Costuming Essentials

This year I made an awesome costume for a good friend of mine (hopefully there will be pictures later) rather than focusing on what I was going to wear. I’ve thrown together something for myself (which there may be be pictures of later) but it doesn’t compare to the last costume I made just for Halloween, a few years ago.

I had the idea of going as a slightly Grecian tribal priestess. The costume  was actually my first experiment in draping. I basically just worked out how to make it with knots and laying it over myself. What really makes the look are the furs, feathers, shells and thorns.

This sort of costume is very easy and frugal. Most of it was items I just had sitting around like shell necklaces from Hawaii. The fabric was just scraps that couldn’t have cost more then $5. The fur pieces were things I had gotten at Renaissance fairs and probably the most expensive part at $15. However, they are reusable for many costume ideas. My favorite bit is a necklace I had made stringing thorns off a rose bush. It was too painful to wear as a necklace but I wore it dangling off the top. Additionally, I wore a shell and straw necklace I picked up at a swap meet for $3 which was the only thing I actually bought specifically for the costume.

Even with a closet full of clothes it’s still possible to have nothing to wear. You want to wear something exciting and new. Usually Halloween is easy because you can’t wear a costume very often.

For me this isn’t true. I am involved in live action roleplaying which is sort of like improv theater so 4 days out of each month I can dress up in some sort of costume. It’s great as its’ a reason to make and wear my creations but it also makes it harder to wow people on Halloween.

This year I looked through my closet and looked again trying to pick out something. Everything had been done and done again. Finally, I went with comfy, well made and sort of costume like. Watching movies with a small group of friends sadly does not warrant a ball gown…