Since we're coming up on Halloween and I've just been creating Bollywood costumes for one of my fave Internet personalities, Tasha James (see video attached below), I thought I'd write my first blog post here about how to approach the making of your own costume in a quick and inexpensive manner.
I'm focusing my suggestions on costumes that are clothing based and culturally significant, but these suggestions can be applied to animal costumes and to specific "personalities" as well. It's all about figuring out the defining features of that individual or type, like a caricature artist.
The first step is research, so get onto the internet and do image searches for costumes of interest. (I cannot help you decide What to be, that has to come from you, first, sorry.) Once you've got the basic idea, move away from costumes per se, which are already interpretations, and go to the Original source(s) of that costume. IE search for "xxxx costume" and then simply "xxxx".
You can also get some deeper ideas by looking into terms that show up repeatedly and check into their meaning and significance, as you will likely find relevant inspirations, or at least fodder for further image research. Every image can potentially inspire new ideas and remind you about things you have in your own closet that you could use. I like to save and sometimes even print out 4-5 good strong images that summarize a lot of the repeated elements, so I can keep coming back to them to flesh out my costume as I'm pulling it together.
Once you've tired of research, or have at least 4-5 good pictures that illustrate the concept, look carefully for similarities between images, in order to determine the general concept behind this sort of costume.
For example:
What are the details that make this sort of clothing different from what you wear day to day? Is the style tailored or fluid?
With skirts/dresses, where do the hemlines come to? Is the common shape an A-line, straight, ruffled? Full or narrow? Unusual, modern, curvy, angular?
What are the colours like? Are there patterns, textures, mixes that are unusual?
How is the clothing emphasizing and de-emphasizing body parts?
How many layers are worn?
How much skin is exposed, and where?
What are the accessories such as jewellery, footwear, headgear, make up? How are they mixed up? What colours and shapes are they? Accessories are more important than you might think.
Now that you have your general concept questions answered start to think of how you can create those shapes. Go to your closet, your friend’s closet, Value Village or your fave place for cheap or borrowed clothing.
Look for the colours and styles you’ve been researching, mix and match different items to come up with your own unique take on it. Don’t worry if it’s not exactly like any of the others you saw! As long as you emphasize the main aspects of the style, people will generally get the idea. Try to nail down at least 4-5 of them; The more elements you add in from your research, the closer you get and the more people will get it!
Remember accessories can really make or break it, so study your accessories and overdo it on those if the style is less manageable.
Regarding alterations: a costume is not like regular clothing and doesn’t need to be long lasting nor even high quality. Sewing can be simple, even messy, running stitches, or better yet, just use safety pins! Try to find a way to put the pins on the inside so they do not distract nor imply that they are part of the costume, is all! Also if something is too long, you can even just cut it! No need to sew something you're just gonna wear for one night J
The main thing, of course, is to have fun, so don’t be afraid to be silly, over the top, random, weird, and wrong. Sometimes purposely so, way far off, just for the heck of it.
I'm focusing my suggestions on costumes that are clothing based and culturally significant, but these suggestions can be applied to animal costumes and to specific "personalities" as well. It's all about figuring out the defining features of that individual or type, like a caricature artist.
The first step is research, so get onto the internet and do image searches for costumes of interest. (I cannot help you decide What to be, that has to come from you, first, sorry.) Once you've got the basic idea, move away from costumes per se, which are already interpretations, and go to the Original source(s) of that costume. IE search for "xxxx costume" and then simply "xxxx".
You can also get some deeper ideas by looking into terms that show up repeatedly and check into their meaning and significance, as you will likely find relevant inspirations, or at least fodder for further image research. Every image can potentially inspire new ideas and remind you about things you have in your own closet that you could use. I like to save and sometimes even print out 4-5 good strong images that summarize a lot of the repeated elements, so I can keep coming back to them to flesh out my costume as I'm pulling it together.
Once you've tired of research, or have at least 4-5 good pictures that illustrate the concept, look carefully for similarities between images, in order to determine the general concept behind this sort of costume.
For example:
What are the details that make this sort of clothing different from what you wear day to day? Is the style tailored or fluid?
With skirts/dresses, where do the hemlines come to? Is the common shape an A-line, straight, ruffled? Full or narrow? Unusual, modern, curvy, angular?
What are the colours like? Are there patterns, textures, mixes that are unusual?
How is the clothing emphasizing and de-emphasizing body parts?
How many layers are worn?
How much skin is exposed, and where?
What are the accessories such as jewellery, footwear, headgear, make up? How are they mixed up? What colours and shapes are they? Accessories are more important than you might think.
Now that you have your general concept questions answered start to think of how you can create those shapes. Go to your closet, your friend’s closet, Value Village or your fave place for cheap or borrowed clothing.
Look for the colours and styles you’ve been researching, mix and match different items to come up with your own unique take on it. Don’t worry if it’s not exactly like any of the others you saw! As long as you emphasize the main aspects of the style, people will generally get the idea. Try to nail down at least 4-5 of them; The more elements you add in from your research, the closer you get and the more people will get it!
Remember accessories can really make or break it, so study your accessories and overdo it on those if the style is less manageable.
Regarding alterations: a costume is not like regular clothing and doesn’t need to be long lasting nor even high quality. Sewing can be simple, even messy, running stitches, or better yet, just use safety pins! Try to find a way to put the pins on the inside so they do not distract nor imply that they are part of the costume, is all! Also if something is too long, you can even just cut it! No need to sew something you're just gonna wear for one night J
The main thing, of course, is to have fun, so don’t be afraid to be silly, over the top, random, weird, and wrong. Sometimes purposely so, way far off, just for the heck of it.