Erin Flores’ winter coat is grey, double-breasted, lined with blue satin, corseted in the back — and handmade.
“I saw a $400 coat that I wanted, so I made something like it. It’s the most useful thing I’ve ever made,” Flores says, as she adjusts the coat’s felted wool flared skirt.
Flores, an administrative assistant in Communications & Outreach at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, has only recently begun making her own clothes.
Her sewing hobby started when she wanted to make her own costumes for Japanese animation and game conventions. In her early 20s, she started attending conventions for tabletop and card games, where thousands of people gather together to play games, sometimes while dressed up as their favorite characters.
“I always liked tabletop games because they force everyone to sit down, in person, together,” says Flores, who also enjoys video games.
“At conventions, I saw other people in beautiful costumes, and I realized I had to learn how to sew,” Flores says. She’s since made costumes based on characters from animated shows and video games.
“Costumes are complicated and stressful,” says Flores. “I make it up as I go along, and sometimes things don’t go quite how I want them to.”
The most complicated costume she’s made thus far is one of Gwendolyn, a protagonist in the video game “Odin Sphere.” The design required her to make a wedding gown with three different layers of crepe skirts.
“I took a wedding gown pattern, then made it harder by altering the bodice,” she says.
Flores curates her everyday clothing with as much attention to detail as she pays to her convention looks. Underneath her handmade coat, she’s wearing a caped jacket with a matching skirt from a Japanese brand called Victorian Maiden. She describes the look as “gender-swapped Sherlock Holmes.”
Her creative streak extends beyond her wardrobe and into the kitchen, where Flores enjoys experimenting with baking. “I never want to do the same thing twice, so even if something is delicious, I rarely make it again,” she says.
Her latest one-of-a-kind creation was for a friend’s birthday. The only instruction he gave her was “no chocolate,” so she whipped up chai latte-flavored cupcakes with honey buttercream frosting.
Flores’s job at the Ford School requires similar creativity, which is part of why she loves it. “I studied graphic design, and I enjoy making some of our ads,” she says.
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She helps coordinate all of the Ford School’s events, working on booking venues, creating and distributing marketing materials and arranging transportation for the many high-profile speakers that the Ford School hosts each year.
Outside of the event sphere, she helps with bookkeeping and general marketing materials. No day is like any other, which Flores appreciates. “I’m always all over the place, and that’s how I function best,” she says.
Steven Levitt, best-selling author of “Freakonomics,” spoke at the Ford School in the fall during its centennial celebration, and Flores says his visit was her best event yet.
“That was a 13-hour day. It was my first experience doing a ticketed event and it overlapped with our centennial reunion — so many big things at once. It was a great challenge.”
