Long before I ever started dressing up in costume for the operas, I spent much of my Septembers and Octobers surreptitiously slaving away in my small bedroom on my Halloween costume for the year. Unsurprisingly, Halloween is my favorite holiday ─ not because of witches and ghouls and black and orange décor, but simply because I have always loved dressing up.
In the spirit of the season, I thought I would share some of my past outfits.
Before learning to sew on a machine, I had to rely on tape, garbage bags, and old sheets to create costumes. In 2013, newspaper was my material of choice…
I went as “Old News” ─ quite literally since all the newspaper used was out of date before the 31st dawned. This costume was well worn: in all, I slipped on the tiered skirt and laced up the “corset” bodice 7-8 times during the season. Thankfully, it never rained.
I love history. It’s an engaging escape for my antiquarian imagination. I also love to learn about the famous (and infamous) characters in history. Not knowing exactly what inspired it, I chose to be Marie Antoinette in 2014. The peruke and panniers were a crafting feat; both were constructed from plastic grocery bags and toilet paper rolls, but that’s where the similarities ended. Long stretches of white cotton were carefully hot glued to the cardboard “curlers” of the wig and then given a misting of watered gray paint. I crocheted the hairy tendrils.
For years I kept the safety pinned skirt of tulle and sheets in a desolate drawer… until I realized that I was never going to wear flimsy cardboard panniers again and my mother wanted her sheets back. “Let them eat cake !”
In the same month that I was introduced to my first opera, my family went on a cruise ! Who would have thought that that cruise would wipe out 2½ months of social activities ? Yes, I came down with a horrible illness during the tail end of the trip that caused me to miss Tannhäuser in HD and Halloween 2015…
With a new love came a new passion as I taught myself to sew for Madama Butterfly in 2016.
I promise, my hair wasn’t so much a knotted mess when I actually went trick-or-treating…
It’s always great when an opera outfit seamlessly doubles as a Halloween costume. My Queen of the Night getup from Die Zauberflöte was a timely hit…
…as was my Egyptian costume from Aida ! Not only was this costume commenced and completed in under a month, but it was also worn within an hour of arriving home from the matinee encore performance of La Fanciulla del West.
A Gold Rush Girl by day, Cleopatra’s doppelgänger by night… it was a whirlwind Halloween.
Brünnhilde the Valkyrie… Is there anything spookier than a mythical being whose primary purpose is to decide who lives and dies in battle and gathers up the fallen heroes to haul them to Valhalla ???
And just in case you’re wondering, I left my axe at home for the evening…
In all my years of dressing up, I don’t think I ever disguised myself as a princess; maybe a witch in a long, black gown or Miss America, but never a princess. The plush pink 1890’s ball gown from Manon was my outlet for elegance and grace, living out every little girl’s fantasy.
Clearly my long-time love of dressing up has played a starring role in my life. The only question left is… what will I wear this Halloween ?
Happy Halloween !
Toi, Toi, Toi,
Mary Martha
Costume Closet Couture 