Burning Man NYC Re-Entry 2012 presented by Kostume Kult & PEX

THE VENUE FOR THIS PARTY HAS CHANGED!

IT WILL NOT BE AT DISTRICT 36.

IT WILL BE AT LIBERTY THEATER

234 West 42nd Street, NYC

A Trans-Dimensional Portal from BRC to NYC and all night dance party with one of the best sound systems in NYC

Saturday, September 22nd
9pm-4am

LIBERTY THEATER (Est. 1904)

233 West 41st Street, 

betw 7th & 8th aves,

Midtown NYC

STYLE/INSPIRATION
Time Bandits meets Priscilla Queens of the Desert with a dash of Flash Gordon. Interdimensional travelers with outrageous style with all forms of transformative, transparent or transgender fashions encouraged. Barbarella, SteamPunk, GlamPunk, PlayaPunk, Art Deco, retro-future, robot-chic, aluminum lingerie, rocketwomen & little green men, cross-gender, cross-species & cross-planetary fashions! Share tall tales of adventures had, lessons learned and booty plundered. Emerge from the 'Burn Gate' and sashay down the runway. 

TIME/DIMENSIONAL TRAVEL FASHION SHOW AT MIDNIGHT!  All can participate!

TICKETS on sale now
1st tier - $20 + fee (limited)
2nd tier - $25 fee waived
Door - $30 Kostumed, $40 Mundane
Drink specials all night

RSVP

ARTISTS, INSTALLATIONS & PERFORMERS

Time Travelers Fashion Show (midnight) with MC Christopher

Be transported through Matthieu Boardman's BURN GATE 

High Voltage Time Machine by Kimmy Dudek

ArtDeco Planet Metropolis

Body Art by Transformational Bodypainting & Kirkworx

Photon PhotoBooth by Jeffrey Grossman

Cosmotastic Projections by VJ Static

Playa Video Postcards by Tom Egan

Costume Accessories and Jewelry by Electric Candy Couture 

And YOU participating as you will!

*More TBA soon

DJs in two rooms!

Lee Mayjahs? (PEX, Playloop)

DJ Everyday (PEX, Playloop)

Boris "Burning Elf" (Kostume Kult, Toad, NYC)

Big Jawn & Teh Wallace Tag-team set (PEX)

Discount (PEX)

Orange Krush (Kostume Kult, Disorient, NYC)

Been Jammin (NYC)

DRINKS

(this is an upscale place doing special deals for us)

$6 premium beer

$7 well drinks & wine

$8 call liquors

$3 water bottles

To Volunteer, Propose Art or Offer a Time/Space-Bending Performance, email producer IRENE
ikmalatesta (at) gmail (dot) com
(Mention Reentry in the subject line)

FreaKKshow IV Saturday July 28th, 2012

Our annual circus themed, Burning Man camp fundraiser and all night dance party in an historic Broadway Theater

Saturday, July 28th

8pm-4am

Liberty Theater (Est. 1904)

234 West 41st Street betw 7th & 8th Aves

Midtown Manhattan

PICS

RSVP 

Tickets:

BUY NOW

1st tier - $20 + fee (limited)

2nd tier - $25 fee waived

Door - $30 Freakky, $40 Normal

Drink specials and food available all night

An ode to Ray Bradbury's Dark Carnival novel, "Something Wicked This Way Comes" about a twisted, traveling carnival and its ringleader, Mr. Dark. A good vs. evil story with normal people being tempted into a wicked carnival life…  Now, Kostume Kult beckons you into an artistic life, encouraging you towards your freakiest carny best and a wonderful creative community.

STYLE:  Dark Carnival, Circus Sideshow, Sexy Showgirl, Animal-Faced Humans, Bad Klowns, Misfortune Tellers, Toothless Huxsters, Contortionists, Evil Magicians, Body Art and more...  Be a player in our multi-ringed circus, produce your own sideshow attraction or game of chance... Characters from the Bradbury novel include: Mr. Dark - a sinister showman with tattoos for each person he has tempted into the carnival, the Dust Witch - A blind soothsayer-magician and Tom the lightning rod salesman turned insane dwarf. Invent new characters for this interactive remake and STEP RIGHT THIS WAY! into our Karny life!

DJ Duos spinning fantastically freakky sets including:

- Alex Funk (Kostume kult, Garden of Heathens) with Boris Burning Elf (Kostume Kult, Toad, NYC)

- "Jewmanji" featuring DK (Kostume Kult, Toad, NYC) with EZ (Space Pirates, Disorient, Philly)

- Deep C (Adults at Play & Bangarang!, Philly) and Nate Dark (Bangarang! Philly)

MORE TBA

ARTISTS and PERFORMERS... Full list TBA soon.

To Include:

Performers and Sideshows throughout

Aerialists

Feats of Strength and Absurdity

Multiple video projections throughout this spectacular space

Body Painters

Outsider, Insider and Undersider Artists of all ilks

YOU!

To propose art, a performance or a sideshow: 

http://goo.gl/J0D9Z

Want to Volunteer?

Baby Halloween Costume Ideas

I can't wait to have some kids mainly because before they learn to talk and thus protest, I can dress them up as whatever I want for Halloween!

When it comes to making your own baby costume, felt is probably your best bet. Cheap, easy to modify yourself and comfy to allow freedom of napping during your Trick or Treat stroll around the neighborhood to show those darn cute kids off. Check out this sweet little owl costume from Martha Stewart. Owls are EVERYWHERE in kids stuff. There are lots of good ideas on her site if you are the crafty type.

Here is a very simple tutorial for a No-Sew Infant Parrot costume. Best of all the feathers and wings are in the back so your baby will probably not even notice that they are wearing an adorable costume!

Not everyone has time to dust off the old sewing machine or glue gun though. Recently I came across a very cute site called Chasing Fireflies. Their costumes are on the pricey side, but your kid will be one in a million in their adorable tree frog costume.

Another unique option is finding kids costumes on Etsy.com. Let someone else do the heavy crafting and then reap all the compliments! Just make sure you order early to allow plenty of time for the seller to ship and always read entire listing carefully, especially if it is your first time using Etsy. The variety of handmade and unique items on Etsy is endless. A close friend of mine makes the MOST adorable crocheted mermaid tails for infants. Her shop is called Willows Garden and is filled with the cutest crocheted baby photo props and hats.

Full disclosure: I do not have kids yet and these are just suggestions that I think would work. When I have kids I will be dressing them as something so freakin cute for Halloween.

Mermaid Day Parade June 23rd 2012 Coney Island

The Coney Island Mermaid Day Parade is

celebrating its 30th anniversary!

As the first official day of summer approaches so does the premiere mermaid event of the year The Mermaid Day Parade. Sailor, Starfish and Mermaids get ready to for a colorful march down Surf Avenue and the boardwalk, followed by a ball at the New York Aquarium. 

The Mermaid Day parade starts at 2pm on Surf Ave and ends on the Boardwalk and a dip in the ocean.
Get there EARLY if you want to register without a huge line.

You can register as a single marcher, group or float at the Mermaid Day Parade website.

Quick Tips for surviving marching in this parade:
• You will stand around in the staging area for a LONG time. Bring water. Locate the bathroom.
• Apply sunscreen before your makeup or body paint.
• Check the weather. The parade marches on no matter what so pack an umbrella.

More tips and costume ideas

Mermaid Day Parade 2011 Recap and Photos

Video of previous Mermaid Days

I will be tweeting @kostumegirl during Mermaid Day Parade follow me and come say Hi! 

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Zombie Prom featuring GWAR June 9th, 2012 Irving Plaza

Whether you have fond or fuzzy memories of your own prom, relive the pomp and circumstance but this time with BUCKETS OF BLOOD and GWAR!!

It's the Zombie Prom June 9th, 2012 at Irving Plaza.

Hey Mark! You love Gwar! Why don't you join the band?

Mark, man, you play a mean guitar!

It's really a shame that you must DIE!!

There will be:

Professional makeup artists from NYC’s premiere costume shop ABRACADABRA NYC to help you get your gore on.

Official prom photo.

Receive your official prom pin.

Dress to kill for the Pageant of the Undead – Zombies don’t do beauty pageants…they do gore pageants!

Crowning of the Zombie King and Zombie Queen of the prom.

Prizes!

USE ZOMBIECON’S PROMO CODE “EATBRAINS” TO GET $20 OFF YOUR TICKETS AT:

http://gwarzombieprom.eventbrite.com/

DJ Angela Boatright and DJ Shanna will kick off this evening of the undead.

The Zombie King and Zombie Queen of the prom will receive special prizes.

Charlie Adlard, penciler and inker of THE WALKING DEAD comic books, has donated an original drawing of a full page from the comic! There will be a raffle and one lucky winner will walk away with a piece of original zombie history!

The grand finale? A very special performance by the sickest band in metal history…Hark to the hideous majesty of your MASTERS, rulers of Earth, the MIGHTY GWAR will take the stage.

There will be drink specials all night!!  $21 for a four-pack of beer, special Zombie Punch, add a shot of whiskey to any beer for $5, plus shot specials.

ABRACADABRA NYC will be offering 15% off on all merchandise and makeup to ticket holders and 25% off on all zombie costume rentals or zombification process. Non- ticket holders can still stop by the store and receive 10% off just by mentioning the event.

Tickets are limited and will sell out fast. Proceeds from this raffle will go to The Smoot Family Fund. This event is 21+.

If you are doing your makeup at home check out my video tutorial for Sexy Zombie Makeup.

My first paid Zombie gig

Voodoo Zombie

I'm very excited to report that I actually made money from my costumes!  For some time my friends have been pushing me to start making and selling costumes and accessories. Well I didn't do that, but I did get hired to dress as a zombie for a live promotion in New York City!
I received a call from a casting company looking for zombies who own their own costumes to promote a new zombie mobile game app. I am over qualified in that department. I responded with "Here are your choices: Street clothes, Beetlejuice style dress, Marie Antionette dress, Street Peasant dress." In fact I have a whole section of my closet dedicated to boxes and bags labeled "ZOMBIE". But I digress, the point of this post is I was hired to be a ambling zombie on the streets of New York City.
The day of the event, I got up nice and early for my 7:30am call time in Soho. As I walked in the door I was surprised to see my Kostume Kult friends Rocket, Tom and Mercury John were there as well. I guess I shouldn't have really been THAT surprised. If a call for costumes goes out, we are gonna hear about it. Anyway our staging location was set up in the offices of OMGPOP. They are the company behind a ton of mobile games including a personal favorite of mine, Draw Something. Needless to say being a fairly new technology company their office was super cool. It was clear that they let their employees express themselves at work to aid the creative process. Some of the earlier call time zombies were done with makeup and were practicing their zombie shuffle and groan around the office. After helping myself to some coffee and danish, it was my turn in the makeup chair. A lovely makeup artist who works at Abracadabra during the Halloween season did a fabulous job making me utterly undead. She did a great job with just a few simple sponges, making it look as if I had totally been feasting on brains. I watched her every move carefully so I could try some of her techniques at the next zombie event. TIP: Ripping a sponge makes a great tool for textures. That is how she did the blood around my mouth. After makeup it was time to zombie up my hair. Some costume hairspray in white and green with a generous amount of teasing had me looking like Rob Zombie's girlfriend in no time. I loved it. I pinned my top hat on and after some instructions from our director we were ready to go.

Before the rain flattened my hair.

Unfortunately something that no event planner can organize is the weather. Almost as soon as the zombies were ready to move, the skies didn't want to cooperate. We had just finished shooting some group shots and footage of us pouring out of the subways when the clouds rumbled and really let loose. Zombies are usually impervious to weather conditions but this was ridiculous. Buckets of rain came down and we were forced to seek shelter in the Astor Place subway stop. Undeterred we simply scared any people getting on or off the subway there. We groaned, shuffled and passed out stickers and free "blood" pops (actually a very delicious hibiscus and mint popsicle) to the best of our ability but New Yorkers are pretty impatient when its raining a most wanted very little to do with a horde of zombies slowing down their power rain walking. The zombies powered through and returned to our start location completely soaked with zombie makeup running painfully into our eyes. Then came the fun part of riding home on the 7 train by myself looking like an insane person. Not my first or last time in this particular situation.
Lastly little more about the zombie game. Its from Zynga (Words with Friends, Farmville) and its called Zombie Swipeout. As far as I can tell, it is similar to Fruit Ninja but with Zombies and weapons. Pretty cool. Check out the promo video below.

Hauntcon 2012 Recap

Kostume Girl's trip to HAuNTcon in Monroeville, PA in May was terrific. I returned to NYC triumphant with a suitcase STUFFED (I had to sit on it in order to zip it closed) full of new makeup, catalogs and oddities. The Halloween fans I met were enthusiastic, creative and just super nice.

Halloween Booty from the first day of Hauntcon

Meeting the people behind the haunts was great. For so many people out there running a haunt is a family business. They work incredibly hard during the Halloween season to scare as many people as they possibly can. I met nice guys from Austin, TX who run a non profit haunt to raise money for breast cancer research called Scare for a Cure. Their attraction is described as "Austin's only extreme, full contact, interactive haunted house adventure—guaranteed to chill you to the depths of your soul!".  You can volunteer your time and scaring skills for a great cause there.

The couple that collects roadkill together...

For something completely different, I met a couple who reside in the curiosity exhibit known as Trundle Manor. In the town of Swissvale, PA you will find a house filled to the brim with their collection of formaldehyde preserved critters in jars, antique weaponry and more taxidermy than is probably legal. So if you are a little bit steampunk and a little bit rock and roll, this place is right up your alley. Here's a fun fact: All of the animals featured at Trundle Manor died of natural causes, well as natural as roadkill can be.

I knew Halloween is a huge industry but I had no clue the vast arrays of technical equipment and scare products out there.  Take for instance companies like  Frightprops and Scare Products. They sell huge animated spiders, motion floors, air blasters and latex props that can be installed in your haunt to ramp up the screams. I'm a notorious wuss when it comes to haunted houses. Being in the dark with the very real possibility of something jumping out to scare me around every corner makes my heart rate increase to dangerous levels. When I tried explaining to the people I met that not only do I not run a haunted venue but in general I do not visit them, there was a lot of laughing at me, not with me. Its ok though I love Halloween for the spectacle and the costumes. I know scary business comes with it too so I'm working on embracing the holiday completely and facing my fears head on!

RJ Haddy turns good looking Martin into
Creepy Ghoul But Still Kind of Good Looking Martin.

One of my goals while at Hauntcon was to learn as much as I possibly could about airbrush body paint. As part of a plan to up my kostume game, I've been entertaining the idea of purchasing my own airbrush system. It turns out this was the perfect event to do just that.  I attended a hands on workshop taught by makeup artist RJ Haddy, best known from the reality TV show Face Off. With only an hour to do so, he showed us the basics on how to apply a foam latex appliance and blend it into the skin fairly seamlessly with airbrush techniques. For most haunts, speed is the main concern since you are trying to prepare a multitude of actors or volunteer haunters for your event. An airbrush can really help facilitate a speedy application of all sorts of scary OR SEXY looks. Personally I cannot wait to try out my new airbrush set for Mermaid Day parade. No more painting my entire body with a sponge for 2 hours. No wonder I'm always late to the parade! 

Sexy leopard spots sealed the deal
on my airbrush purchase!

I also attended a seminar on airbrush basics taught by Constance Hall. She and her father Cleve Hall are the stars of a new show on the SyFy channel called Monster Man. Constance showed us basic shading techniques including how to add fine line veins to the face and how to use lace to make interesting textures with your airbrush. She also went over what can go wrong when you are airbrushing and how to troubleshoot. It was very inspiring and I'm sure in no time I will be bribing my friends to let me practice on them!


The final straw that really made me believe I had to have an airbrush was when one of the guys from Evil Twin FX painted sexy leopard spots on me. I was in love. Imagine doing that to your whole body! Shortly after, I bought an airbrush from the knowledgable guy at the Paasche booth based on the fact that all the pros there seemed to be using his airbrushes for their demos. He patiently showed me how to put it together and what never to clean it with. Big thanks to Chuck! Hopefully you have started me off on a path to a new way for me to elevate the caliber of my costumes. 


Leaving the trade show on Saturday it was time to wash off my day makeup and get ready to put on my zombie makeup. The highlight of Hauntcon was that night, The Dawn of the Dead Costume Ball! Time for all the attendees to show off their costume and make up skills. They did not disappoint!

How to freak out your roommate.

For the event I made a special zombie dress from muslin. I wanted a fabric that would really soak up the blood and show it off. Also it was super cheap! I spent $12 for 4 yards of 65" muslin at 21st Century Fabrics (263 West 37th Street between 7th and 8th Aves). I used a pilgrim dress pattern from Simplicity 3723. Then I used Rid Crimson dye and black and red craft paint to bloody up the dress. Its weird sewing a complete dress just to tear it up again. I suggest doing the ripping of the dress with a serrated knife stabbing holes at random spots, especially along the hems. Be careful to do a little tear at a time, the dress still has to fit on your body.
After you are happy with your now damaged garment, hang it on a hanger with a garbage bag inside of it and hang it the bathtub or shower. The garbage bag prevents the paint and dye from bleeding through to the back of the garment. You want the majority of the "blood" on the front since you are a zombie gorging on brains all day. Start by dripping the paint from the top down. If you want, splash a small amount of water to help it drip down the dress. Use gravity to your advantage and don't forget to do this in the bathtub! Once you have added enough blood, let it dry and clean the bathtub right away. The dye does stain and you don't want to end up scrubbing grout for hours.  Once your garment has dried, try crunching it up in a ball and stepping on it a bit to add some wrinkles and to loosen up the painted part as it can get a little stiff once it has completely dried. 


Here is my finished zombie dress and make up. I did the make up using the same techniques as in my Zombie Make up tutorial but I really laid it on thick! I ended up bustling the dress a bit cause people were stepping on it at the dance. This is probably my new favorite wig. I bought it at a Halloween sample sale. It's similar to my real hair but thicker and with dramatic bangs.

Thank you for the sweet pic, Doreena!

Do NOT come and play with them!

Ok so back to the costume ball... There were LOT of really scary zombies there including some zombie construction workers, zombie rednecks, zombie lumberjacks, zombie doctors, and some zombie clowns that will forever haunt my nightmares. Food and free beer was sponsored by Froggy's fog company and then there was dancing into the night. Everyone knows zombies love to dance. Check out a more of my photos. 


As I said in the beginning of this post everyone at Hauntcon was so friendly. At the ball I got the chance to chat with two lovely girls from Las Vegas named Doreena and Tabitha. Their twin zombie girls costumes were great. Love the wigs and those matching baby dolls! These ladies have been working on a Halloween photo book for the past year documenting the many Vegas Halloween events and the people at them. They were obviously VERY busy girls for the month of October. Look for their book Halloween In Vegas Coming Soon!


I will be doing some more posts about the cool people and products I discovered at HauntCon, especially as Halloween draws closer and closer. We are past the half way point people!


Love,
Kostume Girl


PS. Follow me on Twitter @Kostumegirl