Furnal Equinox Apparel Guidelines
Last updated: September 26th, 2023
Furnal Equinox offers an environment which allows attendees to dress themselves in a comfortable and expressive manner. This apparel takes many forms ranging from everyday clothes, fursuits, to alternative apparel.
Overview
As a general guideline, attendees must be clothed and behave in such a manner that sufficiently complies with applicable laws, and does not bring the convention or venue into disrepute.
Furnal Equinox requests that attendees be discreet with their apparel (fursuits, collars, ears, harnesses, etc) outside of convention hours and in any hotel common spaces.
While these guidelines aim to be comprehensive they are not exhaustive and are subject to change.
Required At All Times
- Attendees must maintain a minimum level of body coverage (t-shirt and shorts, or equivalent);
Prohibited
- Any clothing and/or accessories that overly accentuate, deliberately draw attention to or reveal genitalia;
- Any items that will unduly compromise the mobility or safety of yourself or others such as;
- ‘In use’ restraints (the wearer is bound or restrained)
- Chains (this includes Choke Chains)
- Anything that can restrict breathing (e.g. gags)
- Straightjackets
- Fistmitts
- Locks which inhibit normal movement or easy removal of items in the event of an emergency.
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Any logos, symbols, flags, or imagery of any kind that is, or appears to be, intended to provoke or spread hate;
- Any apparel that resembles or gives the appearance of military or law enforcement;
- Any culturally appropriated attire, props, fursuits or badges, including but not limited to those that depict racial stereotypes.
After Hours
From 9pm until the con space closes, guidelines relax a little to allow the following alternative apparel to be worn in convention space.
- Bodysuits (Non-fursuit such as spandex/rubber, and must be opaque)
- Harnesses
Always Permitted
The following attire is considered appropriate at all hours of the convention:
- Collars
- Nylon ‘dogsled style’ harnesses
- Cuffs (cannot be used to bind a person)
- Leashes (must be unsecured or held by the wearer only; cannot be dragging on the ground)
- Spandex Costumes (e.g. Spiderman/Deadpool)
- Pup/Pony hoods
General
Furnal Equinox reserves the right, at any time and for any reason, to request an attendee change their attire. Items may also be removed in the event of a medical emergency. Attendees accept all responsibility for personal injury, liability, and property damage that results from their attire/costume choice.
Attendees are encouraged to have a change of clothes (which are appropriate for all hours) available to them within the hotel and/or convention space.
Furnal Equinox also reserves the right to approve/deny items at any time (e.g. items approved based on artistic merit). This approval may only come from Nightingales staff or a Director.
Rulings on cultural appropriation shall be done at the director level by no fewer than three directors.
Please note that bringing alternative attire into spaces such as the hotel lobby, pool, hotel restaurants, bars or other public spaces may result in the hotel taking action and asking the attendee to change into appropriate attire, leave the premises, or ban the attendee from the premises.
We would also like to remind attendees that they will be asked to remove any non-religious headwear when being asked to present their photo ID. It is also considered inappropriate to wear fursuit heads, masks, or any non-religious headwear that covers the entire head and face, or heavily obscures the face, when being served or waited upon in places such as the hotel front desk, information kiosks, corner stores, and non-hotel restaurants and bars.
As an additional reminder, we encourage people to be aware that costume masks, such as non-religious and non-medical masks, that cover the wearer’s full face (e.g. fursuit heads) may not be permitted in public spaces like the TTC and Go transit systems.
If you choose to wear inappropriate apparel within conspace (before acceptable hours or if your apparel does not meet our standards), you will be informed of the policy, asked to confirm your understanding, and escorted to a suitable location to change into appropriate attire.
Any repeated or extreme violations will be treated as a violation of Rule 3 (PG-13 Rating) of our Code of Conduct. This may result in loss of your admission to Furnal Equinox or events hosted by the Anthropomorphic Events of Ontario.