Dale Peers,
The weather in my neck of the woods was dreadful this Halloween, but it did not stop the trick-or-treaters from coming out. As always there were lots of superheroes and baby animals, but one intrepid girl did her best, despite the cold and wet, to channel her inner Madonna. Her t-shirt – “I love the ‘80s” was worn with fishnet black mitts and fingerless gloves, her jewellery included neon plastic bracelets, and her hair was in a messy updo. She told me that she had a great mini skirt and stockings that she had wanted to wear but the weather just made it too cold. I think she might have had a bit of help from her mom in putting the ensemble together since some of the bits might easily have been found at the bottom of mom’s jewellery box or closet.
Her enthusiasm for her costume was evident in her beaming smile and the high five we exchanged as she danced down the drive. It started me thinking about the endless possibilities that fashion and fashion history provide on a night when we can choose to be anyone and from anytime that we want.
Our costume choice requires a fair bit of thought and not just from the perspective of assembling the pieces. The hallways of our School of Fashion were filled with pirate babes, day of the dead women and others (who I needed much more time to recognize than the fleeting glimpse I got!) As students of design they have the ability to assemble just about any character they desire. For the rest of us it might take a bit more effort in shopping for the components that we can use to create our character.
And, the thought process involved in choosing who we want to be takes almost as long as the time to assemble the representative elements. Who will we be this year? The opportunity to reveal a hidden side of our character or to “become” someone so completely different from our normal self is what makes this something to consider carefully, if not, gleefully.
Do we want to be the happy-go-lucky flapper with her fringed dress, long pearls, headache banded hair and Betty Boop lips? Or you may choose the seductive vamp (taken from the word vampire!) with her slinky satin halter dress and fur stole? Are we looking to channel the elegance of Audrey Hepburn with our classic LBD (little black dress), long black gloves and cigarette holder or the free-spirited hippie with bell bottomed jeans, floral top and long, centre parted hair? And let’s not forget our Madonna or punks of the 1980s.
And let’s not forget about the gentleman out there. I think a really amazing (not to mention versatile) purchase from a second hand store would be a tuxedo. In that you could become the debonair Fred Astaire to a gorgeous Ginger Rogers, or a sophisticated Cary Grant or the mysterious Bond, James Bond.
Wouldn’t it also be fascinating, especially for our fashion lovers, to become their favorite designer? How about Coco Chanel, the original flapper and advocate of the LBD, with her costume jewellery and two-toned shoes? You could become Karl Lagerfeld with a long black jacket, stiff white collar, topped with a white wig pulled back into a ponytail, a pair of sunglasses and costume jewellery chains. Betsey Johnson, one of the original free-spirits of the 1960s could be assembled with pigtails and a mini metallic bubble skirted prom dress.
It might not be too early to begin thinking about your next costume. With 360ish days to go before you have your next opportunity to express your inner ________, perhaps starting to think about it now is not such a bad idea!
