The most impressive, and I mean really... REALLY impressive costume that I have seen recently (2002?) was what I refer to as "The Grim Reaper of the Cattle Trail." Here's how it was done:
Drape yourself in flowing black cloth. I do mean drape. Cover your head like it was a table and you have a black tablecloth. Use some of that thin black gauze for eyeholes so that you can see out but others can't see in. Get some very short stilts (12 inches or so) the kind that you wrap/tie in place around your calves. You have to make sure that your black tablecloth is long and flowing enough to completely cover your real human feet but not so long and flowing that you trip over it with your stilts/cloven hooves. Wear long black ladies gloves (and a black leotard if you have to.) Place/affix a plastic bleached white cattle skull right smack on the top of your head. Make it look like your real (black clad) face is the Grim Reaper's neck or chest. Get yourself a full-sized scythe to use as a combination cane to aid your balance and potential soul reaper to strike fear in the hearts of your enemies. Now walk around slowly, keeping in mind that you are now a foot-and-a-half to two feet taller than you usually are.
The effect of seeing an eight-foot, black-clad, cattle-skull being walking around with a scythe would be frightening enough. Throw in the altered limb length, unnatural movement and the extended head and you've got yourself some homemade terror.
Seriously, I couldn't take my eyes off of the dude who did this. He (she?) was AWE-sum. It was sooo freakin' me out. This thing walked into a club I was in several Halloweens ago and everyone went silent for, like, ten or fifteen seconds before the crowd resumed with a worried muttering.
Do NOT do what two guys I know from the Theater Dept did. They did absolutely brilliant Coneheads on each other. They actually glued a smooth seam around their head. But THEN they realized that they couldn't drive anywhere, not enough (cone)head clearance. So they got a friend with a station wagon to come get them. They laid down in the back with the tailgate down and went to the party. The part in their story where their friend took them out on the highway for an exit or two before going to the party strikes me as too perfect to be credible.
I don't think that its image could be captured by technological means. Let me tell you: it was difficult to be in the same room and not stare at the thing. Besides, pictures just wouldn't do it justice, it was the long-legged, short-armed, huge torso dynamic that made it/him/her look like a huge death raven.
It is all coming back to me now how surreal that thing was. I wish that I could convey the whole bird of prey aesthetic properly. A certain kind of creepy unease, fear or terror. I rarely get frightened anymore but I would not have wanted to be in the parking lot alone with... whatever it was.
Speaking of Halloween: I was nine years old when I and two of my friends went out as the Marx Bros. Robin Kennedy was Groucho, Chris Blakeman was Harpo and I was Chico. If I had had more friends we would have had a Zeppo, but who wants to see a nine-year-old in a suit? I wasn't even close to being popular enough to even consider a Gummo.
In any case, this was in a town of under two thousand people. The kind of place where those who weren't at home on Halloween would leave out big bowls of home-made carmel corn with a note saying "Take all you want." We debated whether we should abscond with the entire bowl but Chrissy pointed out that we were already stealing money from UNICEF and we didn't want any more bad karma.
We spent about two-and-a-half hours criss-crossing the town according to Robin's meticulously calculated path that would get us the most candy per mile. The last stop of the night was the house right next door to Robin's mom's house. The enclosed porch was dimly lit by a green light and Robin and Chris plunged through the screen door with me right on their tails. I immediately found out why we got in so quickly. The male head-of-household spent every Halloween night on the porch in a white sheet, hip waders and a rubber Frankenstein mask...
...and he was holding the door open for us. I am not a screamer but I swear I was going to start if Robin and Chris hadn't continued directly into the house without so much as a shiver. I soon found out that not only did Mr. Whatshisname hang out on his porch all night feeding upon the blood of nine-year-olds but, at the end of the night, Mr. & Mrs. Whatstheirnames gave away all of the candy that they had left over.
Robin's strategizing paid off in a big way. Nestle's Crisp. Full size! Best Halloween Ever.
Simple halloween costume: Put slave on your cheek and dress in tight purple clothes.
Complicated: You could go as Fat Elvis. It would take a good sized fat suit, a bucket of KFC and Peanut Butter. Real bad side-burns and hair. And a drugged out stutter and a white rhinstone-clad suit.
My best Halloween story is that I was going to door to door once and rang a bell. No answer. I knocked, cuz I hadn't heard the bell. No answer. Knocked once more. Finally, a woman cracks open the door and peaks out her head. "Yes?" she asked. "Trick or treat," my friend and I said. She was like, "Oh, yeah... hold on." She opened the door and walked back into the house to grab some candy for us, and that's when we noticed she was only wearing a towel. She had climbed out of the tub to answer the door, wrapped a towel around herself, and then gotten candy for us, nearly naked. My friend and I, age 10 or something, just giggled and ran away before she returned.
That sounds like something my old neighbors would do. When I lived in this other apartment building, you would see people in the lobby wearing only their pajamas.......
Sorry - had to vote for anything that needs explaining. I like to hear what other people guess that you are. One year, I went dressed as an aquarium, which meant I wore a lot of shiny blue fabric as the base of my costume. I had several people tell me to cheer up; I was also asked if I was supposed to be the Blair Witch (this was the year the movie came out). I think I was also asked if I was a blueberry. Anyway, I find it to be an interesting sociological experiment. Then again, I'm thinking of being the Bridesmaid of Frankenstein this year - an excuse to wear one of those old dresses again :) - which I imagine with the sprayed out hair and chalky face will require explanation.... Besides - won't your other idea require just as much explanation?
You should go as Michael Jackson. (other)
;) "Gee Thanks!" ;)
The most impressive, and I mean really... REALLY impressive costume that I have seen recently (2002?) was what I refer to as "The Grim Reaper of the Cattle Trail." Here's how it was done:
Drape yourself in flowing black cloth. I do mean drape. Cover your head like it was a table and you have a black tablecloth. Use some of that thin black gauze for eyeholes so that you can see out but others can't see in. Get some very short stilts (12 inches or so) the kind that you wrap/tie in place around your calves. You have to make sure that your black tablecloth is long and flowing enough to completely cover your real human feet but not so long and flowing that you trip over it with your stilts/cloven hooves. Wear long black ladies gloves (and a black leotard if you have to.) Place/affix a plastic bleached white cattle skull right smack on the top of your head. Make it look like your real (black clad) face is the Grim Reaper's neck or chest. Get yourself a full-sized scythe to use as a combination cane to aid your balance and potential soul reaper to strike fear in the hearts of your enemies. Now walk around slowly, keeping in mind that you are now a foot-and-a-half to two feet taller than you usually are.
The effect of seeing an eight-foot, black-clad, cattle-skull being walking around with a scythe would be frightening enough. Throw in the altered limb length, unnatural movement and the extended head and you've got yourself some homemade terror.
Seriously, I couldn't take my eyes off of the dude who did this. He (she?) was AWE-sum. It was sooo freakin' me out. This thing walked into a club I was in several Halloweens ago and everyone went silent for, like, ten or fifteen seconds before the crowd resumed with a worried muttering.
Do NOT do what two guys I know from the Theater Dept did. They did absolutely brilliant Coneheads on each other. They actually glued a smooth seam around their head. But THEN they realized that they couldn't drive anywhere, not enough (cone)head clearance. So they got a friend with a station wagon to come get them. They laid down in the back with the tailgate down and went to the party. The part in their story where their friend took them out on the highway for an exit or two before going to the party strikes me as too perfect to be credible.
damn, too bad you didn't have a camera with you so you could snap some shots of 'it' for us!
I don't think that its image could be captured by technological means. Let me tell you: it was difficult to be in the same room and not stare at the thing. Besides, pictures just wouldn't do it justice, it was the long-legged, short-armed, huge torso dynamic that made it/him/her look like a huge death raven.
It is all coming back to me now how surreal that thing was. I wish that I could convey the whole bird of prey aesthetic properly. A certain kind of creepy unease, fear or terror. I rarely get frightened anymore but I would not have wanted to be in the parking lot alone with... whatever it was.
Speaking of Halloween: I was nine years old when I and two of my friends went out as the Marx Bros. Robin Kennedy was Groucho, Chris Blakeman was Harpo and I was Chico. If I had had more friends we would have had a Zeppo, but who wants to see a nine-year-old in a suit? I wasn't even close to being popular enough to even consider a Gummo.
In any case, this was in a town of under two thousand people. The kind of place where those who weren't at home on Halloween would leave out big bowls of home-made carmel corn with a note saying "Take all you want." We debated whether we should abscond with the entire bowl but Chrissy pointed out that we were already stealing money from UNICEF and we didn't want any more bad karma.
We spent about two-and-a-half hours criss-crossing the town according to Robin's meticulously calculated path that would get us the most candy per mile. The last stop of the night was the house right next door to Robin's mom's house. The enclosed porch was dimly lit by a green light and Robin and Chris plunged through the screen door with me right on their tails. I immediately found out why we got in so quickly. The male head-of-household spent every Halloween night on the porch in a white sheet, hip waders and a rubber Frankenstein mask...
...and he was holding the door open for us. I am not a screamer but I swear I was going to start if Robin and Chris hadn't continued directly into the house without so much as a shiver. I soon found out that not only did Mr. Whatshisname hang out on his porch all night feeding upon the blood of nine-year-olds but, at the end of the night, Mr. & Mrs. Whatstheirnames gave away all of the candy that they had left over.
Robin's strategizing paid off in a big way. Nestle's Crisp. Full size! Best Halloween Ever.
Great story.
Simple halloween costume: Put slave on your cheek and dress in tight purple clothes.
Complicated: You could go as Fat Elvis. It would take a good sized fat suit, a bucket of KFC and Peanut Butter. Real bad side-burns and hair. And a drugged out stutter and a white rhinstone-clad suit.
T'ho
:?)
;)
My best Halloween story is that I was going to door to door once and rang a bell. No answer. I knocked, cuz I hadn't heard the bell. No answer. Knocked once more. Finally, a woman cracks open the door and peaks out her head. "Yes?" she asked. "Trick or treat," my friend and I said. She was like, "Oh, yeah... hold on." She opened the door and walked back into the house to grab some candy for us, and that's when we noticed she was only wearing a towel. She had climbed out of the tub to answer the door, wrapped a towel around herself, and then gotten candy for us, nearly naked. My friend and I, age 10 or something, just giggled and ran away before she returned.
That sounds like something my old neighbors would do. When I lived in this other apartment building, you would see people in the lobby wearing only their pajamas.......
Excellent story! :)
Whoa. My mind boggles at the very idea.......
An international futbol star who was just beaten to a pulp because he missed the game winning goal.
HAHAHA.
Sorry - had to vote for anything that needs explaining. I like to hear what other people guess that you are. One year, I went dressed as an aquarium, which meant I wore a lot of shiny blue fabric as the base of my costume. I had several people tell me to cheer up; I was also asked if I was supposed to be the Blair Witch (this was the year the movie came out). I think I was also asked if I was a blueberry. Anyway, I find it to be an interesting sociological experiment. Then again, I'm thinking of being the Bridesmaid of Frankenstein this year - an excuse to wear one of those old dresses again :) - which I imagine with the sprayed out hair and chalky face will require explanation.... Besides - won't your other idea require just as much explanation?
Well yeah, but I figure that it looks cooler than just wearing a dress or something..........
Bride of Frankenstein is a good idea, nobody does things like that anymore..... I just might not dress up as anything, too much work, y'know?