Anyone who knows me will testify that I take Halloween very seriously. Specifically Halloween costumes...
You can blame it on my childhood in Canada where Halloween is definitely treated as more of a holiday that it is here in England. I can remember trick or treating with my entire family dressed as the characters from The Wizard of Oz, then Cinderella on consecutive years. My grandad and my uncle were the ugly step-sisters! The commitment was real.
When we moved to England, I met my Halloween soulmate, my best friend and kindred spirit whose house I still end up at every Halloween despite the fact that her family long ago stopped hosting their annual Halloween party. The party has morphed into an extravagant family feast with more food than 12 people could ever hope to consume in one night. And what I love is that we all still commit to dressing up to an extreme level.
Owing to the unfavourable Corona, this year will be the first that we're unable to celebrate Halloween together. But don't think that's going to stop us from dressing up!
Many of my past costumes have been inspired by book characters, and so I thought I would share some of my favourites ideas with you for this year in case you're in an area where it's safe to be having Halloween parties!
Cruella DeVil
A character originally conceived in the 1956 children's novel
One Hundred and One Dalmatians by Doddie Smith
Excerpt: "...she was wearing a black satin dress with ropes of pearls, but the same absolutely simple white mink coat."
Professor Trelawney
A character that first appeared in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K Rowling
Excerpt: "Professor Trelawney moved into the firelight, and they saw that she was very thin; her glasses magnified her eyes to several times their natural size, and she was draped in a gauzy spangled shawl. Innumerable chains and beads hung around her spindly neck, and her arms and hands were encrusted with bangles and rings."
Elphaba Thropp
A character conceived in the original book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank L Baum, and whose origin is reconstructed in Wicked by Gregory Maguire, 2003.
Excerpt: "...as Elphaba moved forward, lugging her own carpetbags, it became obvious that she was green. A hatchet-faced girl with putrescent green skin, and long foreign looking black hair.
The Other Mother / "The Beldam"
The protagonist in Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Excerpt: "She looked like Coraline's mother. Only... Only her skin was white as paper. Only she was taller and thinner. Only her fingers were too long, and they never stopped moving, and her dark-red fingernails were curved and sharp."..."And then she turned around. Her eyes were big black buttons."
Katniss Everdeen
from 2008 book The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Excerpt: "Cinna does my hair in my simple trademark braid down my back."
Anne Shirley
The classic character whose red hair I relate to in Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Excerpt: "She wore a faded brown sailor hat and beneath the hat, extending down her back, were two braids of thick, decidedly red hair."
Of course there are an abundance of book characters you could choose from, these are just some of my favourites. I hope you're inspired. Let me know in the comments what you're dressing up as this year, or if you're dressing up at all.
It's a little bit early I know, but I wish you all a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Zuzu 🖋
Fantastic!! Love your commitment to the cause 🧡x
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