Lovelyish

Happy (almost) Halloween, Lovelies! We hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween! Here’s a look back on some of the Lovelyish Team’s Halloween memories and costumes.

Brittany: I had actually stopped dressing up for Halloween when I hit middle school (I must have thought I was too cool for it or something). I recently got back into the spirit in college since everybody always goes all out. My sophomore year, my friends and I traveled down to D.C. to party with some friends for Halloween. I got the idea to be a bumblebee, the QUEEN bee, in fact. It was a play off of my name, as I considered (still do actually) myself to be Queen B(rittany). The costume came with my own bee antenna and wings, and I used a crown from my birthday that year to signify my royalty! My black skirt even lights up with the flick of a hidden switch. It was definitely a fun costume! So fun, that I’m recycling it for Halloween this year in Baltimore (I didn’t get as good a wear out of it in the nation’s capital as I thought I would).

Eugenia: I loved dressing up for Halloween each year! But growing up in an immigrant family where Halloween was pretty much looked down upon and thought of as a waste of money, I had to be resourceful and use what I could find around the house to make a costume every year. This photo is from 4th grade when I first discovered vampires and Phantom of the Opera (yes, years later this has turned into a love for True Blood, Vampire Diaries and even Twilight). This was my rendition of “Vampire Phantom.” I put on a pair of my mom’s black pants, brother’s black shirt, made a cape using an old dress shirt of my dad’s and bought the red mask at Kmart for a quarter. Ghetto fabulous (or should I say thrifty) at such a young age!

Darci: I work at my school’s on-campus gym, and every Halloween there’s a costume contest. If you participate, you get a coupon for a free (awesomely delicious) smoothie at the juice bar, and are entered to win prizes. The professional staff judges; first place gets $50 to the campus bookstore, second place gets $35, and so on. Well last year, I really just wanted a smoothie (and to not have to wear my staff shirt to work for a change), so I searched for creative, cheap, and easy costume ideas. This is what I came up with: I’m someone you can count on! And guess who ended up with a snazzy UM zip-up sweatshirt for her troubles! To this day, whenever the gym director walks into the gym and sees me there, his face lights up, and he points at me and says, “I can count on YOU!”

Lea: Halloween is a day I have an unhealthy interest in. It’s a day I start preparing for months in advance. Not simply for a costume, but for fun, over the top decor that would put Martha Stewart to shame (even if I did steel most of my ideas from her). This year was one of my favorite Halloweens because for the first time, I wasn’t the only one taking it seriously. A roommate and I spent All Hallow’s Eve revamping the house with webs, fog machines, black lights, pumpkins, you name is we had it. We even had Halloween themed couch covers and our purple and green cupcakes were pretty much out of this world. A girlfriend and I decided to be pageant queens, Miss Greece and Miss Ireland for the big day, you can probably guess which one I was.

Kackie: I can’t not dress up for Halloween. It’s when society lets you be whatever or whoever you want. Here in Austin, Tex., it’s treated almost like Mardi Gras, with droves of people in the streets downtown and tons of haunted houses and events. We take it very seriously. Last year I dressed up as a Lost Boy from Hook. I sewed a leopard pelt, used an American Apparel tie dress to make some crazy pants, topped it all off with a headdress and my Minnetonka boots, just to look as crazy as possible. I pretty much love looking like anything shipwrecked or raised by wolves on Halloween, so this is a perfect combo.

Beca: I had to have been about four when I struck this (all-too popular) pose in my fairy princess costume. I cannot tell you where the wings are in this photo. It’s the last time I remember my mom hovering over what soon became called the crap-dammit-sewing-machine. I spent the first few years of my life in super-small-town North Florida so despite the barely-’90s reality then, I’m sure my and my sister’s matching gowns blinded some with all the shiny. I think the only costume I’ve had since possibly rivaling this was a few Halloweens ago when I dressed as Courtney Cox from Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing In The Dark” video (I donated those mom jeans back to Salvation Army the very next day). But where’s the sparkle in THAT?

Jennifer: This picture is me in kindergarten during my grade school’s annual Halloween Parade. My Minnie Mouse costume is probably the one I remember most from my childhood. My mother labored on it for days, making me a Minnie skirt and bow out of fabric she bought from Joann’s. She scoured our entire basement for the mickey mouse hat I got in Disney World the year before. And then she spray-painted actual wooden clogs yellow. All of this so that I could have a chance at winning the costume contest (I didn’t). My mom put a lot of time into this outfit and I wore it for all of 10 minutes before I started complaining. My hat was too itchy. The shoes hurt. I hated wearing tights. It was too hot inside for the turtle neck. It went on and on. Now, years later, I appreciate all of my mom’s effort and regret annoying her with my complaints because looking back, this was an amazing homemade Minnie Mouse costume. Go Mom!

Mariah: This was my friends and I last Halloween, we dressed up as Mean Girls! (I am the brunette aka Gretchen Weiners.) Mean Girls is probably one of the most quotable movies (of all time), and during another one of our usual “boo, you whore” moments the idea came to us! We were able to decide who everyone wanted to be pretty quickly and the outfits were surprisingly easy to replicate. We were all really excited with the results, well almost all of us… my roommate ended up with Lindsay and unfortunately there was a shortage of red wigs out last year, so what she ended up with wasn’t great. We were worried people wouldn’t get it but as soon as we got on the subway, people got it and thought it was so funny. Admittedly, I don’t think we would have been as recognizable without our “burn book” and Regina George’s cut-out tank and purple bra. Nonetheless, this was definitely a fun costume and super easy for anyone who is thinking of recreating it!

Yvette: Halloween is not one of my favorite “holidays,” so I haven’t dressed up in the past four or five years. But when I was little, I was all about dressing up and trick-or-treating! Here I am when I was about six or seven years old as the Pink Power Ranger. I remember I originally wanted to buy the costume from K-Mart, but my parents couldn’t afford buying three costumes (I have an older sister and younger brother), so instead, my mother made one! I think I actually have it stashed somewhere in my closet. Anyways, I was so in love with it I even did the Pink Power Ranger’s fighting pose for the camera! This year, I decided to take part in Halloween since there’s a possibility it may be my last one in New York City. I was planning to be the anime phenomenon, Hatsune Miku, but eBay messed up my order, so I won’t be getting my turquoise wig on time. Instead, I’m going to improvise with all the clothes I currently have and be Sandara Park from 2NE1 during their “Lollipop” or “Fire” promotions! I feel that Sandara’s palm tree hair will clearly show who I am trying to be, or maybe not. Just in case, I should carry some lollipops with me.

Amanda: I’ve always been a bit of a girly-girl and my mother always wanted me to be something “good” and “cute” rather than scary or spooky. So when Halloween came around, I would usually be a fairy or princess of some sort. This was when I was five years old and I was Belle from Beauty and the Beast because she was my favorite Disney princess. I was absolutely obsessed with Belle’s beautiful golden gown and begged my mom to buy me one from the Disney store. I eventually got my wish and felt like a true princess with my tiara in my own magical world.

Ashley: I’m a huge Audrey Hepburn fan and I will use any excuse to dress up like her and watch Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Luckily her outfits are usually pretty easy to emulate – for this one I just wore a black maxi dress from Target, gloves from H&M, a tiara I shamefully had from a middle school dance, some plastic pearls, and a pair of giant sunglasses. Oh and a glass of champagne always adds to the glamour, am I right?

What about you Lovelies? What are some of your favorite Halloween costumes and memories from years past?