Planning a Costume

I have various costuming events coming up in the next couple of weeks. One of them is a costume party at a friend's house this weekend. The other is, of course, Halloween. I've got concepts/characters figured out for both occasions. The trick now is thinking through the details and making choices about the primary pieces of a costume; that is, will I wear a dress? If so, what dress? Or, perhaps pants and a shirt? Once the main pieces are chosen, then the accessories, hair style, and makeup all get chosen as well. I'm still in the midst of this part of the process, though I have a lot of ideas.

Sometimes, admittedly, I don't start with the main pieces at all. Sometimes I just know I want to wear a particular color, or that the clothes I want to wear will express a particular way I want to feel, or occasionally there is even just one accessory I want to design the whole outfit around. The other thing I try to think about when designing a costume is avoiding the obvious. So, for example, sometimes one particular style of dress will easily call up an overall look--maybe a style of dressing from a particular time period, or a certain sort of iconic image. As much as is possible, I try and work against that obvious choice, while also seeing that there are times when you have to just accept the obvious, go with it, and simply play it a little different than others have before.

Below are pics of some of the various costumery items I'm currently choosing from.

Rubber Dress custom made for me by Atsuko Kudo

YSL TributeToo Black Patent Pumps

Leather Lacing Harness by AudraJean
(the entire front laces up to the neck, sorry this detail is obscured by the black t-shirt)

Taffeta cape custom made for me by Pam Wilkinson

I don't know that I'll wear all of these costume elements, and I have other accessories that will be worked into the ensemble as well. But these are pics of some of the basics I'm considering. Your thoughts are welcomed!

A Confession: I Have a Problem With Black Leather. The Problem is Something I Affectionately Call "Boots."

So, I have two problems, two real, serious problems. The first is that my problem with black leather doesn't end at boots. I've not even posted here about the black leather pants I own, and I use the plural form of "pant" there not just to indicate two-legged trousers, rather than heavy breathing (though black leather does sometimes lead to that use of the word "pant" too, doesn't it?), but really honestly to indicate multiple pairs of pants. Oh, sigh. And then this is me only mentioning the black leather items I own for the bottom portion of my body. I haven't included the jacket, or the opera length gloves. You see? You see what I'm confessing here? Here's the second problem. These pictures are horrible. But, still, you'll get the idea.

Vanessa Bruno High Heel, Ankle Boot

Atalanta Weller for House of Holland Cut-Out, Wedge Boot

Balenciaga Riding Boot

Ann Demeulemeester Lace-Up Boot

Stuart Weitzman Over The Knee, 50-50 Boot

Maison Martin Margiela Open Toe, Thigh High, Covered Heel Boot

It's become clear to me that I have to devise a black leather boot dressing game. A kind of, "Okay, look! You're in this or that situation. You have to rescue these people, and then these people. Quick! Which boot do you wear?!" Cause, honestly, depending on who you were rescuing, and what you were rescuing them from, the kind of boot you were wearing would change. I mean, duh.

Also, these pictures make it clear that the above photos should be printed out and turned into the Black Leather Boot Card Game. You know, where you compete by creating complete outfits based around which Black Leather Boot you draw from the handmade deck of Black Leather Boot Trading Cards. The other cards being things like skirts, jeans, wrap dresses, and short shorts that have to be skillfully matched with the boots. It should be clear by now, the game is all about the Black Leather Boots. Again, I mean, duh.

Wishful Thinking

Rachel Roy, F 2009
(If anyone does locate above pictured dress, please feel free to let me know.)

Dear Elaine,

We all know how much you like penpals, so I have written in advance of Christmas to, first, surprise you, and then, second, spur on the anticipatory tension that comes when I force you to wait until I actually arrive. A dress like me is tricky like that--so nonchalant in my draping you want to relax, so demanding in my color palette you can't help but pay attention.

Yes, despite the surprise, I am your Christmas present. I know it's hard to believe since your parents don't believe in the existence of such bright, or expensive clothing, and most of your friends are broke. Not to mention the fact that you have utterly resisted ever considering the merits of my dear, earnest designer until the vibrancy of her fabrics lured you in. But you are one of those rare people that looks good in such vibrant orange--thank your parents Alaska Native heritage for that--and considering your recent blog post on the vividly orange tow truck signs, your loved ones conspired to get together and search long and hard for me--this beautifully draped, asymmetrical, just-your-style, Rachel Roy dress that will look so good on you--so that you can dress up and laugh and laugh because you know that though you could dig out a car, even in designer RTW attire, and look good doing it, instead all you have to do the day you wear me is walk through town and smile.

Love,
Your new dress

p.s. I look forward to meeting you in person.

Zombie Chicken Blog Power Heck Yeah

The Award


Okay, so. I just got a blog award from insanitykim, delivered over there via her blog. And you know what, heck. I blush a little bit. It's hardish to make me blush. So, not only have I gotten a blog award, I've gotten a physiological experience I don't commonly get to have too. Thanks, Nice-Nice Kim!


The Situation
So, the way these blog awards work you're usually supposed to hand them out to other blogs too. And here's the thing, the zombie chicken award is a medal given only to those blogs you'd go crazy commando hog wild covered in mud to read even though you're facing the end of the world and chickens are actually a serious undead threat. I mean, imagine, flesh-rotting but-still-animated chickens coming after you demanding corn, stealing red leather MJ style jackets to dance in along the way. It's a horrifying situation really. Yet even in the midst of that there are those of us that know we still need something good to read. Thus, the zombie chicken blog award for those blogs that even in the midst of horrorifying running and screaming we'd be pounding across the pavement actually thinking, "God, please let me find free wi-fi so I can access that blog via iphone while I escape."

If we did ever encounter such a situation, here's what I'd be wearing.

Current Givenchy, image from Italian Vogue

I recognize the above outfit is likely an unexpected choice when encountering the zombification of poultry the world over. But here's the thing, the only chance we've got in such a situation is the power of the unexpected, and honestly if I've gotten ahold of a dress as fabulous as Givenchy couture it's because I've also transcended the limitations of this human toil, having apparently become some kind of ultra-fantastic superhero superpower, and am fully prepared to use my powers of apparition to kick some serious zombie chicken ass, appearing, disappearing, and reappearing just like Dead Pool from X-Men, except better because I wouldn't be covered in scar tissue, and I'd be apparating for the sake of what's good. In this case, clearly, the good being philosophical insight via the power of the written word as offered in blog form.

The Zombie Chicken Award Winner
So, here's a chicken award. The zombie chicken seems to come with a 10-blog award point (that is, I can hand the award out to something like 10 other blogs), but I'm gonna start by awarding only 1, so that I can save 9 points to award later. Us single moms are always trying to save what we can.

The thing about me too is that I can't just hand these things out. I've gotta offer explanation for my choice. So here we go.


This Zombie Chicken Award Goes To:


1. Learning to Be: On the Phenomenology of Development, Life, and Human Life.

The truth of the matter is, are you ready? I know a lot of philosophers. It's horrifying really. It's a crazy world when you're surrounded by people that reflect on almost anything they do in their lives as if even pulling their own socks up can offer valuable insight into the human experience. I know some of you are laughing, thinking, surely not just pulling your socks up. No. Truly. Some of us really honestly reflect on things as mundane as pulling up our own socks and turn it into theorizing.

Here's the other thing though. The best theory does makes sense of every day experience. So, in that light, even pulling up your own socks, when done well, can be a source of great philosophical, and thus also personal, insight. Recently I pulled up both my socks and discovered after that they both matched and didn't match at the same time, and not only that, they both matched my underwear too. How, you ask? They're all striped. Different colors, varied stripe sizes, but all striped. How could I have done this without realizing until after? Isn't it strange, you reflect, that I could have gotten these things on while not actually paying attention, and yet also have chosen only items that have this one common feature? It's as if some part of me was actually paying attention the whole time.

Bad example, but it turns out some people have the ability to answer such questions. So, I offer the zombie chicken blog award to the newishly born blog "Learning to Be" for two reasons (1) the author is one of those people that has the power to theorize brilliantly on things in such a way to show us that what we sometimes take to be simply mundane is really quite profound (he has a whole post on the experience of making espresso), and (2) the author is also one of those philosophers that is so clearly a philosopher, while also being one of the most loveable, dear hearted, makes-you-want-to-love-all-philosophers sort of people that you can't help but offer him a zombie chicken (z.c.) when you have one. I honestly hope he puts the power of the z.c. on his blog as a blazing bright shining medal of how good, likeable, and smart he is, even as it may appear at first to counter the intellectual seriousness of his abilities. In the face of undead, dancing, corn demanding chickens he'd win.

How to Interpret the Day Behind the Outfit

Though I don't normally go Gucci, I've just recovered from an illness that still has me feeling weak. So, I've decided to be weak for comfortable, shimmering light disguised as darkness, while wearing a belt that will support my still-sore lower back. Since I don't feel like glamour, it's clear to me today it's time to put on the show.

Gucci, F09

If you, dear friends, on the other hand, are feeling well. I'd say the above Gucci, lean, draped drama is still an option. It's perfect for when you want to style yourself just like the moment after my favorite you-and-your-best-friend game. The one titled something like this: The "Get Dressed From Your Closet Based on the Parameters I Provide" Game. In this Gucci scenario your best friend has just said to you, "It's almost 2010, but it hasn't snowed yet. Suddenly, all you have in your closet is seventies glamour and really good shoes. You work for the top newspaper in the city, but in the evening you're going to a chocolate tasting for a local art-chocolatier developing new flavours, then after that to the opening of a new creative-fusion cocktail bar, and you won't have time to change. So, you have to be prepared for a full day of simple excellence. Got the picture? Heading to your closet? Okay, GO!"

In other words, in response to your bff's described scenario you throw together the above pictured outfit, ready to go out for whatever the two of you might come up with after the game is finished. This game, you see, is your way of creatively deciding what to wear within imagined constraints. It's a quick way of getting past the taken-for-granted gaze of the clothes you know in your closet all to well, to be forced to imagine them anew. The completion of the game is in offering to your friend his or her or zir own imagined constaints to live through, which then turns into his or her or zir outfit interpreted from that scenario. Tell me, then. What outfit do you describe to your best friend in return?

The Red Dress Search

My sister emailed to ask if I've "dressed like a cosmo" yet. Truth be told, I don't actually own a red dress, or a pink one. I know. That surely implies my closet is scandalously bare. Feel free to comment send me links for suggestions.