Costume Conundrum: How it was Solved

Well.

Remember way back when, when I posted my Costume Conundrum post because I didn’t know what I wanted to be for Halloween? Well this is the post that will finally reveal how that conundrum was resolved.

I had two trains of thought whilst trying to determine what I wanted to be. On one hand, I could be something spooky, going back to the tradition of wearing costumes to scare away nasty spirits. On the other hand, I could dress up like one of my heroes (like Syrenne last year) and have the chance to step into the shoes of someone I admire. I went back and forth on these two ideas for quite a while before landing on this thought: why don’t I be someone from Class of the Titans, since I love it so much? Wait—why don’t I be someone spooky from Class of the Titans?

And thus I made my decision.

Hecate, Greek goddess of witchcraft (minus the extra heads).

Interestingly enough, I actually found someone else who cosplayed her.

Very nice!

She features in the Halloween episode of Class of the Titans, which is available on YouTube, which you should totally watch (and watch the other episodes while you’re at it!). Seriously, watch iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit. Or just skip ahead to 13:25 if you want to see Hecate. But that’s no fun.

The extra great thing about this costume is that it’s made of regular clothing and is thus relatively budget-friendly. A purple dress, hoop earrings, a simple wig, and voila. Costume done! Really, it should’ve been that simple. I assure you, it was not.

I searched everywhere for a purple dress with long sleeves and a collar (I just had to be specific). I went to all the thrift shops I could find. Side story: it is ridiculously fun going to thrift shops. I have to admit, some stuff there is great quality for really cheap, but then other things… you feel second-hand embarrassment just looking at them. I think the best is the “Halloween” section, where they take regular (but really ugly) clothing that no one wants to buy and market it as a Halloween costume. There was this pair of gold, sparkly, jewel-encrusted, pointy-toed shoes in the Halloween section that made me laugh quite a bit. Someone actually owned those. And not for Halloween.

But anyways, I looked all over the place and couldn’t find this dress, so I decided I would make it. So on the Tuesday before Halloween, I went to the fabric store (and got horribly lost, let me tell you) and bought myself some fabric.

And I made a dress.

On Thursday night. The whole thing.

I kid you not.

I spent my between-class break in the afternoon making the belt. I had the red fabric all cut out and needed to paint on the gold designs. So naturally, I went to a study cubicle in the library and set up shop with my fabric and paint.

I came home from school around 7:30, hopped in the shower, and then started making a whole entire dress.

I do not sew. I can not sew. I needed a lot of help with the sewing machine, and literally after the first two seams were done, I realized I’d screwed up. I made the head hole too small. So I decided I would be a purple ghost for Halloween instead.

My mom told me she had her doubts that I’d actually be able to do this in one night. But I did. I cut a slit in the back to make my head fit through and then carried on my way. I made a dress.

I don’t know how. I really don’t. It was clearly some sort of Halloween miracle, because I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t use a dress pattern, I just measured my arms and stuff and cut shapes that I thought would work and just sewed them on.

I mean, it was far from perfect. There were big gaping holes in the armpits (ventilation, don’t you know?), the seams at the hips were oddly pointed, and it fit like a glove. And by like a glove, I mean like a glove that slowly begins to constrict when you put it on until it starts cutting off the circulation in your hand and you can’t get it off no matter what you do and it starts consuming more of your arm till it gets to your neck and you start to suffocate and you die. That kind of glove. Because that dress was horrifically tight around the shoulders. There was a moment when I was trying it on that I seriously, 100% thought that the only way I was going to get out of it was by cutting it off. It was scary.

But hey, it fit okay when I didn’t actually want to take it off, the ventilation was lovely, and it served its purpose well enough for me.

This is the end result.

I made this! The whole thing!

I had a hard time with this photoshoot (so many bad photos, my goodness) as I just wasn’t feeling it. I didn’t have the energy to act like a slightly insane evil goddess, unfortunately. So she is very brooding in my interpretation. Haha, it was a very reflective Halloween for me, but I’ll talk more about that later.

Here are some progress shots from the dressmaking experience.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

As well, I of course had to carve a pumpkin! I took The Shikster’s advice (she’s on blogging hiatus right now) and themed my jack-o’-lantern to match my costume. I originally wanted to do one of Hecate’s torches but the dimensions were off, so I focussed instead on just the skull decoration, and added some flames around it to imply a torch.

The skull’s a bit blurry, sorry.

This was the first time I tried to do the skinless glow sort of effect, and it was not fun! I had to scrape all the skin off the pumpkin with a little scratching thingy from a kid’s art set, and then scrape the inside of the pumpkin to make the pumpkin wall thin enough to let light through. But I think it looks pretty cool and was happy with the result.

Overall, I’m quite pleased with the costume I created. As painful as it was, there’s something satisfying about being able to customize it. Aaaand it was good practice, because I already have my costume picked out for next year and it’s going to require quite a bit of custom work. So yay for that :D

I shall be writing again very soon, trying to wrap up this villains thing and Halloween as a whole, and then we can focus more on other exciting news.

Oh, but another side story! I had to work on Halloween, and a kid came in with his dad so we asked what he was going to be for Halloween. He said Bilbo Baggins, and showed us that he was wearing a necklace with the ring on it. I could’ve hugged that kid. It made my night.

Did you dress up for Halloween? If so, what as?

May the guise you choose to bear outwardly reflect the inner workings of your soul.

-Alex, aka Hecate