Halloween costuming...

I’ve been thinking about this Halloween costume business. If you just want to go for the plastic rubber cheap satin shiny plastic approach it is easy enough if rather over-priced. The sensible approach, which my own mother has just taken is to invest in a moderately high quality outfit and wear it every year. I’d get bored. There are easy options, the witch simply requires a pointy hat, horns and cat ears are easy enough. I’d suggest that if any vintage ladies out there are on the Halloween pull the feline approach is a good one. Men do like cat outfits, touch of Sado masochism, very feminine and safely naughty. I once had some..ahem..success with a Korean emperor whilst dressed as a tiger. Problem is of course that it can be difficult to work out what a man actually looks like if he is disguised as a zombie who has incidentally been run over by a truck…

Naturally the Elviras always look good although I prefer Wednesday Addams as an outfit. One of the best outfits I ever saw was Salome, carrying the head of John the Baptist on a plate…

These are a few of the ideas I came up with whilst considering what to do for Don’t Dali with the Devil, this year’s chosen Halloween event. My considerations are that it should still leave me looking fairly pleasant, should not involve bulky impossible costumes, should be inexpensive and should not be a zombie.

a)     An anti vampire protester. Cribbed from True Blood I would wear pastel fifties clothes, hair up and glasses and march around with a placard stating ‘God Hates Fangs’.

b)    Wilma from the Flintstones. Handy for red heads. Merely involves a stylish leopard print dress, a nicely rolled and pinned hair do, fifties-sixties make up and some chunky jewellery.

c)     Carmen Miranda. A nylon turban, some plastic toy fruit and superglue. Then whatever fabulous forties themed outfit I could dig out.

d)      Aviatrix. Goggles, jodhpurs, and a white scarf with wire sewn into it so it looks like it is flying behind you.

e)        Horns and a blue vintage dress: Devil in a blue dress.

f)      Fortuna, decorate hair and clothing with gambling accoutrements, playing cards, casino chips. Have a hat made from a roulette wheel.

g)       A pierrot, the ruff is easy to make out of an old curtain (I’ve seen it done with doilies), hair slicked back and a velvet dress. Very thirties in a Beatonesque way.

This year however I will probably go for a Mexican Day of the Dead outfit to celebrate my affection for tequila.  But what I would really like to do one year is rope in 3 friends and do a four horse women of the apocalypse, I’d even be prepared to be pestilence.