| How to Be a Monster (or a Fairy Princess, or Whatever�) By Kuzibah |
| Originally written for the Patient Creatures website, October 2002 edition, this essay contains advice for Halloween costumes. Archive- Please email request. Feedback- Absolutely. ******************* Halloween is coming, a time for a national �Come-As-You-Aren�t� party, when you get to unleash your wildest fantasies and darkest fears. Easy, right? Just run down to the corner five-and-ten, plunk down a few bucks on a packet of make-up and a costume in a bag, and you�re on your way. Or grab a magazine with an article on last-minute costumes you can make from items around the house, undo your shower curtain, and voil�, instant costume. Well, if your goal is a sack of stale candy corn, or just fulfilling the minimum basic requirement for �costume party� then that�s fine. Have fun and enjoy the holiday. But if you want to make a real impression, be astonishingly beautiful, bone-chillingly scary, or just make people say, �great costume, dude,� you�re going to have to do a little more. The effectiveness of a given costume can be boiled down to the basic equation: time+money=impact. If you have a lot of money, you can buy or rent something impressive, and not spend much time, but if you don�t have a lot of money, you�re going to need to get started early. Here are some basics: Getting Started~ First, think about what you want to be, and think about how this matches to your own physical appearance. One thing people tend to put out of their minds is what costume suits their body types. Now, the costume itself can compensate for some things, but there�s only so far you can go. For instance, if you�re six-foot-four, you�re going to have trouble pulling off a Hobbit. Or if you�re five-foot-nothing, dressing as Frankenstein�s Monster may not be so impressive. And, let�s be honest, only people in really good physical shape look good in Superman�s tights. So take a good look at yourself and pick a character that suits you well. Incidentally, these rules don�t apply to children�s costumes. Kids, by special dispensation of the spirits of Halloween, are allowed to dress as whatever they wish. The holiday is for them, after all. I�m talking about adults above, who don�t have the natural charm that comes with youth and must compensate in other ways. Anyway, once you�ve chosen what you want to be, it�s time to do a little research. Get at least one good picture of what you want the final result to look like (this can be a drawing or photograph). It doesn�t need to be overly detailed, it just needs to give you a focal target so you don�t get going in too many directions at once. It also gets your mind looking for certain shapes and textures you may incorporate into your costume. For instance, I knew a girl who wanted to go as a tube of toothpaste, and with the image of the tube in her mind spotted a small pleated lampshade that worked perfectly as a cap. Once you�ve gotten the image, make a list of what supplies you think you�ll need and what you�ll need to do. Include all your ideas; you can always eliminate some later. It might look something like this: Cinderella -Fancy gown -Tiara -�Glass� slippers -Do hair up or get a wig -Do glamorous make-up -Pumpkin? -Jewelry? Now it�s time to work on getting the items on the list. Below are some general tips to help with your costume: Make-up~ Start by going to your local costume shop or theatrical supply (one that�s there all year, not the ones that open a few weeks before Halloween and are out of business November 1st). The employees there are generally very helpful in finding the right products and teaching you how to apply them. But DON�T wait until the Saturday before Halloween, when everyone and their cousin will be there. Go a few weeks beforehand, or mid-week, when the store is less crowded and they can give you more attention. Take along your reference picture. The best make-up is smooth and creamy, and goes onto your skin evenly without lumps or �gritty-ness.� Ask your clerk to let you try a sample on the inside of your wrist (where the skin texture is similar to the face) to see how it feels and looks. It comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, depending on the use. For instance, if you are covering your entire face in red, get a large tube or tin. If you�re painting with several colors to suggest a striped cat, say, you might want to pick up a few grease pencils in the colors required. What you don�t want to do is buy a sample-pack with several colors if you only need two or three. Chances are you won�t have enough of the color you need and be left with cakes of colors you�ll never use. These also tend to be of lower quality. Listen to the clerk�s instructions on how to apply, and take notes if necessary. You�ll probably need to set the make-up with powder once it�s been applied, to keep it from smearing or rubbing off too quickly, and this takes a bit of time. You might want to do this outside if you can, as the powder can spread around the room when you apply it with a powder-puff. Also, put your make-up on before your costume, so you don�t have to worry about smears or spills. Make sure you apply the make-up to all visible areas of the face and neck, going an inch or two past where the collar will be. Don�t forget the back of the neck and the ears, if exposed. Nothing destroys an illusion faster than having a beautiful painted face turn around to reveal a naked, pasty neck. Make sure you get right up to the hairline, as well. After you remove the make-up, be sure to use lots of moisturizer on your skin, as theatrical make-up is much more drying than everyday make-up. Prosthetics~ These are any kind of appliance that are attached to the face to change its shape and include warts and scars, false noses and chins, fangs or �zombie teeth,� or even whole false faces. Skin appliances are usually made of soft latex rubber and are attached with a fixative called �spirit gum.� Fangs and other false teeth are hard plastic and are attached with dental adhesive. Again, ask your costume shop clerk for a demonstration of how these are applied, and make sure you get all the necessary supplies including spirit gum and spirit gum remover. You might want to practice before the big day to make sure you can apply the prosthetics easily, and be sure they are firmly attached and dry before you begin to apply your make-up. If you are wearing fangs, you might want to practice talking with them in ahead of time, since they usually cause a pronounced lisp until you get used to them. Also, be sure not to eat or drink anything with them in. Masks~ An alternative to make-up is a good-quality mask. Several companies make them in hundreds of designs, some of them very startling. The best ones go entirely over your head, and are most effective when worn with a hood or with the bottom securely tucked into your collar. If your eyes can be seen inside the mask, apply a little make-up in a matching color or black to your eyelids and around your eyes. This makes your eyes seem to �pop� out of the mask, and integrates the mask better with your skin. Look at the movie �Batman.� You�ll notice Batman wears black makeup around his eyes under his bat-mask. You can also make a gory mask more effective by applying a little K-Y Jelly or other water-based lubricant to spots that you want to look wet or slimy (this also works on latex prosthetics). Be sure to dry your mask completely inside and out when you�re done and if you�re planning to use it again, stuff it with a little loosely-wadded newspaper to keep its shape and prevent it from sticking to itself before you store it for any length of time. Hair~ The quickest and easiest way to change your appearance is to put on a wig. If you normally have short, dark hair and suddenly go to Godiva-length locks, or if you cover your shoulder-length hair with white granny curls, even your closest friends will have to look twice to recognize you. Get a look at your wig (or a store sample of it) before you buy. The hair should be sewn on in even rows, without open patches or bunching. It should look more or less like real hair, in strands, not cottony clumps. Try it on. The crown (the cloth part that the hair is attached to) should be slightly elastic and hold firmly on your head. Pick up a Styrofoam wig-form at your local beauty-supply store (these only run a few dollars) to hold your wig. If the hair hangs down loose, carefully brush out bends or folds the hair may have received in its packaging. Use a soft-bristled brush. You may pull a few strands loose, but be sure not to pull out whole clumps. If your own hair sticks out below the crown, you�ll have to pull it up a bit and secure it with bobby pins. If your hair is long enough, braid it or pull it up with rubber bands before securing it with the pins. None of your hair should hang past the edge of the elastic band at the bottom of the crown. Once the wig is on, you may want to secure it to your own hair with a few bobby pins, although this isn�t always necessary. You can also use your own hair. There are colored hair sprays and temporary hair dyes if you want to change the color. Bear in mind that your idea of temporary and the manufacturer�s idea of temporary may be two different things. Especially if your own hair is a lighter shade, or permed or color-treated already, it might take several washes to get the last traces of color out. If you can�t commit to at least a week of slightly unnatural hair, go back up to wigs. Or you can just use your own hair and braid it, add accessories (like jewels for a fairy, or plastic spiders for a zombie), use gel to mold it into interesting shapes, or tease it up with lots of hair-spray for a witchy look. Try these out ahead of time to get just the look you want, and be sure to use lots of conditioner to keep from damaging your hair too much. Costumes~ Foundation: I personally think a costume looks best when there is a smooth and uniform foundation of undergarments. Plain black or white tights and leotard, for example, for the ladies, or a plain, black cotton turtleneck for the men. You don�t want ruin the illusion by having a t-shirt with your school�s name poking out from beneath your elegant wizard�s robes, so think of the innermost layer of clothing as creating a blank canvas to hang the costume on, like a mannequin. Robes and Capes: These are wonderful, multi-purpose pieces that can be used for a variety of costumes: witches and wizards, vampires, superheroes, ghouls, and a number of historical personas. They make you look taller, slimmer, and they drape and move very dramatically, creating a good initial visual impression. Plus they can be re-used for other outfits over time, making them immensely practical. I, for one, don�t know why they ever fell out of fashion as everyday garments. Which is why I am begging you to get or make a good-quality cloth robe or cape, because nothing looks cheesier than a flimsy see-through robe or vinyl cape. You could have the most impressive vampire make-up in town, but if you top it with a plastic cape, it�s going to look like you�re wearing a shower curtain. I�m telling you as a friend. Making your own basic cape is not that difficult. Just figure out how long you want it to be and cut at least a semicircle of material with the radius equal to the length, then cut a smaller semicircle out of the middle to fit around the wearer�s neck (see ill.). Or make a full circle for a fuller cape. Hem the entire piece, and add a clasp or closure, or even a fancy brooch to hold it closed. The fabric need not be expensive, it just has to be opaque. In fact, material normally used as lining, which resembles satin, hangs and moves very dramatically and comes in dozens of colors. If you have some sewing experience, there are lots of commercially produced patterns available for more elaborate capes and robes, and if you start checking discount fabric shops early, you can usually find appropriate material at a very reasonable price. My friend Hester, a swamp-witch, wears some very interestingly textured robes, the better to blend into her marshy habitat, and often picks up the fabric for these for next to nothing at a shop that sells discontinued and leftover fabrics that no one else wants. But for her, they�re perfect. Other Pieces: Most other costume pieces are assembled one of three ways: Found (or bought), Made, or Modified. Found or bought pieces are perfect just the way they are. You can pick them up at the costume shop, or borrow them from a friend. If you want to dress as a bride, you just need to get a bridal gown, for instance, or as a football player, you need to get a jersey and helmet. Check thrift shops and second-hand clothing stores, too. Making an outfit from scratch can be difficult, especially if you don�t have a lot of sewing experience. But if you do have experience, there are lots of patterns available, many that aren�t that complicated, from animals and cartoon characters, superheroes, witches and monsters, and many others. Your local fabric shop should have lots of books with pictures of the completed costumes to give you ideas. Several companies have also begun producing very detailed and elaborate historical patterns, if a royal persona is your fancy. Just be sure to give yourself plenty of time to work on your outfit, and be sure to check the fit frequently. If you don�t have sewing experience yourself, perhaps you have a friend or relative that can assist you, or, if you have the means, you could always hire a seamstress to custom-make an outfit. Or, you could modify an existing outfit into a costume. Clothes can be dyed to the color you want, shortened or have parts removed (like sleeves), or accessories can be added on. Add a large fuzzy �H� to a sweater, wear it with a short skirt and saddle shoes and you�re a cheerleader for Horror High. Add rows of fringe to a slip dress to be a 1920�s flapper. Shred a thrift store suit and rub on a little bit of brown make-up to simulate dirt for a zombie costume. Get familiar with your local thrift shop or consignment shop, such as Salvation Army, Goodwill, or St. Vincent DePaul Stores. These can be treasure troves of clothes that are easily adapted into costumes, like prom gowns, uniforms, vintage clothes, even tuxedos. This is where your reference pictures will come in handy, as you can mix and match pieces to adapt into a costume. Accessories: It�s the little details that make a costume believable. The little neck scarf around the neck of the 50�s Girl, or a skull-topped walking stick for the Magician. Check second-hand stores for vintage jewelry, or go to ebay for just the right hat. Ask friends and relatives, or, if you�re creative, construct your own. I have a friend who makes little coffin-shaped handbags out of �Foam-Core� board and scrap material with a hot-glue gun and a little imagination, and every vampire lady of my acquaintance simply had to have one. Also, don�t neglect shoes. I�ve seen the illusion created by many an elegant and elaborate costume ruined by a pair of tennis shoes. Check discount shoe stores for appropriate (or easily modified) shoes. And if an outfit calls for boots (princes and knights, I�m looking at you) bite the bullet and invest in a good pair of boots. The Final Touches~ After you�ve created a suitably impressive costume, it�s up to you to sell the persona you�ve created. How does your character talk? Is she a cackling witch, or a moaning ghost? Does he have an accent? If so, practice that. How does your character move? Is he a proud, strutting wizard, or a shambling zombie who drags his foot? Is she a light, dancing ballerina? Practice that, too. Practice using your costume and accessories to create an impression. Sweep your cape back with a flourish, or gesture about with your magic wand. It�s your performance, ultimately, which will set you apart from the crowd, make you more than just some guy or girl in a costume, make you into whatever persona you�ve created. Practice how you move and talk, in front of a mirror, if you can, and when the big day comes stay in character to create the best impression. I hope this has been helpful to you. Good luck, and have a very Happy Halloween! Main Menu ~ Return to Odds and Ends Menu |