A good friend told me it was time to establish my credibility. Well, I’ll start with a fact that has defined me since I was very young; I am a world-class theatre brat.
Don’t confuse that with stage brat, though! The difference is vast and far-reaching. I am the proud offspring of a professional (albeit occasional) set designer father and full-time costume designer mother. Both have worked in theatres all around Chicago since I can remember and I did a great portion of my growing up in green rooms (lounges where actors wait backstage, often in full costume and makeup) and costume shops. As one could imagine, it would be hard to grow up around my mother and not acquire at least some of her talents- thus the credibility. I had a stellar foundation and built-in set of instincts for theatre as a young child, but more importantly, I always had the best Halloween costume in my class. They weren’t great because of how expensive or logoed up they were, but because they were always homemade and perfectly, 100% unique.
My mother has always said that one of her favorite things to hear about her costumes (in most cases, I must emphasize) onstage is that they went unnoticed. This makes perfect sense, of course, being that the purpose of a costume is to bring the physical actor into the world of the play that has been created by other designers (for example the sets, lights and even sound.) However, Halloween is a different story altogether. I remember Halloween of 1993, when I was in first grade and went as a certain purple dinosaur that you may recall. I had chosen a particularly popular option for kids my age and there were a lot of store-bought versions at the Halloween party my mother took me to in the field house over at Independence Park, near Irving and Pulaski, but mine was by far the most accurate and easily had the best craftsmanship. Ever since then, I can only remember costumes that had either been made just for me by my mother or pulled together by me, always creating something completely different than what anyone else was wearing.
Halloween is a wonderful day. We get to put on a costume, a fresh new persona that has nothing to do with who we really are as people. We can, on this day, play dress-up and parade around as whatever we want. Why should that persona not be something totally unique? You can take something from the back of your closet, the thrift store, a makeup and prop shop (check out Fantasy Headquarters over on Milwaukee, just north of Irving for an incredible selection of wigs, makeup, costumes, props, masks and gags that will really get the ball rolling on your holiday getup- this is where the pros shop, people) and mix it around with your own style and be literally anything or anybody you like. No one says you have to look exactly like the popularized version of your character, either!
My mom is still a full-time costumer (the photos pictured are some of her more classic looks) and over the years even my friends have benefited from the extensive storage she has accumulated at her permanent position at The Northbrook Theatre. So I have the perfect source for a great Halloween costume. I realize that I have that advantage. But I have absolute faith in each and every person who chooses to dress up this Halloween. Anybody can create their costume. The most important thing to remember is to make it your own and make it unique. You truly cannot go wrong if you go this route.