Costuming for Nerds, Part 8

[matril]

It's been a while since I've done one of these, probably because 2009 wasn't a particularly exciting year for costumes, so I haven't been super enthusiastic to write about it. But I'll just go ahead and do two years today.

October 2009 was the month I injured my foot - definitely sprained it, possibly broke it - so I didn't have much ooomph for making a costume that I would only be sitting around in. The rest of the family decided to go with a fairy tale theme again, this time with Mark as a jester, Ryan as a dragon, Emma as a fairy princess (because of the wings) and Luke, again, as a knight. We bought a bunch of components from the costume store, and the only thing I ended up making was a vest to go with Mark's jester hat.

I decided I'd just use something I made earlier in the year. One of our local fabric stores was going out of business (tragic!) and I bought up a bunch of patterns sold very cheap. One of them was this.

I guess I was a princess too? I really enjoyed that veil. I'm a little uneasy now, though, at the idea that it's one of those costumes verging on cultural appropriation. Eep. In any case, it was a quiet Halloween for me.

2010 was better.

Luke's costume was the easiest, just a Captain Kirk set we bought ready-made at the costume store. For him, it's always best to keep it simple and comfortable. That smile...is actually an impatient grimace, as he was anxious to be done with pictures and get on to the party (or at least the car ride). But Emma and Ryan were both fully autonomous with costume-making decisions by that point. Emma originally wanted to be Princess Leia (without any prompting from me) but decided instead on a princess of her own making, "Princess Elizabeth," and I hid my disappointment and let her make up whatever she wanted. Ryan wanted to be a "dost," which is a little clearer in this picture where he's wearing ghostly-colored clothing.

And then there was the superhero duo. Mark took some jeans that were already kind of ripped and tore them up some more, decorated a green t-shirt, and got some green face paint (which, as you'll see later, came in handy several years in a row). I already had the t-shirt, so I just needed to make the shirt and cape. I knew it'd be hard to find red boots with just the right look (that weren't punishingly uncomfortable) so I used red tights.

I really, really liked that cape.

Comments

[sonetka.livejournal.com]

I love the Hulk and Supergirl, and while I understand your disappointment about missing out on costuming a small Princess Leia, I had to smile at Princess Elizabeth, since Phoebe insisted last year on being "Princess Ballerina" which meant that she wore her favorite tutu, plastic crown, and her sister's old ballet slippers. It looked pretty thrown-together, but she LOVED it and that made it great :).

[matril.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's very gratifying to see my kids come up with their own costume ideas and put them together by themselves, or with just a little help - so much more than if I was determined that they have perfect little photogenic ensembles and micromanaged every step of the process. I'll save that for my own costumes. ;)