Nora Mai
(1960 - )
Nora Mai has been an active member of the costuming community since 1991, contributing significantly as an organizer and leader. She was a founding member of the St. Louis Costumers Guild (a chapter of the International Costumers Guild), serving as its first president for four years. Over the years, she’s held multiple roles, including Chairman and Programming Director for Costume-Con 16, Treasurer for Costume-Con 25 and and the SLCG (2006–2008). She has been a frequent participant at Costume-Con over the years, including being the editor or co-editor of the Future Fashion Folio several times.
She served as Vice President of the ICG from 2005–2006, stepping in as acting president in the second year when the elected leader resigned for health reasons. She was then elected as ICG President from 2006–2009, during which she worked on bringing the Archives online, oversaw expansion of the Guild by six new chapters, revived the Promotions Committee, and oversaw key initiatives such as establishing a PayPal account for donations and applying for 501(c)(3) status for ICG chapters.
She has been a consistent design contributor to the CC Future Fashion Folio since 1991, ranking 4th in overall submissions. She created a database for the Future Fashion Folio and Show that tracked every design, creator and model at each Costume-Con since the first show in 1983.
She started sewing her own costumes when she was 12 years old, going on to compete in regional and International-level masquerades since 1988. Her body of work encompasses everything from science fiction to fantasy, to historical recreations and interpretations to fashion design.
She is part of the ICG Pat and Peggy Kennedy Archives team responsible for gathering and preserving the photographic and moving images of Convention Costuming. She was responsible for developing the database filing system used by the Archives for inventorying the roughly quarter of a million (and counting) costume photos in the collection.
When Costume-Con 43 was cancelled in 2025, she helped organize and produce a virtual version of the convention’s Single Pattern Competition and Future Fashion Show with Pierre Pettinger and Sandy Pettinger. In 2010, at Costume-Con 28, she and Bruce received the ICG Lifetime Achievement Award for their service to the costuming community.
In 2012, she was presented with the Founders Award by Costume-Con service mark holder, Karen Schnaubelt. It was in recognition of stepping in to upload the official photos to the Costume-Con archives website from 2007 to 2013 when its webmaster was unavailable.
Awards, Honors and GoHships:
- 1998 -- GOH DucKon VII
- 2010 -- ICG Lifetime Lifetime Achievement Award (http://costume.org/wp/icg-lifetime-achievement-award/bruce-and-nora-mai/)
- 2012 -- Nickelberry Award
- Costume-Con Founder's Award (https://www.costume-con.org/costume-con-founders-award/)
- 2013 -- GOH Anime North
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