Take back Halloween!
Halloween used to be my second-favorite holiday (after Christmas). Back in the 80s, before Halloween became Dress Like A Whore Day, I used to love going to costume parties. One year I went as a floor lamp. Another I went as a mermaid. I still remember the costume winners at the big Halloween bash in 1989: they were dressed like the B-52s. They had it nailed, too.
Halloween costumes were always a make-your-own thing back then; there were no racks of adult costumes for sale in the stores. Ready-made costumes simply weren’t available, except I suppose by special order or maybe in big cities. But I never saw any. The goal in making your own costume was to come up with something clever, well-done, and striking. Nobody dressed like a streetwalker or a stripper. I’m not sure exactly when Dress Like A Whore Day kicked in — sometime in the 90s, I guess — but I’m quite sure that it’s connected to the mass merchandising of adult Halloween costumes. Supply, demand, vicious recursive loop from hell, and yet another soul-destroying, woman-degrading win is chalked up for global capitalism. Yay.
In the 90s I became a reclusive domestic type, and my Halloween activities turned to pumpkin carving at home with the folks and the dogs. (Note: do not let dogs eat pieces of raw pumpkin. Trust me on this.) I haven’t done that in a couple of years, but I’m almost afraid to look at the new carving kits that are out. I just know that somebody’s gonna come out with a Sexy Jack O’ Lantern pattern, and then I’ll have to kill myself.
No, wait! This is going to be a happy post! A shiny, happy post! A post about how we can go forth this Halloween, clothed in absurdity and armed with sharp carving tools, to take back this formerly-beloved holiday from the grip of sexual objectification.
Which mostly means I’m going to offer up some ideas for non-porntastic costumes. Not that these are particularly clever or anything; they’re just alternatives to the Cult of Sex-Ay. As you’ll see, I’m partial to costumes based on famous people. The possibilities are endless, and the clothes are usually stuff you already have or can rig up pretty easily. In fact, you can almost work backward with this: figure out what you want to wear, then choose a famous person to match.
The Queen
She’s only the most famous woman in the world. And dressing up as the Queen is an easy, dignified way to pile on the glamour.
What you need:
1. An evening gown — something fairly conservative.
2. A tiara (you can get a fake one from a party store).
3. A blue Garter sash and a military-style medal to pin on it. (The color and the medal are important so it doesn’t look like a beauty pageant sash.)
4. A big, boxy purse.
5. Rhinestone necklace and earrings.
6. White evening gloves, if you have them.
7. Optional: a fake fur stole (you can get fake fur by the yard at a fabric store).
8. Bonus points: dog hand-puppets to represent the Queen’s corgis.
If you have gray or silver hair, that’s great, but it doesn’t really matter. The Queen’s hairstyle hasn’t changed in 50 years.
If you’d prefer to do a daytime Queen look instead, then basically it’s a hat situation.
What you need:
1. The most fantastic hat you can rig up.
2. A suit or dress to match.
3. A strand of pearls, pearl earrings, and a broach.
4. Enormous purse.
5. Dog hand-puppets still an option.
Marlene Dietrich
When Marlene Dietrich wore a top hat and tails in Morocco (1930), she created one of the iconic images of the 20th century.
What you need:
1. Black tailcoat suit (or a tailcoat and black pants).
2. White tie, shirt, cumberbund, and pocket hankie.
3. Top hat (you can get a plastic one at a party store).
4. Cigarette or a cigarette holder.
5. Wavy blond hair or wig.
Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo’s personal style was as distinctive as her paintings. She combined traditional Mexican textiles with elaborate hairstyles and eclectic jewelry to create a remarkable look.
What you need:
1. Flowers in your hair, preferably red, pink, or both. You can also weave in brightly colored ribbons and do elaborate braids, if you like.
2. A peasant-style blouse. A Mexican embroidered blouse is ideal.
3. A long, full skirt. Ruffles are good. It shouldn’t match the blouse.
4. A shawl or rebozo.
5. Bold, chunky jewelry. Frida’s necklace of big jadeite beads is probably the most recognizable, but she wore other styles as well. Just make sure it’s bold. Wear big earrings, too.
6. Bonus points: unibrow and moustache, either natural or painted on.
Amelia Earhart or Bessie Coleman
There’s a new Amelia Earhart movie out, so there might be some suitable costumes in the stores. Otherwise you might have a little trouble running down an aviator hat and goggles. This site gives some tips on where to find the various pieces.
Earhart and Bessie Coleman were contemporaries, so you can use essentially the same costume for either one. Coleman was the first black woman to be licensed as a pilot; she was killed in an aircrash in 1926.
What you need:
1. Aviator hat.
2. Goggles.
3. Bomber jacket, ideally brown leather. For Coleman, you can do a World War I style Army jacket instead (if you can get one).
4. For Coleman, a white scarf wrapped around the neck. For Earhart, a white scarf or a man’s shirt and tie.
5. Jodphurs or slim-fitting pants.
6. Riding boots.
Coco Chanel
If you have a Chanel suit (or a lookalike), this one’s easy. You just need to accessorize with costume jewelry. A lot of costume jewelry.
What you need:
1. Chanel-style suit.
2. As many strands of fake pearls as you can fit on your neck, of various lengths. Chanel sometimes wore as many as six.
3. Broaches, bracelets, and earrings.
4. Scissors on a string around your neck (she always wore these at work).
5. A hat, ideally.
6. Optional: cigarette or cigarette holder.
Indira Gandhi
Love her or hate her, the Prime Minister of India was one of the most powerful women of the 20th century. And if you already have a sari, this one’s pretty easy.
What you need:
1. A sari.
2. Matching choli. Gandhi usually wore rather conservative cholis.
3. Temporary hair dye to create that characteristic shock of white.
Gandhi’s approach to makeup and jewelry was minimal: virtually no makeup, usually no earrings, and either one simple necklace or none at all.
Coincidentally, Indira Gandhi was assassinated on October 31, 1984.
Julia Child
As my friend SimplyWondered says, “kill them animals and fry ‘em up!”
What you need:
1. A blue shirt or blouse with the sleeves rolled up.
2. A chef-style blue denim apron with a dish towel tucked into the waist ties.
3. A round white badge, pinned to your blouse, that says “L’école des trois gourmandes” (the name of Julia’s cooking school).
4. A dark, slim skirt.
5. A big-ass butcher knife. Or a mallet. Or a rolling pin. Or a skillet.
6. Bonus points: a rubber chicken.
Billie Holiday
The picture at right is of the real Billie Holiday; the picture below is of Paula Patton dressed up as Billie Holiday for a Glamour magazine shoot. I’m including it because it’s such a gorgeous image, and much more detailed than any of the real photos of Billie Holiday. It really captures Lady Day’s glamour.
What you need:
1. A white gardenia in your hair. This is required.
2. A fabulous evening gown. The most iconic look is white satin, either strapless or halter-style, but Holiday wore a variety of styles and colors. It just has to be fabulous.
3. Fingerless elbow-length gloves, black or white. She often wore these to cover her track marks.
4. Elegant jewelry: pearl necklace, diamond earrings, that sort of thing.
If you don’t have an evening gown, you can try a dressy 40s style suit instead.
Janis Joplin
Hippie glamour!
What you need:
1. Lots of love beads.
2. More bangles than you thought could fit on a human arm.
3. Big round glasses.
4. Bell bottoms.
5. A tie-dye shirt, macrame vest, or other hippie garment.
6. A feather boa (you can get these at craft stores).
7. Long hair or a wig.
8. Optional: that weird fur hat thing she wore sometimes.
9. Bonus points: a bottle of Southern Comfort.
Yoko Ono
There are a million pictures of John and Yoko, but one of the most famous images is their wedding photo. They both dressed all in white. This is a pretty easy look to pull off, and if you have a boyfriend or husband who needs a matching outfit, you know what to do.
What you need:
1. A white miniskirt.
2. A white sweater or pullover.
3. White pantyhose.
4. White knee socks.
5. White tennis shoes.
6. A white hat with a big brim.
7. Long black hair or a wig.
8. Big black sunglasses.
Of course, there are lots of other ways to dress — or undress — as John and Yoko. Full nudity is good, though it may get you arrested. Or half nudity: your man can go starkers and you can wear a black sweater and dark pants, like on the cover of Rolling Stone. Or you can both wear pajamas and carry “Bed Peace” and “Hair Peace” signs. Lots of possibilities with John and Yoko.
Cyndi Lauper
The 80s, as my cousin once solemnly pronounced at a family reunion after hours of drinking, were The Greatest Decade Ever. And there is nothing — NOTHING! — more 80s than Cyndi Lauper.
What you need:
1. Multi-colored, asymmetrical hair.
2. Several full skirts of different colors. Ruffly is good.
3. A bustier, camisole, or tank top.
4. The biggest earrings in the world.
5. Colorful plastic jewelry: bangles, bracelets, necklaces, chains, etc.
6. Facepaint. Not makeup; facepaint.
7. Stockings and socks.
8. Combat boots.
Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, or Sandra Day O’Connor
If you have a black choir robe or graduation gown, you can rock this look. The only sartorial difference between the three justices is their choice of collar. Sandra Day O’Connor usually wore a lacy jabot, while Ruth Bader Ginsburg is most famous for a kind of crocheted Peter Pan thing (though she has also worn jabots). The first Supreme Court portrait of Sonia Sotomayor shows her wearing a lacy jabot very similar to what O’Connor usually wore.
Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Billy Jean King, etc…
If you have a tennis dress and a racket, you can go as pretty much any female tennis star of the past 50 years.
The same is true with other sports: if you have the uniform, just pick the famous athlete to match.
This can be especially useful in cold weather. If your Halloween party is an outdoor fete in International Falls, Minnesota, consider going as Iditarod champion Susan Butcher.
Isadora Duncan
Many of Isadora’s early costumes look like she rigged them up with sheets and ribbon. If it worked for her, it can work for you. Just imagine you’re going to a toga party.
And by the way, if you want to show some skin, you can definitely do it with Isadora. Some of her costumes, like the one at left, were literally transparent.
59 Responses to “Take back Halloween!”
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Kookaburra says:
Excellent post, Violet! I made a few costumes this year, but sadly I’m not going to get to wear them. Oh well, maybe next Halloween.
Costume #1: Carmen Sandiego
I got a red trencoat and wide brimmed hat from a thrift store, and then wore black pants, boots and a turtle neck under it.Costume #2: Boadicea
I have pretty long, curly auburn hair, so I didn’t even have to look for a wig. I made a simple dress out of some tartan flannel, and a cloak fastened with a celtic-ish brooch. I didn’t have a chance to find torques and other jewelry, but I did have the essentials lined up: a big sword and blue facepaint.October 31st, 2009 at 12:24 am EST -
Violet says:
Those are fabulous, Kookaburra! I never thought of Carmen Sandiego, but that’s a great one.
I thought about Boadicea, but I decided to leave off anything that might require sewing. Though if you’ve already got the stuff…
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Swannie says:
I have a long heavy velvet deep green dress … with a few natural accessories … Mother Earth or Mother Nature !!!
I have a friend who IS dressing as Boadicea :)
Martha Graham can work too :)
And any long dark dress decorated with stars moons and planets ( even better if they glow in the dark !) and an astrology book and and a telescope makes you an astrologer ! -
Violet says:
Oooh, I like the Mother Earth/Mother Nature idea. Not that I have a green dress. But I do have boatloads of silk flowers and leaves.
Astrologer is cool. Where do you get the glow-in-the-dark stars fabric?
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RKMK says:
Last year, I was the Cat’s Pyjamas. I wore comfy electric-blue silk pyjamas (long nice long, billowy legs and sleeves) with a black tank top; comfy, warm fuzzy black slippers (no heels), and cat ears/tail/whiskers. Everywhere I went (full of porntastic costumes) people did a double-take, some got it right away - and more than one person was like, “Wow, it’s nice to see some originality and creativity in costumes. Everyone just goes naked nowadays and calls it a costume.”
This year, I’m going as a Bonnie-Parker-style Prohibition-era gangster: full tailored pinstripe suit, fedora, faux sawed-off shotgun, cigar, and long pearls.
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Kookaburra says:
RKMK - that’s awesome, I love costumes that involve word play or puns. Two years ago I put a chemise on over my regular clothes and had a “My Name Is” tag that said “Id”.
I was a Freudian Slip.
Violet - You can get glow in the dark stars fabric from children’s bed linen sets. I always see a few like that in catalogs around the “Back to School” season.
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maria says:
This post made my night! I dressed as a young Queen Elizabeth II (vintage gown, etc), but only the foreign students at the party really got it.
My corgi was a big hit though; he wore a bow tie and went as Prince Charles.
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Not Your sweetie says:
I am Dobbie this year, but my girl and her friends are really good made up/book characters
http://edgeoforever.wordpress......loween-yet -
Cyn says:
A fantastic post! You, Violet, and your posters above are wonderful. This is the most creative bunch I’ve read in a long time. I love all of the costume ideas.
I’m nominating all of you for a Gilda Radner Best Halloween Costume Award. Not that the award exists, but if it did, you would all win.
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purplefinn says:
I too found this a welcome post. When visiting a Halloween store, I was dismayed at the sexualized costumes. I wondered how my friends had steered their children away from those areas. My friends with young children celebrate trick-or-treat night by everyone’s dressing up. They finally gave me a strong hint that I needed to do the same. I found a decent looking gray and brown dog/wolf mask. Gray sweats, a homemade gray tail and fingerless gray gloves brought me laughs and ahhs of approval. This year my young friend who likes a bit of gore, suggested I needed something scarier. So I added fangs and a necklace made of dog treats with a little red meat inside. Long live the fun of Halloween.
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Honora says:
Sorry, but I hate Carmen Sandiego. Women are about .2034% of the world’s criminals (less if you exclude prostitutes), but the whole world has to get together to find this master criminal that is, of course in our post-feminist world, a woman. Give me a break, go catch all the male rapists and murderers, the world’s women are not much of a threat. Finished venting.
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purplefinn says:
Honora, I am dismayed that detective/mystery writers increasingly create female perps in order to throw us off the track of the solution. It’s futile, I know, to expect parity from fiction. It is a function of the patriarchy, of course, giving “equal time” don’t ya know.
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yttik says:
We went to a haunted house last night. What scared me the most was a hot dog. Yes, a hot dog. The kid was about 11 yrs old, we were in a haunted hospital morgue, frozen in our tracks, expecting one of the bodies to sit up, but instead a hot dog, complete with mustard and relish, came out from under the bed and started coming after us. It was pretty funny, we’re all screaming in terror because a 4 ft hot dog is trying to get us in a hospital morgue. Never mind that the costume didn’t go with the scene, we were toast the moment we walked into that room.
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Swannie says:
I would imagine glow in the dark paint or stickers would be at almost any drugstore chain toy store or walmart ….or even at the dollar store :)
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Keri says:
I’m at an anime convention this weekend and I’m dressing as Tsunade the leader of the village Naruto lives in. What I really like about the manga by Masashi Kishimoto is how female characters are not treated as sex objects and being emotionally strong (without stereotyping, the female characters are as well rounded as the male ones) Tsunade does have large breasts but they are drawn with realistic sag- it’s amusing how many male fans react the same way I’ve seen guys react to real women with actual (not implants) large breasts- they say breasts that large that aren’t the “perky” implants frighten them. Tsunade also acts like women who have naturally has larger breasts, she doesn’t act like they are something to be ashamed of nor does she act like they are something to make her a sex object, they are there, she wears clothes that are comfortable for her shape. She also violently hates perverts. She isn’t perfect- she has said temper, she like to drink and gamble sometimes, but those faults don’t keep her from being a good and wise leader. She’s also a woman in her mid 50’s, who encourages her female students to be strong and caring. (Kishimoto definitely has a preference for women to stand on their own two feet, have strong friendship bonds with other women, and stand together against males acting like jerks. Interesting that a Japanese guy in his mid 30’s who writes manga targeted at males 10-18 years old can and does put this message in…)
I kind of wonder if Hillary Clinton was a bit of an inspiration for Tsunade, along with Japan’s first woman Speaker of the House Takako Doi, who is an obvious influence. Doi took no bull from men and fought harder for women’s rights in the face of opposition, she was the first woman leader of a major Japanese political party in the 80’s and 90’s and in the early-mid 90’s became the first woman Speaker of the House in Japan. She pushed through strengthening of women’s rights laws and a law that allowed women to sue for sexual harrassment- which almost immediately lead to hundreds of sexual harassment cases hitting the courts. The Japanese feminist movement is still strong in Japan, because of how Doi influenced young Japanese women to fight back.
I noticed a while back though that Tsunade’s hair and eye color are close to Hillary’s and some elements of her personality seem close to what was said about Hillary’s temper back in the 90’s by people that trashed her. But Kishimoto turns this temper into a positive- it’s seem as admirable- she’s emotionally strong and puts up with no bull.
Here I am dressed as Tsunade at another convention:
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janicen says:
One year, I wore a red turtleneck, red tights, and devil horns with a blue evening dress over the top. I was, “…the devil with the blue dress on…”
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Violet says:
Ha! That’s funny, janicen.
Keri, I’m not into anime, so I googled Tsunade to see what she looked like. She’s supposed to be in her 50s??? Though I guess all anime characters have those ageless child-like faces.
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anniethena says:
Great post Violet!
The last time I dressed up for Halloween I accompanied my then 5 y.o. “Cinderella” daughter as her fairy godmother. I didn’t get the colours right but I wore a Laura Ashley black velvet dress (modest neckline with a heavy pleated skirt)paired with a terry hooded cover-up and of course, a magic wand.
Speaking of word-play, one time I dressed entirely in green, put my hair in braids, accentuated my natural freckles with make-up, and then pinned several green-tinted photocopies of Clark Gable on my shirt - I was Anne of Green Gables. My date’s first name was Don, and we just covered his face in white greasepaint - he was “Don Wan”. -
Violet says:
Here’s another easy, last-minute idea: Calamity Jane. All you need is a buckskin or suede jacket, jeans, and an old hat. Fake rifle is good.
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LabRat says:
Long, black ruffled Victorian dress. Lab coat. A little glow-in-the-dark face paint. Guess who?
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Violet says:
I bet it’s a clever word play thing. Give another hint! I want to guess.
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LabRat says:
Think visual gag rather than wordplay. But she’s almost always pictured in that same black dress, and while she didn’t actually glow in the dark, it certainly wasn’t for lack of trying.
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Violet says:
Marie Curie!
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Larkspur says:
This post is a lot of fun. I don’t have much of a Halloween social life, but I did overhear a woman on the hiking trail the other day saying that her daughter was going to go as Night & Day. She was going to wear makeup and pretty hair on one side, then cream and hair rollers on the other side, and then jammies/regular clothes below. I’m not sure of the logistics, but it sounded kind of hilarious and ever-so-slightly subversive.
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LabRat says:
Bingo!
My heroine when I was a little girl. I live in Los Alamos, so pretty much everyone gets this one immediately.
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Violet says:
I must say, LabRat, I think that is just wonderful. Never would have thought of it, but I love it. I would put the glow-in-the-dark paint all over my face and hands and anything exposed.
By the way, everybody: I really am curious about when the Dress Like A Whore Day stuff started. The last time I went to a Halloween party was 1993, and I didn’t see anything like that then. Did it happen in the 90s? Or in the early 00s?
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Larkspur says:
Well, there were always plenty of princesses and fairies. (I remember going as a hobo, too, but no one does that anymore.)
Madonna’s Like A Virgin album came out in 1984, but she may be a symptom rather than a cause. I’d have to say it’s been percolatin’ since we had access to the Pill, when we didn’t have to worry so much about getting knocked up. Sooner or later, the hammer was going to fall. You can’t have wild women running loose in the streets.
Does anyone really want to be a whore? Is it an attempt to ride a wave that hates you? Is it like laughing at a comedian like (flashback alert) Andrew Dice Clay? So you don’t look serious or vulnerable in public by caring about the abuse?
Young girls are powerfully hormonal, and they want to be noticed, and they need to see if they have an effect on the world, and they are discovering themselves as sexual beings. Which doesn’t answer the question at all, except to refer back to the marketing.
It seems to me to be related to the Pinkification of breast cancer. Everyone knows breast cancer is bad news, and everyone wants to research cures, treatments, and causes (though the last part gets neglected), and everyone wants to help. But it didn’t have to get commodified so thoroughly with pink teddy bears and pink everything, and the concomitant pressure to be a positive, happy breast cancer “survivor”. I doubt that prostate cancer patients ever get handed blue teddy bears.
It’s a market. So the analog at Halloween would be hordes of boys dressing up as pimps. I’m sure there are plenty of little pimp-or-treaters out there tonight, but I don’t sense any groundswell or huge trend. I guess it’s all because our female bodies have always been considered public property. We’re like canvases or screens. We don’t own our own selves; other people have rights to us.
Oops. My dog is looking at me funny. I’m late in fixing her supper.
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Violet says:
But I’m talking specifically about this kind of thing. This trend definitely started sometime after 1993, I think (that was the last time I went to a costume party).
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cellocat says:
When I was a kid, favorite costumes included a chest of drawers (cardboard box with holes for head and arms, drawers drawn on and large buttons glued on for handles) and a bee (black leotard & tights with golden velour stripes, and wings made from bent hangers covered with waxed paper).
Our daughter is a pumpkin this year, but since I’ve been horribly sick all week I haven’t had time or interest in dressing up myself.
I was a fairy a few times (obsessed with the Oz books when I was little), but always pretty rather than sexy costumes, and we ALWAYS made our own costumes at home rather than going storebought. I definitely want to continue that tradition with our daughter. That is, after this year. I was sick; we bought a costume from Macy’s…
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madamab says:
I haven’t dressed up in ages, Violet, but like cellocat, I always wanted to be a fairy or a princess when I was a little girl.
My favorite costume was one my mother made when I was 6 or 7. It was Chiquita Banana. She put me in a yellow leotard, drew a mole on my face, and made a peeled banana out of paper bags and cardboard. It was so much fun!
The last time I really put effort into a Halloween costume was when I was Tina Turner at a friend’s party. The wig was really fantastic, although I am a trifle pale to really pull off La Turner. ;-)
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Violet says:
I was going to include Tina Turner! I just ran out of time. But she’s a great choice and another way to wear something glam if you want. The key thing is the wig. You gotta have a wig that looks like a porcupine exploded on your head.
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madamab says:
Violet, your list was fantastic! Almost made me want to go buy a toy corgi and start speaking in the first person plural. ;-)
My wig was really awesome, I have to admit. The best thing about was, no one could tell if it was on straight or not. After a few glasses of mulled wine with beer chasers, this was a key ingredient of its success.
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madaha says:
good stuff. I was going to be Eleanor of Aquitane, with a crown and wimple, long dress, and carry a guitar, but I’ve got nothing going on, so I’ll save that idea for an upcoming year…
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Violet says:
Thanks, madamab. It’s fun to think up easy costumes; I could go on forever with this. Another one: Joni Mitchell. Assuming you have a guitar. Just wear a long blond wig and your guitar strapped around your neck. Of course, people might expect you to sing.
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madamab says:
Oooh! Joan Baez! And she never had much of a voice, unlike Joni Mitchell, so even non-singers could get by.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F.....eattle.JPG
:-)
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Violet says:
What??? Never much of a voice? Good heavens! I grew up on Joan Baez records. That woman has one of the most phenomenonal voices of her time!
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madamab says:
Hmmm…well, there’s nothing more subjective than art, is there?
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Violet says:
Are you sure you don’t have Baez confused with somebody else? It’s not really a question of liking her voice. You wouldn’t say Linda Ronstadt never had much of a voice, even if you can’t stand the way she sings.
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SweetSue says:
I wonder if Madamab is confusing Joan Baez with Judy Collins who covered a Joni Mitchell classic, “I’ve looked at love from both sides now.”
Because Baez has the voice of an angel.
We had about seventy kids at our door, tonight, and not one was the sexaay.
Unless you count princesses, and I don’t. -
Violet says:
Here’s vintage Baez:
MadamaB is an opera singer herself, so maybe Baez’s soprano is bad in some way that isn’t apparent to schlubs like myself.
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Violet says:
I just got an email from MadamaB:
Hi Violet,
I’m offline and on my BB, which means I can’t get on your site because the connection always times out. But here is why I said what I said.
As I remarked, art is subjective. To me, from my perspective as a classically trained singer, “phenomenal” means Leontyne Price or Joan Sutherland. Joan Baez’ voice does not even belong in the same galaxy.
So no, she does not have much of a voice if you listen through my ears.
I hope that makes my position more clear. (You can post it on your site if you want. :-) )
Happy Halloween!
And so we have an answer to The Great Joan Baez Caper!
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Swannie says:
For all the fairie elf and fantasy lovers … FAIRIE CON is happening in Baltimore the weekend of NOV 13 the pictures are breathtaking
Spekaing of voices … ( and she is probably one of the most beautiful creatures walking the planet )
Priscilla Hernandez is a very good friend of mine I have known her online since she had two songs and I will be meting her in person for the first time after knowing each other online for almost ten years. She will be coming all the way from Barcelona Spain to appear at the BAD FAIRIES BALL woohooohttp://www.faeriecon.com/bad.html
the pctures from FAIRIE CON are breathtaking costiumes
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Kookaburra says:
For female singers, what about Joan Jett?
The point is taken about Carmen Sandiego - but her lawlessness was what endeared her to me as a child. She was globetrotting mastermind who consistently flouted and frustrated the attempts of the disembodied male voice/head (depending on the game) to capture her. (Or maybe that was me, I was terrible at those games.) Another aspect that was appealing: she was not the sidekick, her cold heart did not melt at the sight of a helpless baby or woodland creature or something, like most female “villains” of the 80s/early 90s.
Oh and I could wear the costume without much expense and not have to serve up my boobs on the half-shell and totter around in platforms.
Violet - speaking of cowgirls, what about Annie Oakley? She was a philanthropist and women’s rights activist in addition to being a world famous sharpshooter.
This post is bringing up more and more memories. My mother reminded me of my Sojourner Truth costume I made in the 5th grade. A simple black dress from the thrift store with a white shawl and bonnet, and some baby powder to gray my hair and spectacles.
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slythwolf says:
I am IN LOVE with this post.
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cellocat says:
I have become a curmudgeon. Two teens showed up at our door this evening wearing street clothes and reached for the candy bowl. I pulled it back, asked what they were supposed to be, and when they replied, “Um, people”, I snarked, “Is that the best you can do?”. I did give them two pieces of candy each and told them to have a good night, but I am pretty sure I know what they’re thinking about me…
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slythwolf says:
Let me say, also, that the sexxay-costume thing definitely started before I was in high school, so by 1996.
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Halane says:
Great post! You are so right. When growing up and as adult, store bought costumes were considered boring. Many people dressed as puzzles of sorts which others had to figure out. It was fun to dress as famous people bc you could act like them the whole night. Also right that you can decide what you want to wear then base the costume on that. I used to dress as Annie hall a lot bc I wanted to be comfortable and warm.
These costume ideas are super!!! You should post this again every year and you might just get a trend back to clever, cool costumes again. I’m going to send this post to everyone I know to so my part and next year maybe Yoko or Frieda for me. Danke!
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Kookaburra says:
1996 was the first year I was informed by my peers that costumes were supposed to be “sexy”. I was teased mercilessly at the sixth grade costume party for my mime outfit.
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tinfoil hattie says:
cellocat, there’s a “Curb Your Enthusiasm” episode where Larry David REFUSES to give candy to two teen girls who show up at his house in street clothes. It is hilarious. I’m with you! Dress up or stay home!
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yttik says:
I think dress like a whore day began in the late 70’s 80’s. I blame disco, and the popular culture that devolved into the pimp and ho stereotypes. Since the 1980’s Halloween designers actually go to adult entertainment conventions (also known as the porn industry) to get costume ideas. Believe it or not, they actually take those ideas and tone the costumes down for public consumption.
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madamab says:
Kookaburra - Joan Jett rocks! Also, Pat Benatar.
My old voice teacher used to give Taylor Dayne voice lessons. I was early one day and saw her. I didn’t know who she was until he told me, but I did wonder what opera singer wore transparent black blouses and skintight black pants with cutout sides.
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femina says:
I’m out of the Halloween scene, but how about Dorothy of “Oz”, with a black (stuffed) Yorkie and red sequinned shoes? Friends could accompany her as the good and bad witches; the tin-man, lion, or scarecrow; or any of the other characters, for that matter.
Every time I return to read this post I become amused wondering if anyone went as a bus last year with some friends thrown under it. (The bus idea would probably be better used by teens or for partiers of non-O supporters or among people with a broad sense of humor.)
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Violet says:
Joan Jett is a great one. I had also thought about including Stevie Nicks and Patti Smith, but ran out of time.
I think I will do this again next year, though I’ll get started earlier. With my secret background in show business, this kind of stuff is way fun for me. I spent a good part of my life in costume.
Re Carmen Sandiego: honestly, I don’t know enough about the game to be offended! I just think the outfit is cool and easy to duplicate, which is what makes it great for a costume. I also like the fact that she’s not porntastic.
One other thing: I was very tempted in this post to add suggestions on how to make some of these costumes more macabre. But I held back for fear of offense. I mean, some of these women might be people’s personal idols. I decided folks could probably figure out the ghoulish possibilities if they wanted to.
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femina says:
I’ve never been to an adult Halloween party, I might add, so I still think of children dressing up for Halloween.
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slythwolf says:
Siouxsie Sioux would be a fun costume…
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Violet says:
maria says:
This post made my night! I dressed as a young Queen Elizabeth II (vintage gown, etc), but only the foreign students at the party really got it.
My corgi was a big hit though; he wore a bow tie and went as Prince Charles.
Maria, I meant to ask you this earlier but got distracted: do you mean you took your real corgi? Your real-live dog? If so, that’s fantastic.
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SarahG says:
For what it’s worth, the last Halloween party I went to was when I was in graduate school in the mid-’90s. I went as a stuffed olive; every single other female there was some version of a hooker. I felt just a leetle uncomfortable! That was the first time I really noticed the pornification of Halloween.
But yowza, I was looking at costume patterns at the fabric store this year with my six-year-old daughter, and it was page after page of full-color photos of stripper costumes! And of course, my daughter was fascinated–couldn’t take her eyes off them. I was so depressed.
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Bella Donna says:
My 7-yr-old niece went as Captain Jack Sparrow
When I asked why she said “Because he’s the coolest pirate”
She asked me to draw a beard and mustache on with eyeliner.
So, even though I always went as a princess and or fairy, I’m happy for her.
Two years ago she went as Robin from the Teen Titans, “Because he’s the leader of the group.” Yay!
Of course, it would be even cooler if there were cool, leader-of-the-group type women who didn’t wear porn costumes that girls could look up too.
Oh wait, there is! They started making Spider-Girl comics, about Peter Parker’s daughter, who is tall, and athletic, and has short hair, and is captain of the basketball team (but she quits after she realizes she has super-powers, because she doesn’t think it’s fair to the other teams). She wears a costume that is almost exactly like her father’s, but with a different coloring pattern.
My niece loves her comic.
So I was excited to see that there were Spider-Girl costumes for sale this year! Oh, wait, they are Spider-Girl in a skirt.
It’s not often that I experience Comic Geek/Feminist Rage simultaneously.
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Some things I’ve been reading « Urocyon’s Meanderings says:
[...] over into cheesy haunted houses. A few days late (not to mention dollars short), there is also Take back Halloween!, with some amusing ideas for “non-porntastic costumes”. I, too, have been taken aback [...]
