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Upon costuming, creativity, and cash
All Hallows Eve has come and gone again for another year. It went well, I think. This year, I was dressed as Pablo Picasso's "Girl Before a Mirror." I'm surprised more people weren't able to guess what I was, in the general if not the specific, given that
A: I had painted my face, neck, upper-chest and shoulders in a cubist style.
B: I was FRAMED (carrying a wooden frame around strapped to my waist and shoulders to hold it in place)
C: I was SIGNED ("Piccasso," on my left shoulder.)
(And yes, I know that's a misspelling, it's hard to sign your own shoulder.)
(...So I didn't. It's Mom's fault.)
(...I love you, Mom. Even if you can't spell.)
A: I had painted my face, neck, upper-chest and shoulders in a cubist style.
B: I was FRAMED (carrying a wooden frame around strapped to my waist and shoulders to hold it in place)
C: I was SIGNED ("Piccasso," on my left shoulder.)
(And yes, I know that's a misspelling, it's hard to sign your own shoulder.)
(...So I didn't. It's Mom's fault.)
(...I love you, Mom. Even if you can't spell.)
But I think only two or three people I saw that day guessed "Picasso painting?" without prompting. Ah, well. Still a better track record than 2004's "Venus de Milo" costume. No, I was NOT naked. (Maybe that was the problem.) I love Halloween, but even I have limits to how far I'm willing to go for a costume. I painted the torso onto a white turtleneck, and painted the sleeves black below the point where her arms are missing.
What surprised me more than how few people figured out what I was was how very, VERY few people were dressed up. I spent the morning's classes half worrying that I'd gotten the date wrong or something, since I didn't see a single other person in costume until noon. Shocking, SHOCKING. People who don't dress up on Halloween are as bad as people who "bah humbug" Christmas. For most adults, this is the one time of year when it's permissible to play dress-up. This is the chance to show off and be whatever it is you want to be that you normally aren't! Why the hell would you willingly pass that up?
One guy gave me the excuse that he "didn't have money" for a costume. I was ASTONISHED. "Costumes don't cost money!!!" was my response. And seriously, the Picasso costume was no money down, this year. I used things that I already had lying around, including the frame, which was a leftover from a previous costume when I was dressed as the Mona Lisa.
He insisted that if you aren't the kind of person who has face-paints lying around, then a costume has to cost money. I said that you can make a costume with whatever you have lying around, even in a non-arty household, cardboard and newspaper and stuff. He rolled his eyes and said yeah, a CRAPPY costume. He'd rather not have a costume at all than be that guy in a cardboard box with "GUNDAM" written on the side.
...Oh, it is ON. It is so on. You know what, random dude? Next year, my costume budget is going to be FIVE BUCKS. Maximum. I will be aiming for less. And I will construct it entirely from scrounged/found/recycled materials which a non-artist could reasonably be expected to have in or around their home. And it will be awesome. And it will strike a blow for every low-budget costumer I have ever seen, from the cardboard-box-Gundam-guy who by the way is much cooler than you because at least he tries and is brave enough to look silly, to that mom with all the socks and stuff stapled to her who explained that she was dressed as static cling, to that girl with a fake black eye covered with sheets of paper with the letter 'P' written on them who got mock-huffy with anyone who failed to realize that she was the Black-Eyed Ps.
Halloween is NOT a luxury. And you don't get to use that excuse. Next year. Just you wait.
What surprised me more than how few people figured out what I was was how very, VERY few people were dressed up. I spent the morning's classes half worrying that I'd gotten the date wrong or something, since I didn't see a single other person in costume until noon. Shocking, SHOCKING. People who don't dress up on Halloween are as bad as people who "bah humbug" Christmas. For most adults, this is the one time of year when it's permissible to play dress-up. This is the chance to show off and be whatever it is you want to be that you normally aren't! Why the hell would you willingly pass that up?
One guy gave me the excuse that he "didn't have money" for a costume. I was ASTONISHED. "Costumes don't cost money!!!" was my response. And seriously, the Picasso costume was no money down, this year. I used things that I already had lying around, including the frame, which was a leftover from a previous costume when I was dressed as the Mona Lisa.
He insisted that if you aren't the kind of person who has face-paints lying around, then a costume has to cost money. I said that you can make a costume with whatever you have lying around, even in a non-arty household, cardboard and newspaper and stuff. He rolled his eyes and said yeah, a CRAPPY costume. He'd rather not have a costume at all than be that guy in a cardboard box with "GUNDAM" written on the side.
...Oh, it is ON. It is so on. You know what, random dude? Next year, my costume budget is going to be FIVE BUCKS. Maximum. I will be aiming for less. And I will construct it entirely from scrounged/found/recycled materials which a non-artist could reasonably be expected to have in or around their home. And it will be awesome. And it will strike a blow for every low-budget costumer I have ever seen, from the cardboard-box-Gundam-guy who by the way is much cooler than you because at least he tries and is brave enough to look silly, to that mom with all the socks and stuff stapled to her who explained that she was dressed as static cling, to that girl with a fake black eye covered with sheets of paper with the letter 'P' written on them who got mock-huffy with anyone who failed to realize that she was the Black-Eyed Ps.
Halloween is NOT a luxury. And you don't get to use that excuse. Next year. Just you wait.