I commented somewhere else that I don't really "do" Halloween costumes, in part, because so much of the expectation that retailers have for adult women is that they want to be "sexy [x]" where "x" can be any quantity from "Sarah Palin" to "a peacock" to "a banana."
Well, there's a (slightly tongue-in-cheek, I'm guessing) site called "Taking Back Halloween" that has costumes for women that are strong/smart/powerful but not necessarily sexy. There are even instructions on how to make the costume.
For example, Ada Lovelace. Or you could be Demeter (I think I'd actually look rather good as a Demeter). Or Queen Victoria (so 'we' could express how greatly 'we' are not amused by those Sexy costumes). Bonus: there are women from a variety of different ethnicities, so you could pick one that fits your background.
There's also a pretty fierce Boudicca...with my hair out loose, I could probably rock that one as well. (Supposedly part of my heritage is Celt, so that one would especially work).
They have one Biblical woman (Jezebel), but you could probably come up with others...though I'm not sure how many people would recognize, for example, who Lydia was (my personal favorite Biblical woman), even if you carried a length of Tyrian purple cloth. (Then again: how many of the general public would recognize Ada Lovelace as something other than a generic nobility-type?)
4 comments:
I call dibs on the Mae West costume!
Awesome site--I like that they teach you how to drape a chiton.
ARRRGGGHHH! That site makes me dizzy. It's a fast slide show and before I can read each thing and take a good look at the image it moves to the next one.
In seventh grade: I was Melanie Wilkes from Gone With the Wind.
In eighth grade: I was Female King Hatshepsut
In ninth grade: I was a silent movie star in a yellow silk dress and jacket set that had been my grandmother's.
In tenth through twelfth grades: I was Melanie Wilkes (gotta rock the hoopskirt)
In grad school, when the 'sexy whatever' trend was starting, I was the Secular Games. I wore striped tights, a skirt that was slightly ABOVE THE KNEE, and eyeliner, with my hair loose. When people asked, I explained that I was the Secular Games, since nobody at the party had seen me like this before, or ever would again. (The secular games were only put on once everyone who had seen it the first time had died, technically.)
If I dress up this year, it's going to be as an 1859 college student, Jane Austen, or a Roman matron. Wearing 'sexy' costumes in New England is silly, unless you find goosebumps and frostbite a turn on.
(Also, go Lydia! I was named after her.)
A simple costume is to go as one of the Seven Deadly Sins. I've gone as Greed several times in the past. Just wear whatever black outfit you like and then throw a yard of glittery gold fabric over one shoulder like a shawl or belt it like a poncho.
Or go without a costume and say you are dressed as "sloth."
This year - handing out candy - I was a Mad Scientist. Dr. Ivana Yurbrain.
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