The Costumer

Last weekend, I had the honor of participating in the Gypsy encampment set up at the 2009 Witches Ball in Mount Holly, New Jersey! Along with the crew of Seventh Kingdom IGE, I wore a detailed Gypsy costume and helped establish an ambiance.

One major highlight of the Witches Ball was the costume contest. Contestants came from near and far to participate for cash prizes and more. The “Best Overall” and “Scariest” costume winnings went to Jeff Shepard of Florham Park, NJ. Shepard appeared as “The Headless Man.”

See pictures of the winning costumes on the Witches Ball site. (more…)

We all know that sex sells just about everything. As the eternal debate goes on regarding Halloween versus Slutoween, it seems that a San Diego costume store had to remove some tasteless Halloween costumes which were flaunting more than a few innuendos (Source: NBC San Diego). Well, if Dracula ‘receiving his pleasure’ is just a bit too risque for you, you could always try being H1N1 swine flu or Michael Jackson complete with crotch grab.

Want a popular 2009 Halloween costume but on a tight budget due to the economy? Consider one of the below — 10 hottest (most inexpensive) Halloween costumes of the year.

Links at the beginning go to other entries on this blog and typically instruct you on how to create the costumes or where to buy them.

1) Sookie Stackhouse of HBO’s True Blood. This perky, psychic, vampire-adoring waitress has captivated audiences since the series’ debut last year. As the show gains popularity with its immensely successful viral marketing, so does our take-no-garbage protagonist Sookie. A strong Southern adult, Sookie holds her own in an environment populated by powerful, supernatural beings.

Other True Blood costumes such as Maryann the Maenad and Lafayette Reynolds are pretty popular this year.

Check out my previous blog entry on how to make a vampire costume on a low budget!

2) Harvey Dent/Two-Face. Politicians having two faces…well, that’s been all the rage for a while, and it continues to get worse with the ongoing debates about healthcare. Opt for a more creative/less controversial costume by going with Harvey Dent from Batman. The costume is also inexpensive and easy to sew together using existing clothing.

3) Twilight Costumes. Fans of Bella and Edward? ‘Twilighting’ is very popular this year due to the book series and films. Kelly at Convention Fans alerted me to the fact that Hot Topic is selling Edward Cullen costumes!

4) Ladies and Gentlemen…The Beatles! Their music is re-mastered and they even have their own RockBand game. Now people of all ages want to emulate The Beatles.  While Sgt. Pepper may go “in and out of style,” The Beatles don’t, but they’ve made a particularly strong comeback in 2009.

5) Dysfunctional Celebrities: Amy Winehouse, Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears. The costumes are cheap and easy. Plus, they might look funny on a class clown kinda guy. (more…)

I’ll throw it out there. Call me fat if you want, but I’m a size 10. I’m a bit chubby since I’m short, but not too bad. My point is that I’m a size 10. I’m a bit on the hourglass side, but not enough to be noticed for it. However, due to my dress size and measurements, I’ve discovered one thing when it comes to purchasing pre-made Halloween costumes: I’m a plus.

This strikes me as a bit odd considering I have never been a plus size in anything before–even in juniors sizes, I can sneak into a size 13 or 14 whenever appropriate.  But for most Halloween costumes? I’m a plus!

I’m not the only one discouraged by this sizing issue. GeekDad over at Wired found a major gender discrepancy when he attempted to order some Star Trek uniforms. This is a lot like the issue my friend Katy pointed out to me–remember the Ghostbusters uniforms? Baggy for the men, Slutoween-ready for the ladies?

While I’m pretty sure this represents the ridiculous double standard of the geek community…you know, the one that says guys can be fat lazy bastards who live in their parents’ basements, but all women must look like that Betty Page wannabe on CSI or the chick who gets dumber every season on MythBusters.

I understand what sells. Ridiculous misogynistic movies like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. It’s sad that, despite the oddly large proportion of geek men to geek women, there are so many trollish geek guys that fall for this crap. And I don’t just mean troll…I mean so trollish that the cave troll in Lord of hte Rings looks like a hot item.

Perhaps if they’d get their head out of Megan Fox’s cleavage for two seconds, they’d realize that ladies are in fact attainable (though rare) in the geek community.

(I do understand that there are non-stereotypical geek guys out there who may or may not have ridiculous standards. And hey, I married one of the ones that doesn’t!)

That said, there are some fine resources out there for those looking for plus size costume options this Halloween (whether or not you ARE even plus sized to begin with). It’s important to always note the measurements on these costumes rather than just pick your size–as you may have guessed, almost all Halloween costumes run very very small!

Here are some resources: (more…)

Tweet for costumes!

We live in an instant gratification society. Why should getting the costume you want be any different? Several readers have written me in the past few weeks asking for advice on Halloween costumes. While I respond promptly, sometimes advice-seekers don’t wait for a reply due to the lore of instant gratification. Why wait when you can buy it now on eBay?

If you really want Halloween costume advice without buyer’s remorse, look to Twitter. On Twitter, you can find costumes, win contests, and more!

• CostumePop for costume contests
• halloweenstyles for phenomonenal ideas
• VGXPO for a place to wear your costume
• cosplaycostumes …versatile for conventions and Halloween
• CompareCostumes - weigh your options
• DizguiseCostumes for upscale items 
• swcostumes if Star Wars is your thing
• 911costumes for all your Michael Jackson needs (maybe not all…)
• And, as always: @irishtara to follow The Costumer

Enter in one or more categories in The Witches Ball Costume Contest to be held on October 10th, 2009, Mill Race Village, Mount Holly, NJ. The contest is a fixture of The Witches Ball, being held this year for the ninth time.

Contestants should pre-register to enter. There is a $10.00 entry fee. Contestants may enter in additional categories for a $5.00 each per category.

The contest winner will receive a $500.00 grand prize.

Categories as follows:

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I get a kick out of dressing up as a witch. I don’t like being an evil witch or a sexy witch–I like being a good witch. A goody-two-shoes witch who probably befriends unicorns and fairies and loves the color purple. I’m not so girly during the rest of the year, but my ‘I wanna be cute’ side tends to come out around Halloween. It’s likely because everyone else is trying to dress for slut-o-ween and I just want to be the rebel.

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