All posts tagged: costume

Halloween costume, Fawkes the Phoenix Costume, Harry Potter Hogwarts Costume thedreamstress.com

Fawkes the Phoenix: a Hogwarts Halloween Costume

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you had a wonderful holiday, with lots of the best parts of Halloween: creativity, community, an awesome Halloween Costume, a little bit of candy, and tons of fun. I’ve never grown out of my love of Halloween, but it’s only recently become a ‘thing’ in New Zealand,  Usually there aren’t many cool events to go to – especially as an adult. This year  Zara of Off-grid Chic alerted me to a Haunted Hogwarts party.  Exciting! We decided to be the weird fully-grown women who went along without any kids, in full Halloween costume. Super last minute Halloween costumes!  We’re both incredibly busy! I went closet-diving, and found: the dress I made as my end-of-semester project my first year in Uni; a silk blouse with scalloped edges by NZ designer Blak;  my red sequinned Dorothy shoes;  and a mask, originally made as a tui by the Comtesse de Chambourd, and re-made by me as a Labyrinth Firey when the paint started flaking off, and bunch of wrist, ankle & neck pieces …

wild man co

Rate the Dress: 18th century Wild Man costume

Last week’s Rate the Dress was a natural-form day dress in palest blue and silvery ecru.  To no-ones surprise ever, the rosette bows festooning the lower front bodice of the dress were not popular.   You deemed the rest of the dress both boring and fussy. It didn’t score a single 10/10 rating.  The ratings, like the dress trim, mainly slid to the bottom of the rating heap.  Overall ‘Whirlpool: The Dress’, as Rachel dubbed it, managed a paltry 6.6 out of 10. Moving on: it’s time to look at a historical fancy dress for our annual Halloween Rate the Dress! Before there was Tarzan, there was Hercules, Bacchus, and Wild Men: all costumes involving animal skins, and greenery.  Variations on the theme date back to the ancient Greeks & Romans, (and possibly earlier).  Wild Man costumes were popular throughout the Middle Ages.  In the 18th century the wild man idea became linked to a romanticisation of nature and untouched society.  Thanks to the Swedish monarchy’s fantastic habit of keeping their clothing, we have an …

Meat Dress

Lady Gaga’s recent attire may have made waves, but it’s not entirely unprecedented.  As part of my Halloweek celebration, let’s look at some other meat inspired clothes. This costume wins first prize any time.  The wearer was a bacon and ham aficionado.  Everyone needs a hobby. These bags (made for a weight loss advertisement) aren’t actually carry-able, but they sure are interesting! If neon green or checkered isn’t wild enough for you, you can have bacon printed keds: And for a more upscale look, Tokio Kumagai’s famous ‘eating shoes’ And this image is all over the internet, but, alas, I can’t find a source for it: There are also the more-than-slightly creepy ‘baby turkey carcass costumes’: So what do you think?  Fancy being a slab of dead animal for your Holiday?