Costume Specialties

Bollywood Bimbo

Works Well for Men or Women

When confronted with a last minute costume idea for a party this one is sure-fire winner for either a man or woman. The costume is even better when you do some planning and dedicate some time to putting it together. The costume is guaranteed to generate more laughs and get more attention than any other costume at the party.

Hollywood Bimbo

Locate a long evening gown-style dress—preferably red—at a thrift or secondhand shop. High heel shoes are always a plus but are not necessary if the gown reaches the floor.
Put on an oversize pair of men’s shorts and place an extra-large butt-pad over each cheek, underneath the shorts, to hold the pads in place. Use old clothes wrapped tightly into a small garbage bag as the butt-pad.
Place two large heavy-duty balloons over each breast and hold them in place by wrapping a wide elastic bandage over them and attaching it in back.
Apply heavy make-up to your face. Go all the way with heavy eyebrows, lashes, eye shadow, rouge and lipstick.
Stick on long red fingernails to each finger.
“Bling up” with cheap party store bracelets, necklaces and huge earrings.
Hold a long cigarette-holder with a fake cigarette in a provocative pose.
Finish off the costume with a cheap blond wig.

While the costume will pretty much carry the day, it also helps to get into character and slink around while swinging your phony “physical attributes” around.

When you do the costume right—whether you are a male or female—other guests will not recognize you.

Make an Inexpensive Costume Mask

Combination Mask

Make your own costume facemask from materials that are readily available that also make it easier to construct the mask. I took some lessons from our neighbor who at one time lived in New Orleans. She is a crafty person who has had experience in making masks and is also talented artistically. She has it all when it comes to mask-making and makes full face masks with ease.

I took the simpler route when my wife called on me to make her a mask for our daughter’s afterschool party at which she was acting as a chaperone. I decided to make her a combination mask. This type of mask covers the top part of her face—like the lone rangers mask—with a plastic mask and the lower half of the face is painted on. This mask is my own invention and I did it once for my daughter several years ago.

This is what I did:

I bought a cheap mask at the party store to slip over her head and cover the area around her eyes. I had her try it on for size to make sure it was comfortable.
I then cut out the eye holes to make them larger so her eyelashes wouldn’t brush against the mask when she blinked her eyes.
Next, I spray painted the mask a solid white color.
Using fabric paint, I painted a series of multi-colored curlicues at the corner of each eye.
I picked out some lightweight plastic stones of different colors and glued them around the top and bottom of each eye. It’s important to keep the mask lightweight so it doesn’t slip down as she walks around.
Lastly, I cut two sets of 6-inch lengths of four different colors of ribbons, gathered them at one end and stapled one set to the edge of each side of the mask so they hung down on each side of her face.
I was going for the princess look so my wife dyed her long dark hair blond with washable dye and combed it out.
I had her liberally apply bright red lipstick and a heavy application of rouge on each cheek. I then dusted her face with glitter and the job was complete.

Good luck!

How to Disguise Yourself

Take a Day Off From Yourself

A costume is generally intended to disguise yourself as someone else, whether a hobo, clown or gunslinger. It’s only logical to design a costume by disguising yourself. There are specific steps to follow in order to disguise yourself effectively.

Take off your clothes and stand in front of a full length mirror. Be strong, suck it up and take a good look at yourself. Start at the top of your head and make notes on a note pad as you move down to your feet.

If you have light colored hair, dye it darker and vice-versa. Use washable dye and don’t forget to dye your eyebrows and sideburns.
If you don’t normally wear glasses, find a pair to wear. If you do wear glasses, take them off.
Contact lenses are very useful to change eye color. Be sure to get contact lenses that are very noticeable to draw attention away from your other features.
Light completed, use dark makeup and vice versa.
Place a fake scar on your cheekbone to draw attention to your eyes and away from your general facial features.
False teeth inserts change the shape of your face dramatically.
If you’re heavier, wear slimming clothes. Stuff larger clothes with old cloth if you’re slimmer and need to appear heavier.
Wear a piece of clothing that is bright, unorthodox or simply ugly. This distracts attention from your total appearance.
Place a shim in one shoe to alter the way you walk. Once again this distract from your total appearance.
Wear high heeled boots or flats depending on how you want to alter your height

Wearing a disguise is fun when you want to trick people you are acquainted with. You may feel exposed when trying to pass yourself off as someone else, but if you have done your job right, no one will know you.

Fast and Inexpensive Costume Ideas

Make Your own Costumes

Kids have been known to come to the breakfast table and casually mention that they are supposed to be in costume today for a school party. Usually, this immediately precipitates a flurry of activity to come up with something that will at least get by. Another scenario is when your child is invited to a party and the home bank account is pretty near zero. This can actually mean no party for the kid, a much less pleasant ending for all concerned.

Costumes made quickly and simply with materials found around the house are often very helpful to the busy homemaker and a lifesaver for the child.

Here are several costumes that are put together at a moment’s notice and serve the purpose adequately.

Clown Outfit

Lay out an oversized T-shirt flat on the table. Use large markers to color in a row of red buttons—approximately 3-inches in diameter—with a yellow center down the front of the T-shirt. Outline the yellow center and the red button with a black marker. Color red strips up and down the shirt and outline each stripe with black marker. Slip the shirt over the child who is wearing dark pants. Place a red kerchief— so that they show prominently around the ankle—in two oversized shoes and have the child put them on. Stuff the front and back pockets with brightly colored kerchiefs or pieces of fabric so that they dangle out of the pockets approximately 8-inches. Find an odd-shaped hat, even if you have to cut one up and mark it up to make it look funny. Finally, use some make-up to color circles around the eyes and outline the lips. Paint on the cheeks and as appropriate to make a clown face.

Construction Worker

This costume is quick and simple to assemble and the design is flexible enough to allow you to take some artistic license. Dress the child in brown shoes or heavy boots—even winter ones—with a large T-shirt “dirtied-up” with black and brown marker to resemble dirt stains. Roll up a pack of cards, in the left-hand sleeve to give the appearance of a pack of cigarettes. Use make-up to create “dirt smears” on the child’s face and arms. Place a tool belt, without tools, around his waist and top it off with a cheap plastic hardhat.

Old Fashioned Costume Party

Costume Parties are Fun!

It has probably been a long time since you have attended a costume party; up until a few weeks ago, it certainly had been for me. Even Halloween parties usually give only a wink and nod to a costume. I do remember in years past that costume parties were fairly commonplace even if it wasn’t Halloween.

There is something very entertaining about dressing up so that you look like a stranger and sitting back and watching people you know intimately, trying to figure out who you really are. Of course, the enjoyment is even greater as you are faced with the same challenge. When someone is able to disguise themselves—stand directly in front of you and you still can’t place them—they have really pulled off a good one.

What got me thinking of this is that I actually did go to a costume party several weeks ago for the first time in years. A friend who worked with me was leaving for a job transfer to Hawaii—where she would be living for at least the next several years. Her joke was that she wanted to remember her friends the way that they weren’t, as well as the way they were.

Over the several weeks leading up to the party she made certain to catch each of the people invited and take our picture on her phone. We were then instructed to dress up so she couldn’t identify us.

I am a thirty-something up and comer and I disguised myself as a burned-out sixty-something with nothing else left in the tank. I was identified but at least not in the first round.

However, the person who fooled absolutely everyone, even those very close to him—including me—was my boss and also the boss of the woman being transferred to Hawaii.

Our boss is of average height and a bit on the skinny side; about 45 years of age. To cut to the chase he dressed as a woman. But what a woman! This guy went to the beauty salon, had a facial with full make-up as well as a manicure with beautiful fingernail paint. He rented a wig and had the hairdresser arrange it to complement his “look.” He then dressed in hose, slinky high heels and a tight dress with the appropriate padding.

This guy was so well disguised that the rumor was going around that he was going to replace my friend who was getting transferred.

He had a ball holding court at the party with most of the males in the room, and in the weeks since the party has been unmerciful in his amusement at their expense.

It isn’t necessary to spend a lot of money to disguise yourself for a costume party but it certainly is a whole lot of fun.

Mardi Gras Costumes

Masks for Mardi Gras

Fat Tuesday is the last day of the carnival season when all the stops are pulled out, over-indulgence and excess becomes the order of the day and the celebration begins with a bang. Fat Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday.

Historically, families found all the butter, lard, cream and other heavy foods in their cupboards that they planned to “give up for Lent” beginning on Ash Wednesday and consumed it by feasting on rich dishes such as King Cake.

Mardi Gras Day or Fat Tuesday is the day when extravagant and riotous balls are held. These balls are by invitation only and costumes are worn along with elaborate masks to conceal the identity of the revelers. What happens at Mardi Gras stays at Mardi Gras.

Dressing out in costume is also a way for the partiers to express themselves—and with their identity concealed by their masks—to conduct themselves in ways they may not otherwise act.

Many Mardi Gras masks have the colors purple, green and gold incorporated into the design. The color purple signifies justice, green symbolizes faith and gold represents power.

Many revelers create their own masks and wear them from year to year, making small changes each Mardi Gras. Others partiers who are fortunate enough to be invited to the exclusive and fancier balls purchase highly ornate and decorative masks.

Masks were initially intended to allow peasants to disguise themselves and mingle with the aristocracy during the Mardi Gras celebrations. While not invited to the balls, the peasants could celebrate in the streets alongside the nobles. Peasants worked hard on full body costumes to complement their masks and to further hide their identity and their station in life. These costumes were made in the form of the devil, skeletons and wild animals as well as whatever else the celebrants could envision.

Without a doubt, the costumes contribute greatly to the enjoyment, indulgence and splendor of the Mardi Gras celebration.

Downton Abbey's secondhand costuming

You have seen that dress before.

Downton Abbey is an expensive show. The BBC hit features an opulent household with very fine furnishings, and of course, has a huge cast who all need to be lavishly costumed. Despite a budget of £12million (around $19 million), a number of the costumes are not newly made for the show. Instead, they are hand-me-downs from various Hollywood productions that were set during the same period as Downton. Costume designer Tim Angel said that creating all-new costumes would make the show completely unaffordable. He says that about two-thirds of the drama’s costumes have been reused.

According to Britain’s Daily Mail, the show’s stars wear dresses that were first worn by the likes of Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson and Uma Thurman. Most productions like Downton Abbey have small costume budgets, so instead rent a number of costumes from costume houses. Often, the dresses are slightly altered, and obviously refitted for the new actor.

Some of the pieces used in Downton are unrecognizable from their original incarnations. For example, a floral blouse worn by Emma Thompson in Howards End in 1992 loses its ruffles and topping blazer to be an outfit for Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary) in present day. A body-hugging green, pink and white silk dress worn by Uma Thurman in 2000’s The Golden Bowl is altered to be looser for Elizabeth McGovern (Lady Cora), with a change in silk colors and the addition of decorative accoutrements.

A surprising turn of costuming brilliance is the adaptation of another of Uma Thurman’s dresses from The Golden Bowl to work for Dame Maggie Smith (Dowager Countess Violet). The teal dress was low-cut and bare-necked for Thurman, but a lace blouse underneath the dress makes it more appropriate for the older woman. Other costumes, like a white lace dress worn by Laura Carmichael (Lady Edith) and Elaine Cassidy in A Room with a View, look exactly the same.

The piece also references a website called Recycledcostumes.com, which tracks costumes as they move through various period pieces. For example, a brown dress has been tracked in seven productions over the last seven years.

It’s sort of amazing that reusable costumes are so ubiquitous, and that viewers don’t catch on to this sort of thing. Perhaps that’s the power of retooling and restyling old costumes. The article gives viewers a new perspective on behind-the-scenes costuming, and let’s us look forward to seeing some beautiful dresses—again—next season. Are you excited for Downton Abbey’s third season?

Fast, Simple and Inexpensive Costume

Make a Ghost Costume

Make a ghost costume quickly and simply with items generally found around the house or readily and inexpensively available at the fabric or party store. Ghosts have been wonderful costumes for many years because we are all alternately fascinated or frightened with the thought that they may actually exist.

Ghost costumes can be assembled to look scary, amusing or spooky with about the same amount of expense and effort.

Begin by measuring the distance from your neck to the tips of your toes. Next, while standing, measure the distance around the widest part of your body. Cut three equal sections of the tulle into the dimensions of the two measurements just taken.

Spread a layer of the tulle flat on the floor and then lay the next two layers of tulle directly on top of the first. Arrange the three layers so that the dimensions match up with each other. Fold the three layers over at one time—from side-to-side where you measured it around your waist—so that the edges of the folded-over material match the edges of the material laying flat on the floor.

Stitch the edges of the material together, along the sides you matched up. Slip the “dress” over your head—it should be way too large around your body and fit you perfectly from neck to toes. Pull the material up around your neck, bunch it up at the back and sew several stitches to hold it together. Make sure the neck-hole fits over the head so it can be taken off. Cut slits on each side so each arm can pass through.

Dye your hair black with washable hair dye and color in white streaks from front to back with white dye.

Get a small paper doily and press it up against one side of your face. Press a small sponge dipped in white face paint against the doily leaving a design on your face. Repeat the process on the other side of your face and then your forehead.

Paint your lips with black face paint and then use it to draw straight narrow lines from the hairline to the jaw-line.

The extra-large and very lightweight layers of dress will swell, billow and float with every breath of wind to give the impression of ghost. The painted hair, face and lips complete the costume by giving it a spooky look.

Happy Halloween!

Crafting Costume Head Gear

Part III: Paper Trail

Once you’ve slathered your headpiece in bandages and allowed them to dry, cut up a nice pile of white art tissue. In this case, Spectra Art Tissue was used. Pour a cup of Elmer’s glue into a bowl or pan and dilute with tap water.

Brush the surface with glue-water and apply the tissue strips. Build up several layers of mache and let dry.

Mache is really what locks down the form and surface of your piece. It textures shapes like eyes and nostrils, making the whole headpiece durable and resilient. Between the mache and the plaster beneath, the headpiece can endure a considerable amount of abuse before tearing or puncturing.

Final touches beyond painting and detailing included teeth made of Fun Foam cut in triangular wedges and hot-glued into slits beneath the headpiece’s “brim.”

Sealing the deal with a protective finish like Roscoe Acrylic Matte gel was crucial as the pieces experienced not only rough play but were in constant exposure to the elements. Roscoe products are frequently expensive and must usually be purchased through theatrical suppliers. An aerosol spray like Krylon Matte Finish should suffice.

All told, each character headpiece (or “helmet-hat” as one drama critic would later describe) cost the company less than $40 a piece. If you cannot procure used and surplus materials like bike helmets or foam rubber, your cost will most likely double.

Arrh!...A Dinosaur Ate My Spaceship was a triumph for Theater Schmeater and listed as Number Five in Seattle Weekly’s 2011 round up of top 10 favorite stage moments.

All well and good, but the most positive reviews came from the youngest attendees and their cries of “Mommy, look a T-REX!!”

Crafting Costume Head Gear

Part II: Wrapping Your Head Around It

Scouring thrift stores for used bike helmets on which to fashion the ARRH! character headgear was time consuming but it was cheaper than buying them new. Styrofoam and rolls of 4 x 180” Rigid Wrap are relatively inexpensive, but foam rubber can be shockingly pricey when purchased whole from a retail outlet. ARRH! was blessed to have access to a source of old, used foam mats from a defunct kids gym franchise.

Foam is a prop maker’s friend. If you find an inexpensive source, stock up. You’ll be grateful you did.

The early stages of headgear construction are the most challenging. One must sculpt the form by cutting the foam into its basic, intended shape with scissors or a sharp knife. This requires patience and more than a little skill…not to mention strong hands. You may want to consider an electric carving knife if you have access to one.

Next, bind the foam shape to the bike helmet by any method available. In this case it was a combination of wire, duct tape and a dollop of hope.

For eyes and horns Styrofoam balls and cones were purchased from a craft store and affixed to the foam.

Once the shape is set, cover the entire piece in one or two layers of Rigid Wrap or plaster bandages. Be warned, the process of wrapping something in plaster is messy and plaster likes to bond with certain fabrics and won’t always wash out.

Cut the plaster bandages into manageable strips of about 5-6”.

To apply the plaster bandages, first fill a large bowl with warm water. The water should be warm enough to soak and soften the plaster but not scald the designer. Don’t let the strips soak longer than a few minutes as plaster sets up and hardens very quickly, even when submerged.

Once one layer is complete, let dry. Plaster bandages do not dry in a uniform manner. Urging the drying process with a hairdryer cuts down the wait time. Remember: the plaster bandages are far too brittle to be used as your principal shaping medium. They merely hold the components in place. Essentially, your plaster layer is your piece’s endoskeleton.

More to come…

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