Cluck It Up During Chicken Month
September is National Chicken Month, a whole thirty days devoted to this under-appreciated and, in some opinions, overeaten bird! While we suspect National Chicken Month was conjured up by some corporate poultry producers and recipe developers to increase to consumption of “yard bird,” we’d like to suggest an alternative way of celebrating -- dressing up as some of the most famous chickens of all time and clucking it up!
The San Diego Famous Chicken is the larger-than-life, feathered friend for the Padres baseball team that helped make the profession of mascot the champion of cheer that it is today. Making more that 250 appearances per year across the country, this famous chicken and hall of fame mascot (really just a guy in a chicken suit) has been named on of the most powerful people in 20th century sports by The Sporting News.
Ernie the Giant Chicken from the animated series The Family Guy is the rowdy rooster who likes to show up in the middle of a scene and engage Peter in a cock fight. Random, weird, but sure to make you laugh! Foghorn from Looney Tunes is much more old-school cartoon character, a good ole boy rooster, who speaks in a signature deep southern drawl. Here are some other costume ideas, you could say nuggets of inspiration, for your transformation into a chicken – Chicken Little of the-sky-is-falling-fame, Camilla from the Muppet Show, the cast from Chicken Run and Alfred the Chicken among others.
When you’re suited up in your chicken costume in honor of National Chicken month, don’t forget to shake your tail feathers by boogying along the Chicken Dance. This fun group event is best danced to oomph-pa accordion music – get those wings flapping!
Make Waves at the Mermaid Parade
You’ll never feel like a fish out of water dressed up as a mermaid. Just ask the thousands of humans-turned-mermaids that appear each year for the annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade. A landmark event each summer since 1983, this outrageous ocean-themed event draws in thousands of participants who are all dressed up as mermaids, mermen, sea creatures or other wild and wacky water-inspired things. Hundreds of thousands of folks line the streets of this nostalgic amusement destination to pay homage to these sexy sea sirens, underwater goddesses and their accompanying aquatic wildlife.
Capturing the spirit and artistry of other big parades like Mardi Gras, but on a smaller scale, this New York area celebration of the summer solstice is a quite a sight to behold. While marketed as a family event, you will see plenty of mermaid costumes with very little or nothing worn on the top (in New York state, it is legal for women to go topless). But there are also plenty of little aspiring Ariels marching right along – anything goes here!
You’ll see rainbow costumes in an iridescent rainbow array of colors, every neon hue you can possibly image under the sea as well as shimmering silvers and glittering golds. Many of the mermaid costumes are intricately handmade; you can tell the wearer has put some thought and time into the flip of her tail and the sheen of her scales. But don’t fret if you haven’t a crafty bone in your body, there are plenty of fabulous mermaid costumes that come preassembled and ready to wear. Just add body paint to these women’s costumes, a long cascading wig and ocean-inspired accessories such as shells, seaweed and such and you’ll be ready to make waves!
Miss Universe’s Spectacle of National Costumes
Miss Universe, she’s the most beautiful woman in the world. Just a week ago at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, on August 23rd, the Miss Universe Pageant crowned another lovely lady into this elite group of pageant royalty. While Jimena Naverrete, Miss Mexico, won the 2010 title and walked her victory walk down the stage and no doubt took home a ton of cash and fabulous prizes, some of the most memorable moments were from the parade of national costumes. The national costumes portion of the Miss Universe Pageant is not a judged event, but an much anticipated display of feathers, sequins and such that exemplifies each girl’s ability to capture the spirit of her home country.
The award for “Best National Costume” went to Miss Thailand, Fonthip Watcharatrakul who dazzled the audience with a Thai costume featuring leg bracelets and a huge golden staff shaped like a leaf. Of the remaining national country costumes on display there were the simply outrageous and then the shockingly outrageous. Miss Venezuela wore a space-age silver mosaic jumpsuit with a dramatic one-armed cape and Lady Gaga-esque headpiece. Miss USA wore a skimpy gold leotard backed with huge eagle wings and stars; quite a national treasure.
There were other silly and sensational show-stopping looks. The France costume, at first glance, appeared to be a lovely, white evening gown until the beauty pulled out the train behind her festoon with the French flag. Oh, and you couldn’t miss her hat – a typical French beret topped by a silver Eiffel tower! Miss Zambia showed off her country’s best assets with a national costume that featured gourds, a popular native plant, perched strategically over her chest.
A few of the national costumes were a bit lackluster, like a last-minute shopping trip down to the formal department of J.C. Pennys. And, of course, many were over-the-top showgirl costumes that any drag queen would die for. You don’t have to be entering a beauty pageant to dress up in a women’s costume that depicts your love for the motherland – try one on for size and you may realize you’ve found the perfect outfit for a Halloween costume, patriotic festival costume, or downtown parade.
Put Some Life Into Frankenstein Day
Looking for a way to add a little frightful fun to the second-to-last night in August? Suit up in a Frankenstein costume and help celebrate a monster of a day – Frankenstein Day. Frankenstein Day, designated as the 30th of August, is meant to pay tribute to the birth date of author Mary Wollenstone Shelley who wrote this infamous story. “Frankenstein.” Born August 30, 1818, Shelley wrote the book that practically spawned the entire genre of horror entertainment when she was just 18 years old.
As you may already know, the fictional Dr. Victor Frankenstein was fascinated with science and through his research uncovered the secret to imbuing inanimate objects with the living. After considering the feasibility of bringing a corpse back to life, Dr. Frankenstein assembled a hodgepodge of human body parts and pieced together a larger-than-life creation in the form of a man. However, shortly after making the man, he loses the beauty of his dream and is filled with disgust and horror at his creation – Frankenstein’s monster. Of course, the monster is lonely and sad, not understanding life as a true human and much tragedy follows.
When you think if a Frankenstein costume, the image that comes to mind is the hulking silhouette created in the 1931 Universal Studios movie where Boris Karloff plays the monster. Even though the flick is set in black-and-white, the look for a monster of Frankenstein costume features a tattered and too-small dark suit with broad shoulders and a face cast with a sickly greenish hue. Also signature to the face of Frankenstein’s monster were a thick forehead, sunken eyes, silver bolts sticking out both sides of his neck and sloppy scars from railroad-track style surgical stitching.
While Frankenstein costumes make sense for celebrating Frankenstein Day, the other obvious venue for these theatrical threads is on Halloween. There are quite a few variations of the best Halloween costumes for frightful fun with the horror genre. You can even create your own realistic Frankenstein costume with a hand-me-down suit, green face paint, special effects kits for designing the face scars. Don’t forget the signature walk of this big guy who lumbers through the hallways with heavy steps, locked knees and outstretched arms. He’s alive!
You Won’t Be-weave This Hair
“Hair Wars” is an annual event on tour that is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before – if your hair isn’t standing on end in excitement, it surely will be by the show! Started in 1991 by David Humphries, this competition of hairstyles is a showcase for stylists and their salons to bring their outrageous coif creations to life. Here, the stylists are truly accomplished artists using hair as a medium to create unusual, elaborate and sure-to-be-talked about masterpieces.
In 2010, “Hair Wars” celebrated its 25th anniversary with yet another touring show – since its initial inception in Detroit decades ago, each show has gotten bigger, better and wilder! A typical show might last over four hours and feature 250 hair model that strut their stuff across the runway. While they might wear elaborate costume outfits, each model is dressed in a way that helps show off the hair. From interlocked Olympic rings seemingly suspended above a model’s head to plumed Las Vegas showgirl headdresses made entirely of hair, spectators have to be wondering how its all done.
Other memorable hair styles have included spider web headpiece, a football touchdown goal and helicopter hairstyle with an actual rotating propeller. Each of the styles is planned months in advance and a stylist might actually start making some of the pin in pieces weeks before the event. Prior the show, the hair artists work feverishly backstage to pin, glue and weld (just kidding) these unusual hair extensions onto the head to complement the model’s natural hair.
It’s basically a hair fantasy come to life! Why make a statement with just a costume or clothing when you can live larger than life with outrageous hair – we’re telling you, it’s all about the hair! If you’re interested in replicating a “Hair Wars” inspired ‘do, you’ll need to stock up on some supplies – bobby pinks, lots and lots of heavy-duty hairspray, and fake hair extensions that you can twist, braid, curl and sculpt up into anything you please. Transform your locks into a Halloween costume worthy look by using spray-in color (rinses out), glitter mousse, and all types of props!
Good Greenness – The Green Lantern
Actor Ryan Reynolds appeared at Comic-con 2010 in late July to generate buzz about the upcoming Warner Bros. superhero flick, “Green Lantern” expected in 2011. Armed with the proverbial power ring, the beau-hunk actor was on hand during the studio’s presentation of the film and charmingly answered fan questions. Reports even say that he recited the Green Lantern’s legendary oath for a young boy in the audience – “In brightest day and darkest night, no evil shall escape my sight.”
One thing that superhero fans were up in arms about, however, was the mysterious lack of presence of the suit. “Where is it, we want to see it,” the crowd demanded. I mean, if Ryan’s out promoting his superhero movie, shouldn’t he be suited up in the proverbial Spandex? Sit down for this; apparently the suit was fashioned entirely from CGI, so he never actually wore the suit for filming. Another non-traditional element of the Green Lantern costume is that it does not feature the signature white gloves that were part of the crime-fighters ensemble in the comics and cartoons. Actually, Reynolds admitted he thinks the white gloves were “lame” but reassured the convention-goers that “the fanboys and the people new to the character are going to love it (the Green Lantern costume).”
Of course, if you are interested in a Green Lantern superhero costume, you’re not going to be able to rely on computer-generated images – you’re going to have to suit up the old-fashioned way. The retro comic book look features a black skin-tight suit with green boot covers and a green-muscled chest feature with the Green Lantern logo in the center. The great thing about having these built-in, padded muscles is that you don’t have to hit the gym to look ripped. A green eye mask also helps partially cover your face so that you can head out in disguise.
Another necessary element for any Green Lantern costume, Hollywood or Halloween bound, is the power ring. This ring has magical capabilities and has been described as "the most powerful weapon in the universe." The power ring can translate language, split atoms, be summoned from a distance – whatever the wearer wills to happen, the ring will execute or create. The only limitation of the Green Lantern’s ring is that it has to be recharged by flame from his personal battery, the Lantern. Good thing the Green Lantern costume version works of regular, store-bought batteries!
Furry Feet Are Fine For Hobbits
Hobbits are curious creatures – folks are endeared to Hobbits for many reasons, I love them because they have furry feet! Diminutive in statue, Hobbits are a fictional race created by J.R.R. Tolkien in his legendary novels and later brought to the big screen in The Lord of The Rings trilogy. On the horizon is a new movie based on the prologue to the three book series, “The Hobbit”. While getting the movie made has had its ups and downs, rumor has it that it is back on track and expected for release (part one, at least) some time in 2012.
According to Tolkien’s writings and hopefully portrayed in the movie, Hobbits are between two and four feet, fairly stout, have pointed ears and feet covered in curly hair. A Hobbit favors bright clothing, especially yellow and green, which is unusual because by personality a Hobbit is quite shy and reserved. Despite a quiet, comfort-loving nature, Hobbits can be quite brave and perform courageous acts when the situation calls for it.
There are many Hobbit costumes available for purchase that came into popularity with the Lord of the Rings movies staring Elijah Woods as the Hobbit, Frodo Baggins and Ian Holm as the elder Bilbo Baggins. Frodo is described as a “perky chap with a bright eye” and he wore the traditional hobbit style of knee-lengths breeches, shirt, waistcoat, jacket, and full cloak. A Frodo costume or Bilbo Baggins costume also needs the requisite hair-covered foot, and conveniently most costume shops sell such novelties as Hobbit feet!
Even the awful and withered-looking Gollum was once a Hobbit, although decidedly not as loveable-looking. If you don’t mind looking shriveled, speaking in a scary, throaty voice and referring to yourself self in third-person, a Gollum costume may be for you - my precious! A frightening latex mask with his wasted-away features, sparse teeth and silvered blue eyes can be added to a black shirt and pants to create this Lord of the Rings costume.
Fly High in Justice League Costumes
Superheroes, they’re everywhere – if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em! With Marvel’s “The Avengers” scheduled for release in 2011, it brings back rumors of the “is-it or isn’t it” happening of a Justice League movie. Not too long back, DC Comics was into the production of their superhero movie, “Justice League: Mortal.” Rumor has it that the movie, to have been directed by George Miller, was already over $200 million in expenses before the axe on the project dropped while filming in Australia. Ouch. Surfing around on the internet, it seems like it may be gearing back up for 2013.
Regardless of when a Justice League movie will be made, fans will be lining up to see the world’s most famous group of good guys (and girl). Featured in comic books, cartoons and movies, this team of crime-fighters has evolved over time, with new characters coming and going. But, for the most part, the main members of the Justice League (and the ones most likely to be in the upcoming flick) are Superman, Batman, The Flash Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and the Martian Manhunter.
Halloween and children’s birthday parties are sure to be infused with plenty of superhero costumes, party merchandise and toys thanks to the renewed interest in superheroes of both Marvel and DC Comic persuasion. Dress up as the “Man of Steel” in a Superman or as the “Caped Cruisader” in a Batman costume and head out to save the day – or, better yet, head of the casting agent’s office and see if you can land one of the roles!
Really, you can’t go wrong wearing a superhero costume. Head-to-toe Spandex is sure to get you noticed wherever you go and may even gain you the nod into that exclusive club you’ve wanted to hang out at! Other great places for superhero costumes is to meet up with all the other fanboys and fangirls at the nearest comic convention – or host your own superhero shindig and make wearing a Justice League costume part of the deal! Bam – Pow – Shazamm!
Angelina Jolie Will Rule Her Cleopatra Costume
If you haven’t heard yet, Oscar-winner Angelina Jolie will be donning the golden headdress to play the legendary Egyptian Queen, Cleopatra. To be produced by Scott Rudin, CLEOPATRA: A LIFE may remind movie goers of the last time a sexy movie star played this infamous Queen of the Nile. Only time will tell if Elizabeth Taylor (who portrayed the Queen in the 1963 $44 million epic film) will have to abdicate the iconic silver screen image of Cleopatra to Jolie.
If you’re not up on your history, this ancient “modern” woman ruled Egypt as the last Pharoah in the 1st century BC. Not only was she Queen, she usually got what she wanted first living and cavorting about with Julius Caesar until his assassination and then realigning herself with Marc Antony to avoid the throes of Roman imperialism. As dramatic and colorful as her life, her death was less so – although still notable. After Antony committed suicide after falsely learning of her death, she killed herself by allowing a poisonous snake to bite her.
Cleopatra costumes are almost guaranteed to hold court this Halloween and at other year-round masquerades, they’ve always been popular since Liz popularized the look of Celopatra with heavy eyeliner and blue eye shadow up to the brows. Elaborate Cleopatra costumes can be purchased as long, flowing white gown and a heavily ornamented collar and sash. Or the crafty queen-to-be can whip up a toga-like dress from a white sheet and use gold lame fabric to add royal accents. With her Egyptian heritage, Cleopatra is depicted with long, black hair – often cut to the chin. While the real hair of a lady living in Egypt may have been a bit curlier (no flat-irons back then), you can’t deny it is a diva-licious look, especially when topped with her signature gold-beaded headdress.
Katie Channels Jackie Kennedy in Upcoming Biopic
Married to Tom Cruise, she’s Hollywood royalty and now Katie Holmes gets to portray the closest thing we’ve ever had to an American Princess – First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. Holmes is shooting The History Channel’s upcoming mini-series, “The Kennedys” and is having no complaints about the costumes.
Set to air in 2011, this biopic about President John F. Kennedy (played by Greg Kinnear) and his fashion-icon wife will air over eight hours, featuring numerous costume changes paying tribute to the 60s era. Long before Holmes was cast to play Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, she was often mentioned in the press to be a modern-day version of the style icon.
Recently, Holmes told US magazine that “her clothes were magnificent” and that she felt so lucky to have a team of seamstresses on the costuming team to create beautiful replica dresses. Additionally, she reported that designer Armani made two dresses for the mini-series. Pictures that have been snapped on the set of “The Kennedys” does show a striking resemblance between the two women.
If you are looking to dress up in a Jackie Kennedy costume for Halloween, a school play or some other historical re-enactment, she always favored smart dresses paired with pill box hats and elegant evening gowns with opera-length gloves. The styles of her first lady costumes are very 1960s with an a-line silhouette, usually made by the most prominent designers of the time. Jackie didn’t just wear fashion, she set fashion trends – so many women and young ladies looked up to her innate grace and beauty. Make your own history wearing one of these women’s costume ideas worthy of the White House.
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