Costumed Inspiration

For reasons I don't remember I was motivated to look up an idea I hadn't thought about in while. The one where a woman wore the same little black dress for a year to raise money for a worthy cause.  (Truly it seems there were identical copies of the dress so she did have a clean one to wear each day, so nix the Eeeeeews already.)  I guess the idea stuck with me because it sounded so very different from anything I'd imagined someone doing.  I couldn't remember the name of this, uh, endeavor but found it quickly enough with google.  It's called the Uniform Project.  I did want to share this image Day 184. Sat, October 31 2009. I'd like to post it here, but I have a feeling that would be cheating or stealing or just plain bad karma.

As a photo it's simply mesmerizing.  Not just the makeup, an effect much like Capt. Jack Sparrow as the tribal deity or what-not in whichever numbered movie that was.  The second comment calls it creepy.  But that's not quite right.  I do love it as both an idea and an image; In fact I hope to try something like this some day, just for a thrill or something.  Yet gazing at it is disconcerting, even bordering on painful, making me feel like I'm looking at a Magic Eye poster and can't figure out where to focus my eyes.  Strangely, I think something small and overlooked is what really makes this particular shot work for me.  The focus issue is exacerbated by the strong shadow from a camera flash.  Usually that kind of thing really cheapens the quality of an image.  But in this case something so mundane and maligned is instead a special effect instead.  I'm sure the vibrating lack of focus quality in the image isn't just from remarkably drawn extra eyes, but the dreaded heavy flash shadow, too.  Almost like the way a strobe light really hacks up your perception of an otherwise ordinary scene.  Amazing!!  Since the makeup is green and reminiscent of the Wicked Witch, that easily leads me to our 2009 costumes.

Check out that smile!  (Ravelry project)

The Lion & 
the Tin Woman

I saw the lion brand yarn pattern and knew I had to make her a lion costume.  I was the tin man, since that was the easiest thing I could think of to coordinate with her.  I made her a medal of courage and put a bow in the mane to change her from a lion to the not so Cowardly Lion.

At that time I had hair that was perfectly Dorothy-suited, but didn't think of costuming myself at all until a few days in advance.  I didn't have anything Dorothy-esque in my wardrobe, either.

A kid said I couldn't be the tin Man

This year I had a 12" braid (not just a ponytail) cut from my hair around the 4th of July.  (The fat end as thick as my wrist.)  Sent it to Locks of Love, again.  Well the other two times probably weren't in July, and I think the first time it was just a 14" ponytail, and the second was a 10" braid.  So I don't have the hair for it right now.  More importantly I still don't have anything remotely Dorothy to wear.  But I thought I'd try to do something rather easy for me again so as to not dress as the tin man two years in a row.

One size fits ALL

Addie doesn't mind wearing the same costume repeatedly.  There were at least three or four consecutive years that she was the "Bee dog."  She weighs just over 50 lbs, which makes it a bigger challenge to costume her than say a chihuahua or yippy-yappy dust mop.  Fortunately one size fits all child costumes with the right design are wonderful.  I'd planned to buy her a lady bug costume of the same style for the following year, but by then the design in stores was tutu skirt rather than cape wings.  I've always loved the wings on this - they twist and fold up like a dashboard sunshade or pop-up laundry basket.

This years solution to the Costume Dilemma - 

Earlier this year I bought a book of crocheted mask patterns from an online friend.  As soon as I saw the lion mask I knew we'd both be lions together this year.  

It may be hard to believe, but my dog really enjoys wearing costumes.  She gets a LOT of attention this way from kids and parents, and when she's dressed up people who might be afraid of her smile and approach just to tell her how cute she is.  I reserve dress up for Halloween only, except that one time I did dress her as a reindeer for her snapshot with Santa.  Well and also for show and tell at dog class when they found out she has a reindeer costume.  And there was a week that I had her wear a child's babydoll dress with 3/4 length sleeves.  (And a webbed D-ring belt; empire waistlines aren't very friendly for horizontal wearers and if not belted she'd tend to snag her toenails in the hem.)  She'd had a small cyst removed from her elbow.  Her vet suggested a t-shirt would most easily cover her stitches and keep the area clean.  She'd only be able to get t-shirt lint on the stitches, not dirt, grass, carpet fiber or anything else.

When it's raining really hard I put a bright yellow raincoat on her.  She really hates to get wet; even used to walk around or jump over puddles and wet spots when my neighbors were washing their cars.  Besides this, whenever she's had to have stitches and needed to wear a big, plastic elizabethan collar, we've made that a game too.  I call it her big head collar and and when she wears it I refer to her as my little bulldozer.  No one in class believed me until she needed this collar while classes were still in session.  People started off saying things like "Awww, poor Addie."  And she'd just grin.  Then they started saying "wow, she's smiling."  Truly, she revels in all the extra attention.