Costuming I

My love of costumes started a young age, perhaps even before I can remember. A lot of people my age grew up with videogames and little league sports; gymnastics meets and trumpet lessons. I on the other hand spent most of my time drawing, painting and playing with dolls. Yeah, I know, that’s normal kid stuff but my older sister and I took it way too seriously. Weekends were transformed into projects on an epic scale like building club houses out of huge cardboard boxes complete with furniture and curtains. My dolls had school days and soccer practice and frequented an imaginary library that included homemade library cards. We filled our days with these adventures and anxiously awaited Halloween for the ultimate craft projects: my mother’s homemade Halloween costumes.

I don’t think we knew it was at all out of the ordinary at the time but year after year my sister and I delighted in asking for offbeat costumes and receiving amazing results, often designed by my mother with only hand drawn and cut paper grocery bags as patterns. My sister’s greatest hits include Frankenstein at
the age of three (complete with tissue box shoes. I know, I have no clue what that was about), mummy at the age of five and vampires at eight. My favorite of my costumes, from a cadre that includes Esmeralda, Janis Joplin, and hula dancer, would have to be my kindergarten classic, Sailor Moon. I was obsessed with the show at the time and the base of the costume was a t shirt and short set made to look like her sailor suit accompanied by boot covers for my sneakers that Mom made me. When I got to school my classmate Patti Tamagini had the same costume but made from a more polished store bought pattern and I was jealous of her all day. In reality my jealousy was unwarranted; I chose to execute my costume that way and it still worked. Halloween is about fun and creativity and should never be a competition.

As I got older the responsibility of my costume became my own and grew into an outlet for creativity that I didn’t feel would otherwise be respected. My costumes became louder, more assertive and, looking back, were usually for characters who represented power and unabashed nerve. These were traits that I desired but found it hard to have as a kid with a big mouth who was always identified by others as “weird.” As a senior in high school (the only year we were allowed to go to school in costume) I dressed as Judy Funnie, the older, beatnik sister of the cartoon Doug’s protagonist. When I watched the show in elementary school there was something about Judy that I loved, she was wacky, loud and was surrounded by friends who embraced that (even when it left her family confused). She always arrived in scene to jazz theme music and I carried around a tape player with a recording off of youtube all day. As I entered each class it announced my arrival.
To give you an idea of Judy's personality:Senior Year of High School: Judy Funnie
My own beret, black turtleneck, black tights and purple go-go boots my friend's dog chewed when I was in 8th grade, thrifted purple dress, my sister's old glasses and wig

Once I hit college my liberal arts school gave me more opportunities to create as they not only had Halloween parties but also the annual Zombie Prom, a spring night of mirth, merriment and mayhem when everyone dresses as a zombie and the Student Center is transformed into a huge spooky concert space. It was here that I fomented my master thesis on costuming: forget the $100 costume; look at the costume you want, dissect it into parts and then prowl local thrift shops. With a little luck and creativity you WILL find the components!!

Halloween Freshman Year: Prince

Hideous thrifted purple lamee jacket, my own polka dotted puffy shirt, bandanna for head, my own black jeans
(oh yeah, and eyeliner for mustache)

Zombie Prom Freshman Year


my own high school homecoming dress from mall $1 on sale, fake flower vine safety-pinned on dress, white face makeup, various eyeliner colors for veins; blood

Halloween Sophomore Year: Rosie the Riveter
my own navy dress, red bandanna

Zombie Prom Sophomore Year: Zombie Belly Dancer
black tank top with built in bra, copious unseen beads and tassels hand-sewed on (not shown), red overlay dance skirt (found online), red shorts underneath, gold sandals, finger cymbals, white face makeup, various eyeliner colors for veins; blood

Halloween Senior Year: Robin

(and no, I cannot find any normal pictures of this with non deranged poses)
red leotard, forest green tights, felt sheets from craft store (for Robin logo), my own ugly yellow belt that came free with a pair of jeans, XL yellow t shirt cut into cape and safety pinned on, black eyeliner for mask, crazy red fake eyelashes, my own black sneakers (not shown)

Zombie Prom Senior Year: Zombie Pin-up Sailor

sailor outfit bought online (after much scouring to find one below $30), straps sewn on from blue ribbon (bought at craft store), my own thigh high stockings, red flats, sailor hat (bought on ebay), baton which doesn't make sense but was fun to twirl (bought on ebay), white face makeup, various eyeliner colors for veins; blood, red lipstick

Halloween at 21 years old: Lady Gaga in Paparazzi video

yellow dance unitard, blonde wig, flip-up mickey sunglasses (all bought online), black fabric for mickeys and belt, black eyeliner for lipstick
This one was born out of necessity; i simplified her outfit to no shoulder doodads and just mickeys on the unitard instead of the $200 dollar designer original. After seeing other people's renditions online I decided that sewing appliques looked better than painting the mickeys on so I traced, cut and sewed over 50 appliques in a polka dot pattern all over the body. I had to hand-sew them because I found on the machine that the shape of the mickey was too complex and curved to be turned while pinned to the stretch fabric of the unitard. I had but one recourse: hand sewing them, which took hours over the course of three days. The belt also came out of a dilemma: the one I had ordered online didn't come in time for Halloween so the days before I took scraps from the mickey's and sewed it into a belt on a machine.

I have no real ending to this entry and for good reason: this is far from the end of me creating crazy outfits and is by no means the last post o this kind. This is really a record of all the fun I've had and all the things one can do when empowered by an idea. I get confidence from finishing these projects and every time someone tells me they like the work that I did. More often than not you focus too sharply on the flaws you see in your projects (and yourself) and others only see the good.