Evolution of a Halloween Costume
Oct. 31st, 2009 11:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
d_aulnoyI love Halloween.
I really do. It's my favorite holiday, hands-down, maaaaaaaaybe tied with New Year's: in my head, they're both about closure and new beginnings. And, of course, delicious sweets, delicious booze, and delicious costumes.
But I hate pre-made costumes. I think some of them have interesting design concepts, but the execution of most of them is "meh." I'm sure somewhere out there, there is a costume that I could hire for $100 bucks or so that would fill my heart with glee, but being that that idea seems to have gone the way of the dodo and the at-home doctor's consultation ... I improvise.
I tend to either view Halloween as an excuse to acquire off-the-wall accessories that I really want, or (when I cannot find them) as an excuse to wear the most particularly wacky pieces that I've acquired because they were too good to pass up. This Halloween started out as a case of the former, and turned into a case of the latter.
See, I really want tall red boots. I have craved them for ages upon end, fruitlessly, because apparently out there someone (WHO?) is thinking "Oh, red boots, no one would wear those ...."
F-list, can I get a shout-out? If you could find tall red boots, how many of you would wear them?
And I'd be leading the charge.
But even in this, a year of boots being the fashion must-have, tall red boots (the horrid pleather ones aside, which, no) my dreams of dressing up as Nanny Ogg or Puss-in-Boots were scuttled. So I had to resort to my own closet ....
When I graduated Columbia, V. and I went shopping at the local Goodwill. (This always goes well.) And I found a delightful red velvet garment. As near as I can figure, it was probably a man's wedding kurta, all embroidered with gold thread. Unsurprisingly, I snatched it up, unsurprisingly, V. approved and bought it for me as a graduation present, and unsurprisingly, I never did find a place to wear it (though, I'll admit, I was tempted to wear it for my own wedding). Between concerns about the fact that I didn't have the proper pants to wear with it (the slits on the sides go up real high) and concerns about someone thinking I was being culturally appropriative if I wore it to a dressy function, it just sat in my closet, looking beautiful and inappropriate.
But! Trying on this regal red garment, I thought ... hm. Maharaja would still be culturally squicky (last night, I saw a guy dressed as a Hassidic Jew on his way to a Halloween party - I knew he was "in costume" because he was hangin' with Zorro, a clown, and a superhero, and to that, sir, all I can say is WTF), but ... royalty, red ... hm.
QUEEN OF HEARTS. BINGO.
Yesterday during lunch I ran out and 'scoped crowns. My gods, people spend loads of money on cheap and awful crap! The ones at the "costume superstores" are made of plastic, and the bulk of the ones at the fancy-dress shops are $40 bucks or more, especially at this time of the year, when I suppose the costume jewelers think "Finally! Someone will buy this antiquated stuff that we keep producing! This, prom, and the chicks who seriously wear tiaras at weddings are the only things keeping us in business!" Which, no.
However, I did find a heart-shaped crown developed for someone's "Sweet Sixteen." How could I tell? It had an ugly "16" right in the middle.
Luckily, I have a jeweler's saw. So, $10 bucks and ten minutes later, it's gone, I've neatly wired a perfectly-fit Swarovski heart into place, and I was all set. Or so I thought ....
... see, now it's raining. So I may have to modify again.
Luckily, I already have a greatcoat (of course I do), and I bought a cool plastic sword on a random trip to the drugstore a couple of weeks ago, just because (of course I did), so ... Pirate Queen of Hearts? I'm one eye-patch away from perfection ... argh, matey!
I really do. It's my favorite holiday, hands-down, maaaaaaaaybe tied with New Year's: in my head, they're both about closure and new beginnings. And, of course, delicious sweets, delicious booze, and delicious costumes.
But I hate pre-made costumes. I think some of them have interesting design concepts, but the execution of most of them is "meh." I'm sure somewhere out there, there is a costume that I could hire for $100 bucks or so that would fill my heart with glee, but being that that idea seems to have gone the way of the dodo and the at-home doctor's consultation ... I improvise.
I tend to either view Halloween as an excuse to acquire off-the-wall accessories that I really want, or (when I cannot find them) as an excuse to wear the most particularly wacky pieces that I've acquired because they were too good to pass up. This Halloween started out as a case of the former, and turned into a case of the latter.
See, I really want tall red boots. I have craved them for ages upon end, fruitlessly, because apparently out there someone (WHO?) is thinking "Oh, red boots, no one would wear those ...."
F-list, can I get a shout-out? If you could find tall red boots, how many of you would wear them?
And I'd be leading the charge.
But even in this, a year of boots being the fashion must-have, tall red boots (the horrid pleather ones aside, which, no) my dreams of dressing up as Nanny Ogg or Puss-in-Boots were scuttled. So I had to resort to my own closet ....
When I graduated Columbia, V. and I went shopping at the local Goodwill. (This always goes well.) And I found a delightful red velvet garment. As near as I can figure, it was probably a man's wedding kurta, all embroidered with gold thread. Unsurprisingly, I snatched it up, unsurprisingly, V. approved and bought it for me as a graduation present, and unsurprisingly, I never did find a place to wear it (though, I'll admit, I was tempted to wear it for my own wedding). Between concerns about the fact that I didn't have the proper pants to wear with it (the slits on the sides go up real high) and concerns about someone thinking I was being culturally appropriative if I wore it to a dressy function, it just sat in my closet, looking beautiful and inappropriate.
But! Trying on this regal red garment, I thought ... hm. Maharaja would still be culturally squicky (last night, I saw a guy dressed as a Hassidic Jew on his way to a Halloween party - I knew he was "in costume" because he was hangin' with Zorro, a clown, and a superhero, and to that, sir, all I can say is WTF), but ... royalty, red ... hm.
QUEEN OF HEARTS. BINGO.
Yesterday during lunch I ran out and 'scoped crowns. My gods, people spend loads of money on cheap and awful crap! The ones at the "costume superstores" are made of plastic, and the bulk of the ones at the fancy-dress shops are $40 bucks or more, especially at this time of the year, when I suppose the costume jewelers think "Finally! Someone will buy this antiquated stuff that we keep producing! This, prom, and the chicks who seriously wear tiaras at weddings are the only things keeping us in business!" Which, no.
However, I did find a heart-shaped crown developed for someone's "Sweet Sixteen." How could I tell? It had an ugly "16" right in the middle.
Luckily, I have a jeweler's saw. So, $10 bucks and ten minutes later, it's gone, I've neatly wired a perfectly-fit Swarovski heart into place, and I was all set. Or so I thought ....
... see, now it's raining. So I may have to modify again.
Luckily, I already have a greatcoat (of course I do), and I bought a cool plastic sword on a random trip to the drugstore a couple of weeks ago, just because (of course I did), so ... Pirate Queen of Hearts? I'm one eye-patch away from perfection ... argh, matey!
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no subject
Date: 2009-10-31 05:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-31 09:43 pm (UTC)*Hands up.*
no subject
Date: 2009-10-31 09:46 pm (UTC)Anyway, my envy aside, I think I can speak for the audience as a whole when I say, we want pictures! Even if you don't wind up wearing the crown, I want to see it and sigh happily over it.
ETA: I forgot about the red boots question! But as you could have guessed, my answer is, of course I'd wear them. Or would as long as I was quite sure they didn't look dreadful on me, and I could walk in them.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-31 09:52 pm (UTC)I like the mental image of you hacking away at a sweet-16 tiara. You don't even need to be doing it for a costume; destroying cutesiness is worthwhile for its own sake.
I so, so, so agree with you about store-bought costumes vs. homemade ones. It's so much fun makin' 'em, even if, like me, one is no good at sewing. I remember going to a Halloween party ages ago as the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz, which I made out of burlap, scavenged straw, black felt (for the hat) and green terrycloth towels from the dollar store. (I was delighted to discover that with the scarecrow's makeup on, no one could tell who I actually was 'til I spoke, and I won 4th prize in the costume contest.)
no subject
Date: 2009-11-01 12:16 am (UTC)I tend to do the same, shoveling together wacky thrift-store finds. A friend worked at a costume store, and those horrid polyester creations cost $50 for adult costumes -- falling apart, badly sewn, ick, not even counting accessories.
This costume sounds wonderful, and pictures are a must.