How often do you wear costumes? In New Orleans, Halloween is only one costume occasion in a culture of dozens. We wear costumes—sometimes elaborate ones—to school, work, church, parades, concerts, social gatherings, birthday parties, football games, holidays, even funerals. And we should probably start talking now about what you're wearing for Mardi Gras.
Now, don't go buying some plastic prefab number. Costumes are most fun when they require creativity and ingenuity and resourcefulness. Most of these ensembles came together in the final fifteen minutes before leaving the house. You can create a lot with some strategic eyeliner, cutting up old socks and t-shirts, and repurposing household objects. Here are some of my recent favorites.
"After prom": Wear a tux and formal gown, then mess them up a little. Put your hair in an updo, and then pull out half of it—even better if you have visible hair pins. Smudge your mascara and eyeliner. Slip on some flip flops and carry your heels. Unbutton, untuck, and untie your collar, cuffs, and bow tie. Look exhausted, which should be easy because we all are.
Lion and lion tamer: You can assemble this costume with any tan, olive, or brown clothes, a curly blonde wig, sunglasses, maybe a garden or fishing hat, and makeup. You can adapt this tutorial; it's easy and requires basics you probably have black eyeliner and white/light eyeshadow. I also used some orange-toned eyeshadow to shade my face.
1980s: Tight roll your jeans, pop your collar, slip on your stilettos, slather on the blue and pink makeup, and you're nearly there. We added bandanas, aviators, a mullet wig, and a gift bow we already had, and I thrifted the jumpsuit.
Fox and Noah: This was for a group costume (we met up with the other animals and the rainbow later on). What we already had: a red wig, a mullet wig, my jumpsuit, some stuffed animals, a plaid tablecloth, and some random Easter bunny ears. I quickly cut and colored some fox ears and taped them onto the bunny ears and used my trusty black eyeliner along with white and orange eyeshadows for fox makeup.
Fox and hound: The same day, we had yet another costume event so Colin switched from Noah to a hound with a brown beanie, paper puppy ears stapled on, and an eyeliner nose.
"Red and dead": We were assigned the theme "rhyme without reason," so we took a quick inventory and came up with the red wig, red lipstick, black eyeshadow, and a plastic skull stolen from our memento mori display. (Who knew I'd get so much mileage out of this red wig that I bought originally for our dear friend's annual fundraiser?)
James Bond and Bond girl: Honestly, this was probably the easiest costume ever. We just threw on formal attire, grabbed a toy gun from our kids' stash, and tried to look brooding. That, plus we drank a lot of martinis. For the role, naturally.
Fireman and dalmatian: A costume brought to you by duct tape. We used black and yellow duct tape that we had in our tool box to make letters and shapes for black and white t-shirts we had laying around, and "reflector" stripes for Colin's baggiest khakis. I made puppy ears out of white socks stuffed with paper towels and attached them with a headband (you could also use pins or barrettes). Our dog loaned me his tags for the evening.
Pirates: Another super easy, last-minute costume made entirely of things we already had. Those "vests" are old t-shirts cut open/ sleeves off, and Colin also agreed to chop these old grass-cutting pants.
Saints head coach and owner: A black polo, headphones, a blazer and pencil skirt with a gold shirt and pearls, and we became NFL legends. This would be easy to adapt for any team. #whodat
Sugar skulls: A makeup-centric costume—black eyeliner and purple eyeshadow really sold the look, paired with some old fake flowers that I stuck into a stretchy headband (I didn't even attach them) and a ruffly tiered dress.
"Wear a mask": Satire is peak costumes. This very easy one should be self-explanatory.
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