http://www.kostumekult.com/events/blb2010/
The Kostume Kult's Black and Light Ball is May 15th!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Burning Man
So I've bought my ticket to the place of a costumers wildest dreams. I'm going to Burning Man at the end of August. My close friend Rob will be coming with me.
I'm nervous. I'm thrilled. I'm NOT READY! How will I pack for 5 days of no society rules of dress. Will I go topless? Will I pack enough sunscreen? I have a vision in my head of what it will be like, but I get the feeling it will be more than I could have ever imagined. Time to buy a tent, a headlamp and a LOT of facepaint.
So far this is what I have on the list for costumes:
Desert Zombie - easy because it requires mostly facepaint and fake blood. I can wear a raggety bikini & boots!
Harajuku burner - colorful twist on armaggedeon Tank Girl look. Hair buns, glow sticks, lots of plastic jewelry & face paint.
Cheshire cat costume (Burn Edition)- hot pink bikini made of fur with tail on back, crazy glasses (goggles) and again of course FACEPAINT!!
Goldfish with LONG fins - I'm very excited about this one because I feel it could have big results for small effort. I'm going to modify my goldfish costume that I wore to Vegas (see picture) by adding much MUCH longer fins on the arm pieces. I'm thinking about 15-20 ft each. We will see because I will still need to be able to travel (possibly on a bike) with it.
Steampunk Desert Survivor - this is still vague on my mind. The color scheme is tan, biege and brown. The goggles are a must. I just haven't figured out how to make it more interesting yet.
So that is what I have so far. Planning is still in the infant stages. I really don't do my best work till right before an event, but in this case I must prepare ahead of time in order to pack/ship things out there. Only 4 more months!!
I'm nervous. I'm thrilled. I'm NOT READY! How will I pack for 5 days of no society rules of dress. Will I go topless? Will I pack enough sunscreen? I have a vision in my head of what it will be like, but I get the feeling it will be more than I could have ever imagined. Time to buy a tent, a headlamp and a LOT of facepaint.
So far this is what I have on the list for costumes:
Desert Zombie - easy because it requires mostly facepaint and fake blood. I can wear a raggety bikini & boots!
Harajuku burner - colorful twist on armaggedeon Tank Girl look. Hair buns, glow sticks, lots of plastic jewelry & face paint.
Cheshire cat costume (Burn Edition)- hot pink bikini made of fur with tail on back, crazy glasses (goggles) and again of course FACEPAINT!!
Goldfish with LONG fins - I'm very excited about this one because I feel it could have big results for small effort. I'm going to modify my goldfish costume that I wore to Vegas (see picture) by adding much MUCH longer fins on the arm pieces. I'm thinking about 15-20 ft each. We will see because I will still need to be able to travel (possibly on a bike) with it.
Steampunk Desert Survivor - this is still vague on my mind. The color scheme is tan, biege and brown. The goggles are a must. I just haven't figured out how to make it more interesting yet.
So that is what I have so far. Planning is still in the infant stages. I really don't do my best work till right before an event, but in this case I must prepare ahead of time in order to pack/ship things out there. Only 4 more months!!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
COSTUME CONTEST FEB. 2010
My brother invited me and my family to go up to Burlington VT for the annual Magic Hat Mardi Gras parade. My parents go every year, but I had never been. Its held the last week of February and can be a chilly event! This is what it's all about. The brewery Magic Hat is located in Burlington. *Side note: Burlington is a beautiful small city with an adorable down town and breath taking views of Lake Champlain.* They throw a huge party with a parade and music events down the center of town (Church Street). This year they added a costume contest to the list of events for the 1st time and when my brother told me about it, I dropped everything and started planning my outfit.
Luckily I always have my Queen Frostine dress in the back of the closet so I dusted it off (its looking kind of gnarly after 3 consecutive Santa Cons and 1 Halloween) and packed it up. My roommate had these amazing masks she scored from a television shoot. Its amazing having a best friend in fashion. I carefully packed them too and figured I could get a few last minute Mardi Gras themed items at Michael's. I LOVE YOU MICHAEL'S CRAFT STORE!!
Everything was going as planned, but then an epic snow storm centered around the Catskills down to NYC threatened to prevent my parents and I from even GETTING to Burlington! The bus was cancelled, the trains sold out, it was a disaster. Thankfully I found a bus the next morning to Albany and my parents, after many many hours of shoveling snow got their car out and picked me up on the way. After that debacle we were good to go. We arrived in Burlington that evening in time for dinner and before Michael's closed.
The next morning my mother helped me safety pin, hot glue and zip my way into my costume. It felt oddly like my wedding day with everyone's biggest concern being getting me to the contest location on time. However seeing as the people of Burlington are a laid back type and in no particular rush, they were not ready with their booth by the time I arrived! So we went to a near by bar and started in on the Hurricanes. CAUTION: Hurricanes are dangerously delicious! Here is a picture of me at the bar before the contest.
While we were waiting for the competition to begin we wondered if there would be judges or if the winner was based on crowd reaction. I was beginning to think I should be out on the street campaigning for my cause. So we took a few walks and ran into tons of children who were enamored by my Princess-like look.
Finally the contest was set to begin after much drum circle performing and dancing. (Another Burlington favorite pastime) The MC was the owner and founder of Magic Hat who seems to enjoy dressing up almost as much as I do! He announced the contest would be divided into Male and Female contestants and that a couple could not enter together (whew cause there was some clever ones.) I was feeling pretty confident after looking at my competition and before I knew it I was taking the stage. I waved, air kissed and acted like royalty in general announcing my name as Madam Mardi Gras. Next the ladies were narrowed down to 5 finalists.
Thats when I realized my biggest competition was a little girl with an adorable renaissance dress on. DAMN! Anyone with a kid in the audience is going to cheer for her!!!! I was sweating bullets thinking about how upset I would be to lose to a 6 year old. But what is this?! After the big scary man yelled her name into the microphone she started crying and asking for her mother. My inside voice screamed "YESS!!". My outside voice said "Awwww, poor thing. Where's her mommy?". That was a close one! Now it was just down to myself, a drag queen and a Lady Mardi Gaga (Clever, but her outfit could've been 10,000 times better and furthermore if a drag queen won I would have to cry foul! You should have to technically be a woman to enter in the Women's portion of the costume contest.) Anyway the big moment finally arrives and Mr. Magic Hat announces the winner as MADAM MARDI GRAS!!! The crowd cheers (especially my family and friends, BIG THANKS) and he hands me an envelope with $500 CASH and invites me to join him in leading the Mardi Gras parade!! HORRAY!! After thanking Mr. Magic Hat and meeting my King of Mardi Gras I joined my family for hugs and lots of celebration.
The parade itself was fun and exhausting as I didn't get to ride on a float, rather I had to walk/dance the whole route. I have new respect for those people on TV at the Thanksgiving Day parade. What a great time!
Luckily I always have my Queen Frostine dress in the back of the closet so I dusted it off (its looking kind of gnarly after 3 consecutive Santa Cons and 1 Halloween) and packed it up. My roommate had these amazing masks she scored from a television shoot. Its amazing having a best friend in fashion. I carefully packed them too and figured I could get a few last minute Mardi Gras themed items at Michael's. I LOVE YOU MICHAEL'S CRAFT STORE!!
Everything was going as planned, but then an epic snow storm centered around the Catskills down to NYC threatened to prevent my parents and I from even GETTING to Burlington! The bus was cancelled, the trains sold out, it was a disaster. Thankfully I found a bus the next morning to Albany and my parents, after many many hours of shoveling snow got their car out and picked me up on the way. After that debacle we were good to go. We arrived in Burlington that evening in time for dinner and before Michael's closed.
The next morning my mother helped me safety pin, hot glue and zip my way into my costume. It felt oddly like my wedding day with everyone's biggest concern being getting me to the contest location on time. However seeing as the people of Burlington are a laid back type and in no particular rush, they were not ready with their booth by the time I arrived! So we went to a near by bar and started in on the Hurricanes. CAUTION: Hurricanes are dangerously delicious! Here is a picture of me at the bar before the contest.
While we were waiting for the competition to begin we wondered if there would be judges or if the winner was based on crowd reaction. I was beginning to think I should be out on the street campaigning for my cause. So we took a few walks and ran into tons of children who were enamored by my Princess-like look.
Finally the contest was set to begin after much drum circle performing and dancing. (Another Burlington favorite pastime) The MC was the owner and founder of Magic Hat who seems to enjoy dressing up almost as much as I do! He announced the contest would be divided into Male and Female contestants and that a couple could not enter together (whew cause there was some clever ones.) I was feeling pretty confident after looking at my competition and before I knew it I was taking the stage. I waved, air kissed and acted like royalty in general announcing my name as Madam Mardi Gras. Next the ladies were narrowed down to 5 finalists.
Thats when I realized my biggest competition was a little girl with an adorable renaissance dress on. DAMN! Anyone with a kid in the audience is going to cheer for her!!!! I was sweating bullets thinking about how upset I would be to lose to a 6 year old. But what is this?! After the big scary man yelled her name into the microphone she started crying and asking for her mother. My inside voice screamed "YESS!!". My outside voice said "Awwww, poor thing. Where's her mommy?". That was a close one! Now it was just down to myself, a drag queen and a Lady Mardi Gaga (Clever, but her outfit could've been 10,000 times better and furthermore if a drag queen won I would have to cry foul! You should have to technically be a woman to enter in the Women's portion of the costume contest.) Anyway the big moment finally arrives and Mr. Magic Hat announces the winner as MADAM MARDI GRAS!!! The crowd cheers (especially my family and friends, BIG THANKS) and he hands me an envelope with $500 CASH and invites me to join him in leading the Mardi Gras parade!! HORRAY!! After thanking Mr. Magic Hat and meeting my King of Mardi Gras I joined my family for hugs and lots of celebration.
The parade itself was fun and exhausting as I didn't get to ride on a float, rather I had to walk/dance the whole route. I have new respect for those people on TV at the Thanksgiving Day parade. What a great time!
Kostume Kult presents: Horned Ball 2010
http://www.kostumekult.com/events/hornedball/
Its time to dig into your creative costuming mind and pull out something with HORNS!!
Not sure I will make it this year as I did not prepare anything yet. But I probably could pull something out of the closet.
Its time to dig into your creative costuming mind and pull out something with HORNS!!
Not sure I will make it this year as I did not prepare anything yet. But I probably could pull something out of the closet.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Lady Gaga
I submit to you the personification of my costume motto "More is More"...
Lady Gaga
After watching the video for "Bad Romance" today and also witnessing people go dance crazy for the song at a club this weekend, I am crowning her my new hero. She's innovative and I truly believe she sees her visions out to reality through her videos and live performances.
She is like a pop version of TOOL and a female version of Marilyn Manson without seeming like she is trying so hard.
She embraces excess which is a breath of fresh air in a time when all people talk about is tightening our belts. High fashion and high attitude.
So Thanks Lady Gaga. Keep doin what your doin.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Costume UPDATE
Working on my Cheshire Cat costume for the last few days. I don't have that much to do on it which is good but frustrating cause I want to be making costumes this time of year. I am helping out a few other people though so I'm sure I will have enough to do.
I finished my ears this morning. See..
I look like a raver club kid! haha I really think when people see the Alice in Wonderland crew together they are going to know what I am right away. On my own however I might just look like a pink kitty.
Going to Michael's later with a few friends and even though I am not going for anything specific I'm sure I will come home with a bunch of stuff and a new "project".
ZOMBIE UPDATE!!
ZombieCon date has been set for Saturday October 24th. The zombies will rise to drink, dance and create havoc on NYC streets and subways. So much fun. I really can't say how much I am looking forward to it! My brother and his girlfriend are supposed to come down for it too! Go to Zombiecon.com to sign up for text updates that will tell you where the Zombies will be so you can meet up with them... FOR BRAAAAINS!!
I finished my ears this morning. See..
I look like a raver club kid! haha I really think when people see the Alice in Wonderland crew together they are going to know what I am right away. On my own however I might just look like a pink kitty.
Going to Michael's later with a few friends and even though I am not going for anything specific I'm sure I will come home with a bunch of stuff and a new "project".
ZombieCon date has been set for Saturday October 24th. The zombies will rise to drink, dance and create havoc on NYC streets and subways. So much fun. I really can't say how much I am looking forward to it! My brother and his girlfriend are supposed to come down for it too! Go to Zombiecon.com to sign up for text updates that will tell you where the Zombies will be so you can meet up with them... FOR BRAAAAINS!!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Scary, Creeping and Unusual
Throughout my whole life, I've never been one to dress up as something scary for Halloween. For starters, scary movies really really freak me out. I can barely watch Harry Potter without hiding under the covers, forget about Jason and Freddy.
However in between developing my mermaid day costumes for '08 and '07 and going to Zombie Con I realized that scary costumes are really really fun. I am planning on taking my zombie costume from last years Zombie Con and just making it MORE gory and scary than it was before. I am going to basically dye the whole outfit a deep red as if its been saturated with blood then drag it through the mud AKA brown and black paint. The key to getting a good zombie look is adding the right amount of white makeup to your skin to give yourself an unnaturally dead look and then adding black for sunken eyes and cheeks. Of course the finishing touch is fake blood. I prefer a product Stacy and I discovered called "Scab Blood". They sell it at Ricky's and it works best if you apply it with a toothpick or q-tip with the cotton cut off. It really clumps and dries perfectly. After you get base of liquid fake blood where you want it, let it dry and add sporadic "scab blood".
Some people at Zombie Con go with the prosthetic wounds. I find unless applied with a ridiculous amount of Spirit Gum, these things are not going to make the long haul and end up hanging half way off your face. Which I guess for a zombie really isn't that bad! I just wouldn't be able to stand it and would pull it off my face within the first hour.
So in conclusion, even though I am not being something scary for actual Halloween, I am so excited to dress up for Zombie Con on Saturday, October 24th in NYC. Get the word our to your friends!! You won't regret it.
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