USA Costume

Here in the United States of America you -more often than not- will find that each person you meet is from somewhere different, or has a lot of different cultures and countries represented in their heritage. Anyone whose family has been here for more than a couple of generations tends to wind up as an American mutt. I myself have three countries and one commonwealth represented in my heritage, and I have friends who have at least nine represented in theirs. For this Halloween, why not pay homage to one of the countries your grandparents, their parents, or parents parents was from?

It will be similar to those people who dress in red white and blue on the 4th of July; except you can use whatever colors or designs that come on the flag of the country of your choosing and construct the costume around that common theme. You can incorporate bits of traditional or historical dress from that country as well. For example, if the country you chose was Japan, you could construct a white kimono top that ends at your waist instead of at your ankles, and wear a red skirt with it. On the pack of the kimono you could paint a red circle to make it appear to be the national flag. If you chose Holland, your colors would be red white an blue, but to differentiate from other countries you could wear a pair of wooden clog shoes (if you could find some) and one of those elaborate bonnets.

Once you choose a country, it should be fun to think up all the ways to make a cool outfit to represent the heritage of that place. You can choose to incorporate the old and the new, or simply go with the colors/design of the national flag if you’re sure it wont be confused with any other countries. There are only so many colors, and many flags use the same ones, so sometimes you can not rely on colors alone to make you recognizable. Props will definitely help! If you come as Russia, maybe bring a bottle of vodka along? You’ll definitely be a hit.

Samurai and Ninja have always been “super cool!” for lack of a better term. They both have the deadly accuracy of someone who has studied their craft and practiced it often, and in popular culture are seen lopping heads clear off with one swing, or throwing knives from far off distances and hitting a man in the center of his forehead. They both have rules which they follow, but while the samurai deal in strict honor codes and set modes of battle, the ninja specialized in sabotage and assassination in the dead of the night.

samurai

Ninja are appealing because of the mystery that surrounds them. There were very few records kept about what they did for/to history over the centuries, (which must mean that they were doing their jobs well) but we do know some things about them. It is assumed that the ninja came about during the 14th century, but there was not any kind of training to become one, or an organization to it until the 15th. At that point they were mercenaries, doing they dirty tasks that higher-ups or opposing forces would rather pay someone to do that risk tarnishing their reputations. By 1571 they were being hired for some very high profile assassinations and by that point their name was definitely made in the history books.

Samurai were a different type. They followed a code called Bushido (“the way of the warrior”) which was made up of seven virtues; rectitude, courage, benevolence, respect, honesty, honor, loyalty. They did not fear death, and did not necessarily avoid it either. It was thought that a man who had not risked his life in battle at least one time was a shameful person. To die in battle, especially fighting alongside a fellow warrior or for the good of some cause was the most honorable thing a man could do. Later ways were invented to regain this all-important honor, should it be lost. Most notably the ritualistic suicide called ‘seppuku’, wherein a man would take part in a ceremony that ended in slashing his own stomach (and sometimes), being beheaded by a fellow samurai.

Both ninja and samurai played important roles in history, and either would make an ideal Halloween costume. Be sure that you choose wisely though, and don’t do anything they wouldn’t to.
Don’t do everything they would do either, or you might end up in jail or dead.

May we reconvene under the blood red moon,
-Black Widow

Alice in Wonderland

A story that still captivates our imaginations despite being over a hundred years old is that of ‘Alice in Wonderland’. It is the story of a girl who grew tired of reading in the park and followed a white rabbit down a rabbit hole to embark on a great adventure. In this place called Wonderland, there were many wonders indeed. A white queen, a queen of hearts, a mad hatter, a Cheshire cat, and of course the perpetually late rabbit whose appearance in the story began the whole thing. There are plenty of interesting characters from this story for one to dress as for this upcoming Halloween.

The first character to appear in the story, and the most popular to dress up as is Alice herself. Her outfit is generally very simple and cute. All you need is some kind of light blue dress (preferably one which a petticoat can be put under to make it flair out) and a white apron to go over it. That is technically all you need to make the costume recognizable, but if you wanted to add a little more to it would certainly help. Black mary jane shoes, a ribbon in your hair (or perhaps a blond wig?), and white stockings would help assist in making you appear more like Alice. There really isn’t much variation to the way she looks no matter what version of Alice in Wonderland you might be considering (movie, book, comic offshoots), so it’s up to you whether you want to make, buy, or collect parts for the costume.

For the other characters however, there are less options. The mad hatter is the second most favored as far as pop culture goes, so there are some hatter costumes available for purchase for both men and women; but if you weren’t satisfied with the way these looked, you could easily create your own. The physical description of what the hatter looks like/wears is less straightforward, and he seems to change appearance depending on which version you favor the most. So really, you could create your own hatter outfit quite easily and still have it be accurate.

As we go down the list of characters there are less and less costumes available, so you will need to rely more and more on your own creativity. But don’t be afraid of putting a little work into it. At a party it will be clear who purchased their costume and who either made them themselves or compiled them from acquired clothing articles. It will be clear how much work you put into it, and everyone will be very impressed. You can count on that.