So, obviously, this is what Jean wears on 40's Night!

AnisseCandy and RumbyFishy, with their cheongsam-inspired fishtail dress, liberally ornamented with roses, pink pearls, little gold extras, and a feather theme.  I thought at first that this dress was too busy, with at least one-too-many ideas involved, until I looked closer and realized the absolute brilliance in it.  The dress doesn't have too many themes-- it has only one!  Wings among cloud-like scalloping fly high above the curling branches and rigid roots of blossoming roses, as well as the tiny bugs which pollinate them.  Those roots stretch down into the rippling, oyster-filled waters, fallen feathers floating just below the surface.  The water stretches ever deeper and farther, sparkling with natural treasures.  The dress is an ecosystem!  And when I saw the feathers, the roses, and the backless nature of it, I immediately thought of EulaliaDanae's Ruby and her fantasy-world counterpart, Rose.  I'm not sure whether Ruby or Rose will ultimately wear this dress-- or whether they'll fight over it-- but it's definitely going to happen.

Tazzilynumeral, with her hand-murdering summer gown of vines, flowers, lace, and wide array of colors.  I initially dismissed this dress as having an unworkable bodice and not being cohesive enough, but one of the things about judging a black-and-white entry is that it takes more imagination, more effort and time, to see how the design might work.  After giving it that extra time and thought, I realized that the bodice was much more clever than I was giving credit for-- or it could be, and in the absence of proof otherwise, I have to assume that the designer meant for this to be as awesome as possible!  I briefly considered giving the dress to a character called Spring Lady (divine avatar of the power of second chances), but with the vine theme, who was I kidding-- this dress always belonged to Ivy, AKA Princess Punchout, folk hero soldier and sister of Grand Prize-wearing Holly.  Ivy thinks it's the most ridiculous thing she's ever been forced to wear.  But then, she thinks that about every new thing she's forced to wear "to impress the silly dignitaries."

Merruschka, Anisse and Rumbl3 jointly, and Tazzily won:
  3 month subscription to dA (or 1.2k or $15 )


Merruschka's:           Anisse&Rumbl3's:          Tazzily's: <da:thumb id="552090573"/>



Third Prize Winners
These dresses were ones where I did not know for sure which character would wear them, but I knew they would get used sooner or later.  Please don't hold back your praise for this tier's winners!

AdoptableMakerz, with her sunrise side-slit dress and wave of stars.  My current thought is that this lovely, unorthodox dress might be worn (bare feet and all) by one of my first non-fan OCs (and lingering Mary Sue) Cass, but that's based entirely on the pose of the mannequin, so I don't really know yet.

djeffers, with his backless, straight-neck bodice, sweep-train mullet skirt, and an unusual mix of bright red with monochrome stripes.  I'm not the only one who thinks of poppy flowers when they see this dress!  My current thought is that Pilot Scout Twygal might be convinced to try it on by her (much more fashionable) Earth friends... but that's not doing this dress any justice, because it's only the distant, minor resemblance to a Sailor Moon Crystal outfit that gets me thinking about Twygal.  Anyone who's seen the new SM anime knows what I'm talking about, and my old SMOCT friends know the rest... But this is the worst possible use of a beautiful dress, so I'm going to wait until a more fitting character pokes my brain.

EulaliaDanae, returning winner of the Blue Medieval Dress Contest years ago and a dear friend of mine, with her complex and convention-defying outfit that you should all go look at yourselves, because I don't actually know the right words to describe it!  ED claims that this dress reminds her of an airline stewardess.  Let me counter that-- if that's a stewardess, it's for a fancy spaceline in the far future.  Presumably, part of her job is serving caviar and Martian wine to high-rollers watching space jockeys race, and then reporting their conversations to people like Pendari.  There are probably many stewardesses and stewards, and I bet they all have the same outfit.  And hairstyle.  And similar faces and builds, because what's a ridiculously fancy and expensive space cruise without deep political questions about why the rich are spending money on ludicrously homogenous servants and gambling instead of, say, working to reduce crime and space piracy?

Makerz, Dylan, and ED won:
  1 month subscription to dA (or 400 or $5 )


Makerz': <da:thumb id="550673437"/>          Dylan's:           ED's:

Mature Content

misuuri, with her monk-like side-slit sari and amber belts.  The initial version had only the bodice belt and the larger hip belt, which is the version which won; Misuuri had a file-save accident and lost the original, but I've asked her to recreate it as best she can She got it back to the original version, so it can be used to draw... I'm not sure yet!  But I love the look of it, and am now playing with the idea that Mirror (a world where Elvis was the king of the Roc kingdom and sailors consider it bad luck to have a man on board) might very well have a version of Buddhist monastics living in the hot, humid climates where this sort of breezy garb might be very comfortable.

RevesDrome, with her open-hipped Xena skirt, ribboned corset, and bolero jacket.  I've never seen anything like that skirt!  And while I'm not sure the accessories are a good idea, they are things anyone might casually add to their favorite outfit... the skirt and bodice are the important parts, and they go very well together.  I don't have a specific character in mind, but I do know that they will be from the same child gang as Rasfta, whose members often display their hip tattoos, even as adults.

silverheart-nine, with their ribbon-strewn, asymmetrical, super-puffy prom dress.  I was having a lot of trouble judging this one (re: TWO DAYS OF JUDGING), because there was another dress with equal potential, until at last I consulted my dear friend callyanncreates.  My friend is in the middle of storyboarding her first anime project, and she gave me a new way to look at the competing dresses:  "If you had to draw each dress 500 times, which would fatigue you first?"  I heard this as "Choose the one that's more fun to draw, and easier when you're in a hurry."  The answer, hands-down, is the one that looks like a dyed cloud.  I don't know who wears it yet, but now I really want to draw this cloud!  Silverheart had her wisdom teeth removed yesterday and is probably in pain.  Go wish her well, and give her love!

Misuuri, Reves, and Silverheart won:
  1 month subscription to dA (or 400 or $5 )


Misuuri's:           Reves':           Silverheart's:


dodobirdsong, with their scale-patterned bodice, black lace, and hanging scarves on a wraparound hot-weather dress.  One person remarked that it looks koi-inspired, but I had a different concern while judging-- how does that skirt work?  I immediately thought that Unhae Santini would wear it, but I was concerned that the bodice and skirt might not be physically connected, which would disqualify the design.  I also wondered if was like some unfortunate dresses I've worn personally, which look great but have horribly uncomfortable, unintuitive sewing hack jobs to make them work or to use less cloth.  But after a lot of trial and error with a blanket and my imagination, I think I figured it out.  What I really want now is to draw the backside of this, and a sequence of someone putting it on, just to show what I figured out!  And just maybe, someday, we'll get to see Unhae wearing it, in one of her less-assassin-y, more-diplomatic moments.  Or maybe someone else.

UmbrellaScylla, with their bright butterfly garden of satin and lace.  I have not the faintest idea who would wear this, or why, or when, or in what story or world; but I'm a sucker for butterflies, and it just looks so cool!

Whim-N-Wonder, with her unique mix of traditional Chinese and 1950's American cut and themes.  I did not have a character in mind for this, and I never will-- but this entire ensemble, including the hair and the cigarette, are going to make the best scene-setting partially-lit-silhouette ever.  Thank you.

Dodo, Umbrella, and Whim won:
  1 month subscription to dA (or 400 or $5 )


Dodo's:           Umbrella's:           Whim's:



Honorable Mentions
Several people entered more than one design, and some of them competed against themselves!  These are the designs that only DIDN'T win because I chose a different piece from the same artist.

Merruschka's frilly pink party dress is one which, if I went to parties or wore pink (or wore dresses), I would want to own myself in real life.  But I don't own it, I would never wear it if I did, and characters are more important than my whims-- I chose to put Jean in a cocktail dress instead.

misuuri's Black Forest cherry cake dress, oh jeez, you have no idea how difficult it was to choose between that and the Buddist monk sari (re: TWO DAYS OF JUDGING).  But in the end, I came up with the idea for Mirror monastics before I thought of something or someone for the cake, so I must tearfully give the design back to its creator.

Tazzilynumeral's dress designs were a frightful trial to choose between (re: TWO DAYS OF JUDGING).  I wanted so badly to choose the mixed media one with the puffed collar!  No one has done a mixed media entry for my contests before.  But I had to admit that the design itself was not as good as the others, and I had difficulty seeing it on a hypothetical person.  The superheroine dress, which I'm dubbing Spark Of The Broken Heart, reminds me very strongly of my friend's teen superheroine, Spark, so much so that I really, really wanted to claim this design and use it to create a tribute character in one of my own superpowered universes.  It's still something I'd like to do, but after chatting with Tazzily, I realized that her fresh idea for a superheroine was simply better than my idea for a tribute.  Plus, a true tribute should be from the heart and entirely my own work.  The medieval red dress was a close contender because I was hoping for more Holly clothing and originally had medieval themes in mind for her, but something bothered me about those very short sleeves, and I couldn't see her wearing it as readily as Ivy would wear the vine-and-flowers dress.  So in the end, Ivy won.  Just like that time with the bullies and the baker.  And the time with the boys-only fight club.  And that time she helped her cousin win a war.  But not that time with the baby dragon.  She pretends that one didn't happen.

   <da:thumb id="552622129"/> <da:thumb id="552090481"/> <da:thumb id="552627505"/>





SUPER SPECIAL AWESOME PRIZE
This prize is not guaranteed to be given out.  To win it, an entry must both win a normal prize and stand out as different and fascinating, unique to the contest.  In the Blue Medieval Dress contest, that was a dress that didn't stay in Europe.  In this contest, it goes to our old friend the First Prize Winner, whose dragonhide medley and crystal crown of wickedness are utterly different from the cloth, lace, modest jewelry, and ribbons comprising the rest of the entries.  That's doubled by the style of the dress, which takes a hard left turn away from real-world fashion and dives straight into the realm of video game and high fantasy villains, who have, er, never been known for wearing practical things.  Let's have another look at that outfit, shall we?


As an extra for the SSA Prize winner, they get to see their design used immediately, by artists a whole lot better than me, in a full scene illustration.  Background, lighting, dynamic angles, the works.  My original idea was to host an illustration contest for this, but I heard a lot of crickets when I announced that... so I may skip the contest step and go directly to commission.  The outfit designer (Ninnkigal) and I will both be linked from the artist(s)'s finished work(s).





Everyone who took part in this contest, thank you!  I had so much fun, and I hope you did, too. <3
The next contest will run January 1 - March 10, and the theme will be Green Menswear.  Mark your calendars, and tell your friends!