The Secret Judges Walking Comic-Con 2026: Inside the Costume Designers Guild's Blue Rosette Awards
While cosplayers line up for the Masquerade stage, working Hollywood costume designers are quietly roaming the San Diego show floor handing out their own honor: a blue rosette from the Costume Designers Guild.
Key takeaways
- The Costume Designers Guild (IATSE Local 892) is running its own booth and panel schedule at San Diego Comic-Con 2026, July 23 through 26.
- Its Hall Costume Awards send working professionals onto the show floor to hand fans a blue rosette, a separate honor from the official Masquerade competition.
- Ten credited film and TV costume designers, from Foundation to The Boys to Clueless, are hosting free portfolio talks at the Guild's booth all four days.
- Thursday's panel on Sony's Spider-Noir universe puts a spotlight on Nicolas Cage's fedora-and-trench-coat superhero look, a build any Halloween shopper can copy this fall.
Figures pulled from the Costume Designers Guild's official Comic-Con 2026 event schedule and Spider-Noir's Prime Video release details.
Comic-Con's quietest costume competition
Everybody knows about the Comic-Con Masquerade, the evening stage show where cosplayers compete for trophies in front of a packed ballroom. Fewer people know that a second, much quieter honor is being handed out all over the convention floor at the same time, and it comes straight from the people who design costumes for a living.
The Costume Designers Guild, IATSE Local 892, is back at San Diego Comic-Con 2026 running its own booth (number 4018) for the full four-day run, July 23 through 26, with backing from Sony Pictures Studio. The Guild represents the costume designers, assistant designers, illustrators and concept artists who build the wardrobes for major film and television productions, and its Comic-Con presence has grown into one of the more overlooked corners of the show.
Blue rosettes from people who actually do this for a living
The centerpiece of the Guild's floor presence is its Hall Costume Award program. Instead of a single judged stage show, working Guild members walk the aisles throughout the weekend looking for standout amateur costuming wherever they find it, in line for panels, in the exhibit hall, anywhere fans are dressed up. When they spot something exceptional, the wearer gets a blue rosette on the spot and a shot at being featured on the Guild's own social channels.
It is a different animal from the formal Masquerade competition, which the Guild also supports by presenting its own best-costume honor at that show (a trophy plus a gift certificate to the Los Angeles fabric house International Silks and Woolens). The Hall Costume Awards reward the fan wandering the floor who never planned to step on a stage at all, which is arguably a better match for how most people actually cosplay.
The designers behind Foundation, The Boys and Clueless are taking questions
Beyond the judging, the booth doubles as a rotating meet-and-greet. Across the four days, ten credited costume designers and concept artists are scheduled for booth sessions, portfolio reviews and character discussions open to any badge holder who wanders by. The lineup spans Laura L. Brody (associate designer, Interview with the Vampire), Elissa Alcala (Foundation), Ariyela Wald-Cohain and Neysa Bove, Jennifer Davis-Chen (concept artist, Titans), Laura Jean Shannon (The Boys, Murderbot), Antoinette Messam and Gina Dedomenico, Samantha Kuester, and Mona May, the designer who originated Clueless' plaid-and-knee-sock look decades ago and still talks shop with fans about it.
For anyone building a costume for next year's con circuit or just wanting a straight answer on how a professional would solve a fabric or silhouette problem, that kind of free access is rare outside a classroom.
Thursday's spotlight panel points straight at Halloween
The Guild's headline session this year is titled simply "A Web of Design," and it runs Thursday from 3 to 4 p.m., turning its attention to the wardrobe choices behind Spider-Noir, the Prime Video series starring Nicolas Cage that premiered this past May. The character's look leans on a fedora, tinted goggles, a trench coat and a black webbed mask over a 1930s gangster-city backdrop, a design pulled almost directly off the page from the animated Spider-Verse films.
It is also, not coincidentally, a shockingly easy silhouette to build at home. Strip away the web pattern and you basically have a noir detective in a mask, which is exactly the kind of layered, mostly-thrifted build that tends to age well from now through Halloween night.
7 guild-spotlighted looks worth building for Halloween
You don't need a badge to borrow the silhouettes the professionals are talking about this week. Here are the looks tied to this year's Comic-Con costume-design lineup that translate cleanly into a Halloween build.
- Spider-Noir (Nicolas Cage, Prime Video): Fedora, trench coat, tinted goggles and a black webbed mask, mostly buildable from thrifted menswear.
- The Boys' Starlight: Silver cape and stylized bodysuit, one of costume designer Laura Jean Shannon's credits highlighted at the booth.
- Foundation's imperial robes: High-collar, structured sci-fi robes from Elissa Alcala's design work on the Apple TV series.
- Clueless' Cher Horowitz: Plaid mini-set and knee socks, the 90s look Mona May originated and still discusses with fans.
- Interview with the Vampire's gothic tailoring: Victorian-cut coats and cravats via associate designer Laura L. Brody.
- Titans' street-level armor: Matte tactical pieces per concept artist Jennifer Davis-Chen's booth sessions.
- Murderbot's security-unit look: Modular, utilitarian armor plating, another Laura Jean Shannon credit on this year's schedule.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Costume Designers Guild doing at Comic-Con 2026?
IATSE Local 892's Costume Designers Guild is running booth 4018 for all four days of San Diego Comic-Con 2026, July 23 through 26, with panels, designer meet-and-greets and its own Hall Costume Award program.
What's the difference between the Hall Costume Awards and the Masquerade?
The Masquerade is the formal, judged stage competition. The Hall Costume Awards are separate: working Guild members walk the convention floor all weekend and hand a blue rosette to standout costumes wherever they find them, no stage required.
What is the 'Web of Design' panel about?
It's a Thursday afternoon session focused on the costume design behind Sony's Spider-Noir, the Nicolas Cage led Prime Video series, covering how the show's noir superhero look came together.
Is Spider-Noir a good costume to try this Halloween?
Yes. The look mostly comes down to a fedora, trench coat, tinted goggles and a webbed half-mask, which layers well over pieces you likely already have or can find secondhand.
Sources
- CDG at Comic-Con — Costume Designers Guild, IATSE Local 892
- Nicolas Cage's Spider-Man Noir Costume First Look Revealed In Set Photos — Screen Rant