costumes from Halloweens past
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This post comes to you from decades back…a post to celebrate costume creativity of Halloweens (and other fun events) past. I've always loved 'pretending' so Halloween was the one day a year I could make 'who I wished I could be' public and relish in it. Of course, the first person I ever wanted to be was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. Let us start there:
DOROTHY (circa 1988) // The ruby slippers at the bottom of my chubby Miss Piggy legs still crack me up. This is most likely Halloween 1988. My sister was not born yet, and I was about to turn 4. So here I was at 3, thinking 'who I was'. I have this whole Halloween on home video of me walking up and down my Nana's block, clicking my heals, trying to hit the pinata, slipping on the concrete, and complaining about black licorice...the whole thing was so ridiculous and great.
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COWGIRL (circa 1989) // This was actually a dance recital outfit from earlier that year and my ingenious mom recycled it for Halloween. I don't think I minded because it was quite adorable. I probably liked the fringe and sequins trim. The night I wore this, we went to Halloween party, and I remember being terrified of the fake dead man whose fake blood I was forced to touch. Good times.
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DEVIL me | CLOWN sister (circa 1991) // This year, I believe, started the Halloween parties at my elememntary school. I remember wanting to be a devil. I think I thought it was cool because it was the first costume of my life being edgy, not a character or a girly thing. After my mom did my devil 'brows and goatee, I remember thinking what an AWESOME job she did, like in my little girl mind, she was a make-up artist on a Hollywood movie set...and catch my dangling skeleton earrings? Obviously, I thought her a costume designer too.
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SCARECROW (1992-ish) // Okay, so confession: this was NOT a Halloween costume. This was a costume for a play I was in in 3rd grade, but is a testiment to my love of dressing up and 'playing/looking the part". In 3rd grade my teacher, Ms. Corsi (rest in peace), announced that we were going to put on the play The Wizard of Oz. When my best friend, Karen, got the part of Dorothy, I so desperately wanted to be a major part too. I remember -- so hysterically vividly -- going up to Ms. Corsi's desk and saying, "Ms. Corsi, I really want to play the scarecrow. I'll do anything, and I don't care that I have to dress like a boy." I must have won her over, because there I was, and again, Mom, nice work.
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CATWOMAN (1993 or ‘94) // This was my favorite costume of all time, and my mother's peak of creative Halloween awesomeness. Batman Returns had come out that year or the year before, and I remember thinking how friggin' cool Michelle Pheifer's rendition of Catwoman was. Danny DeVito as the Penguin scared the bejeezus out of me, but Michelle Pheifer - so FAB! That year, that was my request, and from pieces of black spandex material my mother sat at the sewing machine and crafted me my very own Catwoman outfit. It felt so authentic because Michelle Pheifer sews it in the movie, and I was like Dayyyymm, I'm CATWOMAN. Ironic now, isn't it?
The stitches were done with a white paint pen, she informs me this morning. Uh! All kinds of awesome!
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Of course, some years passed (they always do). Middle school brings with it insecurities and acne. I remember a year of being TINKERBELL. I think I was a NERD once with big glasses and geeky clothes. I remember the Halloween I felt too old to Trick-or-Treat, but too young NOT to dress up. That year I was a SLEEPYHEAD and wore pajamas and pigtails, and awkwardly knocked on doors with my friend, Liana. I think we were 13.
I was a FLOWER in high school, wearing all green sweats, and a pink and purple felt petal thing I sewed together and stuffed with cotton. Then, I felt commercialized Halloween exploded (or I just never noticed it before) and as we know, now you can be generic sexy 'anything'. Not what I'm or Halloween's about for me.
I still liked conjuring up ideas on my own, usually thinking of potential costume ideas all year long. Below was what I wore to a college Halloween party that I knew my crush was going to be at:
HOOTERS GIRL (2005) // I wanted to get noticed and noticed I did. (He asked me on a date less than a week later. Haa!) I realized with my Hooters Girl costume that I will use any excuse to wear huge, fake boobs. So fun to be busty!
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JELLYFISH (2010) // I didn't dress up for Halloween after that epic Hooters costume until the year of my Jellyfish costume. I saw the idea in a Martha Stewart catalogue, and that's what I wanted to be. Bubble wrap, twisty white ribbon, American Apparel shiny white pants, and a see-through umbrella. Done. Felt fierce. I made Tomas's goldfish costume using a cheap orange Old Navy hoodie, cupcake foil wrappers, a cut-in-half ping pong ball (the eyes) and hot glue.
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MISS ZAM-SMELLY (2011) // For my first year as a teacher, and with a classroom of mostly boys, I wanted to be something original and homemade (very important to me in a Halloween costume), and I thought each year as a teacher I would be a costume that played on my name: Miss Zampelli. So I was ' Miss Zam-Smelly' that year, equipped with name tag and everything. I created a felt smelly rotting fish carcass, a felt banana peel; I bought a skunk beanie baby and whipped it out and passer-bys...I wanted to look like a spilled-out garbage bag. It was a hit.
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PB & J (2012) // This was the costume that never happened. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy cancelled Halloween on most of the northeast coast. Of course, that's the least of the damage Hurricane, or excuse me, "Superstorm" Sandy did to our region of the country, but I was pretty disappointed because my para and I were going to be Peanut Butter and Jelly, and I had even made us nametags playing, again, on our names. She is Ms. DeLaCruz, so her nametag was going to be Ms. PB-Cruz. I'm Miss Zampelli, so I was going to be Miss JamJelli. I was so excited to execute this costume couple idea, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be. I left teaching the year after that.
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ANDY WARHOL POP ART (2013) // This was the costume I made to wear for the Halloween when I was at graphic design school in the city. You can read all about it HERE.
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FLAMINGO (2014) // Like the PB & J costume from 2012, this flamingo costume was also a costume that never happened. I was in Texas with my now ex-boyfriend, and had just started working with me & my BIG ideas. These frilly, fancy white puffy stickers were made by them, and I had planned to stick some to my face along with that flamingo crown I DIYed myself in Photoshop. Turns out my ex changed plans in us last minute and “didn’t feel like going” even though I put effort into whipping something fun together. Typical him. Boy, bye.
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SELENA (2015) // YAY. That’s what I have to say about dressing up as La Reina herself for Halloween that year. You can see clips of video HERE, HERE, and HERE. See the bustier I made, the gems up close, and the custom microphone.
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STORM FROM X-MEN (MAY 2016) // I dressed as Storm ⚡️ for a SUPERHERO vs. VILLANS social that the dance studio I took classes at that year was hosting in May. The best part about this costume was how it was the third time I found use for those shiny white American Apparel stretchy pants! (first time: jellyfish, second time: Selena) Yes!
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A “MERMAID” (OCT 2016) // This was not a lazy girl's Halloween costume, this was a BUSY one's. I had grand plans for a mermaid costume that year with iridescent purple shell boobs that I was going to stuff and sew myself, but that October kicked my butt. Read more about it HERE.
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SKELETON COUPLE (2017) // That year, I felt like being my version of a sugar skull meets the skeletons from my favorite Halloween dance video as a kid. My boyfriend at the time did his version. I loved my rose crown, that bodysuit was like buttah, and I found out the hard way that Halloween store makeup is NOT worth the few bucks you’ll pay for it. I ended up drawing on my face with my good Stila Cosmetics liquid liner. This costume made me appreciate that we, like, really have ribs and bones in our bodies. That’s kind of amazing.
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SKELETON…again. (2018) // A repeat costume for the last year I would celebrate Halloween before I met Tom. As you can tell from all the years prior, some Halloweens are for going all out: for spending weeks prepping that innovative super-hype costume that ain’t nobody thought of but you. Other Halloweens - like this one in 2018 - are for poppin’ two Excedrine Migraine pills & throwin’ on last year’s basic costume so you can just show up + dance at your dance studio’s big annual Halloween Party Social. …and that’s just what I did.
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Thanks for letting me take this trick-or-treaty trip down memory lane with this post. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and favorite opportunities to allow my creativity to shine. So fun. Such joy. Happy Halloween!
