30 October 2008

All Hallow's Eve

Halloween, perhaps my favorite holiday of the year, is right around the corner. Perhaps it’s my favorite because it’s connected in my mind with the changing of the seasons, vibrant fall leaves, crisp cool nights and getting together with friends. Not to mention getting to dress up in costumes! I’m quite the costume snob in that I really dislike all of those pre-fab plasticky store bought types. And don’t even get me started at how overly-sexualized all Halloween costumes have become, even for children. If you want to dress up as a nurse, it has to be a sexy nurse! A sexy pirate! A sexy fairy! A sexy witch! Ugh, gross. I’ve always enjoyed putting together my own with bits and pieces from thrift stores, using a little sewing and old fashioned ingenuity to come up with an original costume. In the past I’ve been everything from an Edward Gorey character to Strawberry Shortcake (and no, not a sexy Strawberry Shortcake!). Sadly, I think the days that I’m willing to go out in full hair and makeup are over. This year I’m taking it a bit easy and simply raiding my own closet to come up with a costume. My boyfriend and I knew we wanted to go as a couple, but who? Travis Bickle and Iris? Johnny and June? Leon and Mathilda? I decided to let a trip to the thrift store decide for me. When I ran across a perfect three piece grey pinstripe suit in just Tom’s size, I knew we’d have to go as Bonnie and Clyde. We’ll be sure to snap some photos for you!

In the spirit of Halloween, I was researching (read: trolling through Flickr) to find vintage costume photos to post. I couldn’t decide whether to go in the direction of über-creepy kid costumes or adorable Hollywood starlets. Hmm. Decisions, decisions. Let’s do a bit of both, shall we?

Back before icky chain stores started pumping out pre-fab costumes of all the latest super heroes and Disney princesses, kids used whatever they could find to dress up as witches, goblins, hobos and clowns. It certainly made for a much creepier Halloween! Let’s just say if any of these kids ring my doorbell on Halloween I might not open it. Yikes!

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On the complete opposite end of the spectrum you have pretty Hollywood starlets doing their best stage-lit renditions of Halloween jesters, frisky felines and swashbucklers. Pretty, sure, but not nearly scary enough for me!

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20 comments:

Isabel said...

Wow, those little kids did a great job of scaring the crap out of me. And the starlet photos are gorgeous! Wat a wonderfully inspiring hallowe'en post.

Anonymous said...

Fabulous post and photos! I absolutely adore Halloween! Bonnie and Clyde is so perfect. I can't wait to see the photos!

AlicePleasance said...

Creepy!!! I felt the Halloween atmosphere only once, when I was in NYC and I adored it! Can't wait to see the Bonnie&Clyde pictures and well, Leon and Mathilda...you're a genious!!!

Doll legs said...

Bonie and Clyde!! great, and I love the creepy photos!!

kater said...

Oooooh, what great photos! I contemplated going as a Pierrot clown this year, but then didn't. Hehe!

Next year I'm going to rope the boyfriend into being Alvie and Annie from Annie Hall :)

Sexy Halloween costumes are the stupidest thing ever. I saw one at Spencer's that was a sexy Robin Hood called 'Robyn da Hood'. Seriously?

Anonymous said...

Ahhhh! Those kids are super creepy as are those masks. It's Halloween today in Australia and I still have no idea what I'll wear..

Jtalk said...

Those photos are awesome. The second glamor photo looks allot like my halloween costume because I made this giant bow head piece to wear which looks scarily similar to hers.

Eyeliah said...

Oh you'll make a grat Bonnie, would love to see pics (blonde wig?).!!! :-)

Eyeliah said...

Oh you'll make a grat Bonnie, would love to see pics (blonde wig?).!!! :-)

Lexie said...

some of those masks are horrifying! these pictures are so inspiring!

Anonymous said...

lol leon and mathilda. those kids are so disturbing...i'd totally dress my kids up like that just to freak out the nieghbors haha

Vera said...

Beautiful photos. Scary and gorgeous at the same time.

Jenni said...

Oh my God, those children are horrific! Such is the stuff that horror films are made of.

Fashion Tidbits said...

those vintage pics are ultra scary! awesome

Anonymous said...

How fun!! Those photos of children dressed up remind me of the costumes Mom made for my sister and I when we were little. We never could afford "store-bought" costumes, so my sister and I would always dream up what we wanted to be (regardless of the year's trend) and Mom would make them. Brings back loads of memories! :)

Can't wait to see your costume... ;)

Anonymous said...

Wow! These photos are fantastic! The kids are creepy as hell. They remind me of that movie The Orphanage. Eeek!

Anonymous said...

love the collection of photos (some of the remind me of Ralph Meatyard) very cool.

Anonymous said...

love the collection of photos (some of the remind me of Ralph Meatyard) very cool.

Anonymous said...

The pictures are so lovely and frightening !

Enfievre said...

these pictures! oh la la!