For someone like me that loves dressing up and all things spooky, Halloween is the perfect holiday. My past costumes, however, have been varying levels of far from perfect. Here’s some things I Iiked about my past costumes, and how I would change them.
The first costume I will talk to you about is from 2017. I dressed up as Electra Heart from MARINA’s concept album of the same name.
What I like: I like that I got the general theme down and put in a decent amount of effort. Though it's hard to tell, this was the start to my journey with makeup.
What I would charge: If I was to wear this outfit now, I would probably not have the skin-colored layers underneath. It was cold that day, so I had to have something to keep me warm, but now I probably would have found another way around it. Now, I might have a long sleeve dress or some sort of cardigan. Another change I would make would be not wearing those socks. I’m not sure why I chose them. I also would put more effort into the wig and makeup.
The next costume is from 2019. I dressed up as Ryan Ross during Panic! At the Disco’s Nothing Rhymes with Circus tour. This tour accompanied Panic!’s first album, and Ryan Ross would do an elaborate makeup look every night. I’m a bit surprised I was still in my “emo” phase in October 2019.
What I like: I love the rose vest I made for this. I bought plastic flowers and the vest off of Amazon. I broke the stems off the roses and stuck them on the vest with superglue. I think it was exactly what I was going for. The makeup, pants, and shirt underneath look okay.
What I would change: First off, I would probably not wear this now, as I think it is embarrassing. But if I had to, I would not try to make it the “girl” version. This is why I wore a dress. I would take out the dress completely, as I think it looks strange. As far as the makeup, I would spend more time on it. I also would wear a wig instead of tying up my hair on a weird way.
The last costume in this list is from last year, 2020. I dressed up as Lila from the show The Umbrella Academy. The outfit I wore was trying to imitate what she wears for the big fight scene towards the end of the second season.
What I like: I like that I was able to put this together with almost everything being something I already owned and still have it look good. The jacket I’m wearing is actually recycled from a Halloween costume I wore in 2015. I’ve been wearing it ever since then, and it's beginning to fall apart since it's a cheap pleather one from Forever 21. I like that I was able to cut the generic and cheap wig from Spirit Halloween to look pretty similar to the character.
What I would change: If I were to do this costume now, I would probably try to imitate a different outfit of Lila’s from the show. I wanted to do her skirtall outfit she has towards the beginning of the season but didn't have time to buy it.
Written By: Eliana Durham
Edited By: Crystal Lord