The International Costumers’ Guild has an anniversary in 2024. Which anniversary is part of the story behind the ICG’s founding. Here is a brief summary of how the ICG came to be, and some of the milestones that lead up to it.
In November 1983, a group of costumers met at Marty Gear’s house to plan Costume-Con 3 after receiving permission from Kelly Turner and Karen Schnaubelt (then Kelly’s wife). Gear, a prominent East coast costumer and masquerade MC, was serving as the Chair of Costume-Con 3, slated to take place in Columbia, Maryland in 1985. In the first issue of the GCFCG newsletter, published in mid-1984, Gear recounted:
“Somewhere in the middle of the discussion, someone suggests that we form not just a group to put on Costume-Con 3, but an ongoing group of people who are interested in all aspects of costuming and who are willing to share their knowledge and enthusiasm with others. Out of this discussion and several more was born The Greater Columbia Fantasy Costumer’s Guild, and the response from costumers and ‘interested parties’ all over has been most gratifying.”
Gear explained that “Columbia” was not only the name of the city in Maryland where the group met, but also the original name proposed for this country. “Greater Columbia” indicated that they were not just a local club, but welcomed members from all over (including Canada). “Costumers”‘ was obvious, and “Guild” was because the group hoped to promote standards and possible rules for use by others as well as information and education.
Although “Fantasy” was perhaps somewhat misleading, as members were also interested in accurate historical and ethnic costuming, Gear said that it was a “tip of the hat” to the Fantasy Costumer’s Guild of San Diego, a “paper” organization that was formed several years earlier to put on Costume-Con 1, which is how this whole thing started.
The group held its first official meeting in January 1984. Only a handful of people attended, but they began to lay the organizational foundations for the Guild. The members approved the By-Laws in February 1984 and elected officers: Marty Gear as President; Bobby Gear as Vice President; Dorsey Flynn as Treasurer; Sue Abramovitz as Corresponding Secretary; and Pat Hammer as Recording Secretary.
Gear filed for incorporation in Maryland that month. They were approved and received their federal identification number as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in April 1984. By May, the GCFCG had 33 active members and five associate members in California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York , Pennsylvania, and Virginia, and Ontario, Canada.
Groups of costumers in various geographic areas soon began to form chapters of the GCFCG. Costumers Guild West (The California Costumers’ Mafia) in California, and the New Jersey – New York Costumers’ Guild (the Sick Pups) were both launched within a few months of Costume-Con 3. These chapters were known collectively as the GCFCG. The GCFCG also served as a chapter for those in Maryland and surrounding areas. To support the organization, a portion of the dues that each chapter member paid went to the parent group to cover costs such as publishing the newsletter, running Costume-Con 3, and general operations.
By late 1985, the GCFCG had grown to about 250 members in four chapters spread out across the country, and there was serious consideration of changing the name of the parent organization to better represent the expanding membership and avoid confusion with the chapter of the same name. One of the suggestions was the International Costumers’ Guild.
Creating a new umbrella organization became imperative when the IRS questioned the GCFCG’s non-profit status because it had combined the finances from running Costume-Con 3 with the membership income from the chapters. It took several years to untangle the finances. The ICG took on its present role as umbrella organization in early 1987, with the GCFCG becoming the founding chapter, still a 501(c)(3) in its own right. The GCFCG served Maryland and surrounding areas until its dissolution in 2024.
In the summer of 1987, the ICG had seven chapters as reported in the first issue of Costumer’s Quarterly, a “New and Revised newsletter for all members of the International Costumers’ Guild” to replace the GCFCG newsletter. CQ adopted a magazine format and included mostly long-form costuming articles, as well as some news about the ICG and its chapters, though not a list of its officers.
Note: Back issues of “Costumer’s Quarterly” are available in PDF format on the ICG website. Special thanks to Kathe Gust for months of work locating and scanning issues, and indexing content, to create this amazing archive of costuming know-how and ICG history. Thanks also to Carl Coling, Byron Connell, Pierre Pettinger, and Trudi Moe Roser for making personal copies of print issues available.
Even though the ICG had formed as a successor umbrella organization to GCFCG, it had not incorporated itself or become a 501(c)3 non-profit. That happened 1989 when the then ICG Treasurer became concerned that she might be held personally liable for the income of the organization. As a result, the ICG filed articles of incorporation in Maryland on November 28, 1989. On March 27, 1992, the ICG qualified as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. These records are available on the ICG website.
The story of the ICG and its founding includes several significant milestones:
Nov. 1983: First meeting that lead to the formation of the Greater Columbia Costumers’ Guild (GCFCG)
Feb. 1984: Adoption of the GCFCG By-Laws
Apr. 1984: Incorporation of the GCFCG in the state of Maryland and approval as a 501(c)(3) non-profit
Early 1987: The ICG became the successor to GCFCG as the umbrella organization
Nov. 1989: Incorporation of the ICG in the state of Maryland
Mar. 1992: Approval of the ICG as a 501(c)(3) non-profit
I suggest that the ICG celebrate two milestones in 2024: the 40th anniversary of the formation and incorporation of the GCFCG as the founding chapter in early 1984, and the 35th anniversary of the incorporation of the ICG in late 1989.
Many thanks to Betsy Marks for her invaluable assistance in providing archival material and institutional memory for this article. Betsy is the Costume-Con Archivist. She has been involved with the GCFCG and the ICG since nearly the beginning, as GCFCG President in the years leading up to Costume-Con 15, and as Corresponding Secretary and then Treasurer of the new ICG umbrella organization after the transition. She is a longtime member of the ICG’s Board of Directors for the GCFCG, NJ-NYCG, and Silicon Web chapters, and was the founding editor of the ICG Newsletter, which followed Costumers’ Quarterly. Thanks for the memories!
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