I’ve always been fascinated with makeup and how quickly a person can be transformed by using it properly. Did you ever see photo shots of Hollywood actresses without their makeup? It’s kind of shocking. We’re so used to the transformation each actress has created that we forget how plain many of them are without it.
One of the easiest tools for self-transformation is a wig. I like to choose a wig first when I’m putting together a costume. I mean, as soon as you put on a wig, you start to look like someone else.
Photo by Vance Shtraikh
Annie Oakley Credits: Ca. second half of the 1880's poster for Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show
The sun is settin’ in the distant western horizon. I climb down from my horse and brush the trail dust from my rawhide coat and boots. As I take a step, I feel the kink in my legs from settin’ atop my horse a might too long. So I stand for a spell and look off into the red gold sunset to watch the light fade slowly into the night.
Should you put your pet in costume? I’m sure there are arguments both for and against dressing up your pet, but as a costume-lover, I happen to believe that you should dress up your pet. Of course, you have to consider the personality of your own pet. Some are more reserved than others. Some spend their lives hiding under the bed and avoiding people. But for the most part, I think dressing up pets is great.
Photo by: Sharon Terry
My parents grew up in the fifties. To me, everything about that era seemed kind of bizarre. I mean, who would really wear bobby socks and saddle shoes?
In the spring, many high schools put on school plays that showcase the individual talents of the students. That may be acting, choreography, dance, singing or playing a musical instrument. Or, as in my case, it may be a particular talent for taking up space on a stage and nodding whenever the main characters talk to each other. Whatever the role in the school play, everyone needs costumes in order to lose themselves in their role. I don’t think I could have nodded even half as well if I hadn’t been wearing a floor-length Victorian dress.
There are a lot of things that I remember from kindergarten, but one of the most memorable things from that school year was my teacher dressing up like Mother Goose and reading up some nursery rhymes. Our teacher sat in a rocking chair and rocked slowly, reading the rhymes and you could have heard a pin drop anywhere else in the classroom. Something about wearing a costume made the experience so much more dramatic and so much more magical that it ever could have been otherwise.
When kids are in early elementary school, they are so excited to be in the school’s spring play that they rarely worry about the things that older kids do. I don’t remember ever feeling embarrassed onstage during those years. Everyone was chosen for the school plays at that age and everyone played some small part in the whole production. No one had a big part and there were no complicated lines to remember, so no one worried about forgetting them. And, we got to wear costumes!
Dressing up like a princess has always been a fun way to spend time for little girls. Actually, it’s something that the big girls like just as much though they may never day it. For a lot of us, our wedding day is an opportunity to wear a something that looks like a princess costume without people thinking that we’re strange. But when we were little, nothing was quite as beautiful to us as a pretty princess costume.
Have you ever gotten a pinch for not wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day? I’ve gotten more than I care to admit, and I’m not taking it lying down. I’ll never be without a bit of green on St. Patrick’s Day again and I’m betting that most people feel the same way. Expressing a little St. Patrick’s Day cheer isn’t too hard to do with a few green accessories. Unlike Halloween, you don’t need a full costume to do the day right.
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