My History in Costumes

[vovat]

Since it's Halloween, I figured a retrospective on costumes I've worn in the past would be apropos. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of the vast majority of these. I wonder if my parents do. I'll have to find out, and maybe I can make a more colorful post on the subject next year. I never was really into the scary costumes; most of mine were just supposed to be fun.

• The first costume I remember wearing was a panda suit that my mom made. I guess I was lucky in that my mom was willing to make me costumes, so I didn't have to settle for those horrible pre-made eighties costumes. I'm pretty sure I wore this one the year my sister was born, which would mean I was not quite four. I also wore it in kindergarten.
  
• When I later decided I wanted to be a cat (for some reason, I was obsessed with cats and terrified with dogs, but never actually had either until some years later), my mom economically decided to make just a mask and a tail, the latter of which she attached to the old panda suit. It worked pretty well, too, from what I remember.
  
• My elephant costume that I first wore in either first or second grade was one of my favorites, not just because it was pretty easy to assemble (aside from the mask, all I really needed was a gray sweatsuit), but also because I reused it (with a few modifications) to dress as Kabumpo at a few Oz Conventions.
  
  
• At least once, I was a stegosaurus, using another costume that my mom made from one of those sewing patterns. When she used to drag me to fabric stores as a kid, my only source of enjoyment was looking at the Halloween costumes in the pattern books.
  
• I think it might have been once in junior high and once in college that I wanted to dress up, but had absolutely no ideas, so I just put on an assortment of odds and ends. Kind of lazy, really, but fun, at least for me.
  
• At two Oz Conventions, I was Wag, the giant white rabbit from Kabumpo in Oz. The mask I wore for this one was a rather creepy wooden one that my mom bought for some reason. Added to that were ears, a furry top, and blue pants with a tail pinned to the back.
  
• One of my favorite Oz costumes was Kaliko, the current King of the Nomes. This one consisted of gray facepaint, a wig teased up to approximate the gravity-defying hair that the Nomes have in John R. Neill's illustrations, a light gray suit that used to be my dad's, a paper crown, and a scepter made of a broom handle with a polystyrene ball wrapped in shiny red paper. I wore this one again in school that year, and that was my senior year of high school. I remember someone photographing me for the yearbook, but it wasn't used.
  
• Another Oz one was Pigasus, the winged pig. This one was made up of a mask, a pink sweatsuit, and white wings with fake feathers stuck to them. I wore this at the Munchkin Convention in 1997 (I think), and again for Halloween.
  
• My laziest Oz costume was Vaga, the bandit chief from Grampa in Oz. I know I had a bandana, boots, and wooden daggers, as well as the red handkerchief specified in the text.
  
• In my post-college years, I mostly wore store-bought costumes, including a knight, a pirate, and a doctor. Last year, bethje and I went to a Halloween party with therealtavie, and we used costumes she had around the apartment. Beth was a witch, and I was a fairy.
  
  

This year, I have to work, so I'm not dressing up at all. Kind of a shame, huh? Really, though, since I'm too old for trick-or-treating and too unpopular to be invited to parties, I'm not sure how I'd really show off a costume anyway.

Comments

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

I have a picture of you as the flying pig, and also I think the odds-and-ends-year from college. Old-fashioned PRINTED pictures rather than digital, so if you decide you do want to collect such pictures, let me know and I'll scan them....

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Sure, if it's not too much trouble, I'd definitely like copies of them!

[annamatic.livejournal.com]

I remember you posting that picture last year. You look like a very morose fairy, lol.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Hey, we can't all be the Laughing Fairy!

[bec-87rb.livejournal.com]

I recall that fairy costume fondly. That takes guts, my friend. I like it.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Well, I DID just wear it to a party of, like, ten people. Thanks, though!