Another year, another slew of hours wasted worrying about my Halloween costume. In fact, that's really all I reliably blog about... mostly because my friends and family will strangle me with electroluminescent wire if I talk about it much more.
I always like to incorporate elements that I happen to have lying around the house into my Halloween costumes; it preserves that childhood dress-up feeling. This year, I'm essentially broke, so I have to make sure whatever money I do spend goes a long way. Bring on the challenge!
I've decided to go with the Giger-esque cyborg ("gyndroid") that I've been toying with for years, but have never actually gotten around to putting together.
Not as fetishy as this picture (which is actually by Trevor Brown, not H.R. Giger), and with more glowy bits. I have a black PVC Edwardian corset with a silver schematic print from the delightful Gallery Serpentine; there's a small smudge in the print so I got it on deepdeep discount, yay! Everything else will be in black and silver, too. I was thinking the EL wire should be blue. I prefer green, but green & black electronics remind me of Xbox and The Matrix... not exactly the look I'm going for. Purple's always nice, but you don't see many purple lights in electronics. Red would be too distracting, especially since I live in a college town, which means every single emergency vehicle in the county is responding to something on Halloween. If anyone actually reads this and has another suggestion, I'd love the feedback.
So, the rest of the outfit: silver shorts (I may splurge and buy these from American Apparel or eBay. I've never sewn shorts, and I'm not particularly good at working with stretchy fabric to begin with. Trying to make my own is just asking for an awful fit.) Over the shorts,I've got a black PVC 6-strap garter belt which will attach to tall black socks. I was looking through Artifice Clothing's collection of silver OTK's and thigh-highs, but they're not in my price range. Besides, I wouldn't want two different silver tones so close to one another. Also, I've worn pleather pants in the fall before and absolutely hate it. It's freezing for the first hour you wear it but you're still all sweaty since there's absolutely no air circulation. Then, it's like all the body heat you were desperate to retain earlier floods back into your legs. Imagine getting a hot flash only in your calves and thighs for an entire night. I plan on walking, dancing, etc. in 40-50 degree weather. No matter how beautiful vinyl looks in photo shoots, it's just not practical here. I don't plan on reliving Halloween 2004 when I was self-exiled to a corner, desperately trying to protect my wings and feathered dress while my friends ran off to the middle of the dance floor. Aaaanyway, the EL wire will be sewn onto the socks. I'm painting one of my many pairs of black boots silver. I may paint a matching schematic pattern on them, or decorate them with scavenged e-waste, but that would cut down on their post-holiday wearability. We'll see.
I've got the bottom half taken care of, but I have no feasible ideas for the top. I was thinking about putting neodymium magnets in the palms of some black fingerless gloves, but what if I get too close to someone's TV or computer? Although "summoning" canned beverages all night would be pretty damn cool. I need to think of something for my arms (preferably something warm) and neck/clavicle region.
So much left to figure out so late in the game! Aaaaah!
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So, the rest of the outfit: silver shorts (I may splurge and buy these from American Apparel or eBay. I've never sewn shorts, and I'm not particularly good at working with stretchy fabric to begin with. Trying to make my own is just asking for an awful fit.) Over the shorts,I've got a black PVC 6-strap garter belt which will attach to tall black socks. I was looking through Artifice Clothing's collection of silver OTK's and thigh-highs, but they're not in my price range. Besides, I wouldn't want two different silver tones so close to one another. Also, I've worn pleather pants in the fall before and absolutely hate it. It's freezing for the first hour you wear it but you're still all sweaty since there's absolutely no air circulation. Then, it's like all the body heat you were desperate to retain earlier floods back into your legs. Imagine getting a hot flash only in your calves and thighs for an entire night. I plan on walking, dancing, etc. in 40-50 degree weather. No matter how beautiful vinyl looks in photo shoots, it's just not practical here. I don't plan on reliving Halloween 2004 when I was self-exiled to a corner, desperately trying to protect my wings and feathered dress while my friends ran off to the middle of the dance floor. Aaaanyway, the EL wire will be sewn onto the socks. I'm painting one of my many pairs of black boots silver. I may paint a matching schematic pattern on them, or decorate them with scavenged e-waste, but that would cut down on their post-holiday wearability. We'll see.
I've got the bottom half taken care of, but I have no feasible ideas for the top. I was thinking about putting neodymium magnets in the palms of some black fingerless gloves, but what if I get too close to someone's TV or computer? Although "summoning" canned beverages all night would be pretty damn cool. I need to think of something for my arms (preferably something warm) and neck/clavicle region.
So much left to figure out so late in the game! Aaaaah!