The Joe Linsner Labor Day Corsethon

by Darius Washington

The 2004 edition of the Dragon*Con Dawn Look-Alike Contest saw a variety of aspects of the character. Fifty-seven entries displayed elements of the Dawn character before a panel of judges including 2003 Dawn Contest winner Valerie Potter, film actor Ernie Hudson, comic inker Amy Hopkins, and Dawn creator, Joseph Michael Linsner.

Hosts Sandra Taylor and Peter Jurasik kept the crowd entertained.

Autumn Twilight won Best Original. Calling her version “Death of an Ostrich,” her costume used black and blue feathers on a black leather corset. She went this route because “I noticed Dawn had never worn Feathers before.”

Other impressive entries included the elaborate Mother of Dawn Troupe, which had a costumer with wings so big they hid another Dawn cosplayer behind them. This group won Best Theatrical Presentation, not to be confused with Most Outrageous which went to the Dawn of the Ages group consisting of three ladies representing Dawn as a child, adult female, and a cantankerous senior citizen on a walker.

Jessie Marius, whose red outfit with sunglasses and spikes was evocative of the statue of liberty, was awarded Best Adaptation.

Lisa Randall earned Third Place. She wore a purple top with a black, leather corset, white stockings, and small white wings.

Amanda (Ed. Note: last name unknown) won Second Place with her original interpretation of the aspect of Kali, the goddess of death and rebirth. Her costume had four extra arm extensions and won a huge reaction from the audience as well as original art by Joe Linsner.

However, the night belonged to Sarah Falls, who wore a leather centerpiece with impressive red & black feathered wings. Accentuated with skulls drawn on her legs, so that they wouldn’t be distorted by pantyhose, she created her costume because she had a black death mask and wanted to have an outfit to go with it. It took her two days to assemble her costume.