Medusa

aka "Sedusa"
Costume built in October 2005

So everybody's got to have at least one sexy costume, right?
This one started back in high school when a fellow Halloween-lover and I threw a big party at the Surrey House and Gardens in McKinney, Texas. The All Hallow's Eve bash was equipped with a dj, a haunted maze, a fortune-teller, and two hott hostesses. My partner in crime played the part of Scarlet from the game of Clue, and I was the Greek gorgon, Medusa.

Although the general public can recognize Medusa as the snake-hair lady, far too few really understand her. Who exactly was Medusa? Why did she have snakes for hair? Was she truly a villain, or a sad victim?

Medusa was one of three sister gorgons (or monsters). They were the daughters of Phorcys and Ceto. The stories vary, but Medusa was said to have been an extremely beautiful woman, sought out by many--her hair was noted to be especially beautiful. Some say that Poseidon raped Medusa (come on, it's Greek Mythology, everyone gets raped) in Athena's temple, bringing about Athena's rage. Others say it was Medusa's prideful boasting that provoked the wrath of the goddess. Either way, Athena (probably because she was jealous) punished Medusa by transforming her lovely locks into venomous snakes, and causing that anyone who Medusa should look upon to turn immediately to stone.

But of course, this was not enough. Athena later assisted a dreadful young hero by the name of Perseus (CURSEUS PURSEUS!), who, with further assistance from Hermes' winged sandals and Hades' cap of invisibility (talk about unfair) smote off Medusa's head by cowardly eyeing her through a mirror. So powerful was the essence of Medusa, that Pegasus, the winged horse, sprang from her body. Perseus, as a further insult,
took Medusa's head and used it to turn his enemies to stone.

So Medusa is sexy, sultry, and kind of awesomely evil. When designing this costume, I knew I had to use black, and then, after some thought, I chose green for accent: the color that is symbolic of evil (and snakes). The green that I had originally envisioned was a warmer, more yellow green, but I was happy with the ending result regardless (we couldn't find that color at the basic JoAnn's).
The first pieces that I found for my costume were the snake-skin boots (to make me tall and powerful... and hott), and then the corset. I designed the remainder of the costume off of it. A special Proxy-Connection: keep-alive
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te on the corset is that the embroidery on the front was originally white; I colored it with a green sharpy to make it match. The black cords down the upper arm were to create a Greek reference. The cape helps for modesty, and it can be removed. My original designs had also planned for a wire in the bottom of the mermaid skirt, to make it stand out even more but my seamtress, Mary Johnson, vetoed that out. I made the designs, Mary sewed them (beautifully too).

After the costume was completed, I did a rendering for my high school IB art class:
Image to be added...



Snakes? So originally I had this AWESOME idea to borrow a real ball-python from a friend (they constrict, and don't bite) and wear it wrapped around my body for the night. Seeing as this was someone's dear pet, and that the general population is very sissy-pantish, I had to refrain from this glorious addition. Instead, I collected a variation of big and small plastic snakes from Wal-mart and party stores, and pinned them to my great black wig.
And the eyes? Red. Lots of red. All around, sometimes dripping down, it worked magically to make the green of my eyes pop out. In later editions of this costume, I wore bright green contacts. (I considered getting the gorgon/medusa or snake ones but I didn't have enough time and money.)Then fangs. I love fangs.

Here is the actual costume:




I also wore gloves of course.



Costume Rating: 10 out of 10

the SHREDDER

Costume built Oct. 2007

So I kind of have this thing for villains.
My freshman year I built and crafted one of my wickedest costumes yet:the SHREDDER!

As a costume designer, I like to take directly from the inspired image: a halloween costume (which is the one time of year I really allow myself time to go all-out) needs to be recognizable or people won't get it. Therefore, too much creativity with a subject, I feel, can go tacky or unappreciated. I like to stick strictly to the character.
So Shredder. I hope you're not asking, "who is Shredder?"... because then we might just have to no longer be friends. (Yes, we're friends.)
But even though we are friends, and you of course do know who he is, for the sake of structural purposes, I will give a small profile on the famed Shredder.

Shredder is the arch-enemy set up against the TMNT. Shredder's beef with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles goes way back, "your sensei fought my sensei" style. Shredder's official name, according to turtle-lore, was Oroku Saki, a ninja of the Foot clan. Hamato Yoshi was another ninja in this clan, who became victimized by Saki when Saki (true to form) slew the leader of the foot clan, and then framed Yoshi for it. Yoshi fled to the sewers of New York City (perfect hideout, right?) where his pet rat, Splinter, furtively learned his Foot clan ninja technique by quietly observing his master practice. As the new leader of the foot clan, Shredder follows Yoshi and finishes the job. But Splinter the rat, and four baby turtles get involved in a nuclear spill and go mutant. Thus the Teenage Mutant Turtles are born, and go Ninjitsu, with sensei Splinter- defending good and rightousness, bleh. Now back to the cool character.

Though throughout the TMNT media Shredder is shown with varying levels of formidability, he always retains a degree of it. Shredder is adept in the martial arts; no one rivals him except Splinter himself... bwaha.

So here is the image that I used as a reference to build:


This is how it turned out:




I built this entire costume. What really amazes me is that I sewed it with the least degree of sewing knowledge, (a small degree I have acquired now) and yet it all came together rather nicely...kind of.

I really had to brainstorm about the metal. I decided to carve styrofoam and drape and pin it with metallically-sprayed fabric. To make adequated "spikage" I cut the handle section out of plastic milk gallons and also sprayed those with metallic paint (I coated just about everything with that stuff--most likely including my brain.)I made "metal straps" with metallic-painted duct-tape. For the boots I simply wore black socks over my shoes. Oh yeah, the helmet? Darth Vader + model magic.



Success of the Costume: 9 out of 10.
Level of insanity according to my roommates:
10 out of 10.

Introduction

A Costume Infatuation.

For as long as I can remember, I have been infatuated with the power of disguise. Stepping into a costume is stepping into a new character; a whole world is opened unto you, all from the fun and exciting perspective of a new and seperate identity.

This blog will serve as a virtual logue of my exploration in the world of costume where my ideas, developments, and creations may be brought to light and recorded.