Gender Study Make-up: Straw hats are for Men, too.

It's summer!
I recently got into a playful argument with someone after they stated that big floppy straw hats were gay.

Gay? 

They then went on to say that only movie-star-girls can get away with them.
Being a big fan of straw hats, I set out to make a point. The first thing that sprang to mind was the straw hat that Vincent Van Gogh wore in some of his paintings.



And so I drew inspiration from that. But instead of making a formal rebuttal or just continuing the playful straw-hat argument, I somehow found myself cross-dressing and in theatre make-up. (Why that seemed like a logical thing to do, I'll never know.)


Here is my original design.
I started off by over feminizing myself.

I pulled my long hair down, wore a simple cotton dress, put on eye-liner, bright foundation, blush, lipstick, and even some false freckles for a farm-fresh look to match my straw hat. 

And then I took a complete left turn and tried to channel my inner Van Gogh. 

My blending is terrible and the colors are weird, but most importantly, I did some nice stippling for a 5 o'clock shadow appearance (something I haven't done in several years)


So there you have it. One hat, one model, 2 genders. Accessories for all peoples of all races, creed, and sexes. Equality for all!

Ahem. Hat Marxism aside, I hope you enjoyed this.
Questions? Criticism? 
You know the drill. Leave me a comment.

M*A*S*H Inspired: Hawkeye Costume

I've been wanting to do a Hawkeye cosplay for some years now, but always felt that I needed that iconic red robe in order to properly pull it off. Fortune smiled on me this week and I found one! So off to my costume closet I went, to pull together a test-run of a Hawkeye cosplay. 

Below are my reference images. I pulled details like the floppy hat, the robe, his golf club (not pictured here but often seen in the show), and of course booze. 

And this is what I came up with. 

I'm happy with it for now, considering the little time and money I had. Notes for next time: 

      -Need dog-tags and a real martini glass 

      -Do an Alan Alda make-up study (I think I could pull it off with a wig for his short black hair) 

      -Go outside and stop shooting indoors, for the love of god!

Questions? Criticism? 

Leave me a comment. 

Renaissance Festival: Costume Inspired by King Arthur Movie

It's Ren-fest time here in Southern California. I wanted to share my latest costume. 

Here's me with a Johnny Depp impersonator. 

Here I am at the German Soldier camp. 

Aaaaand here's me at the end of the day: drunk and satisfied. 

How I did it: 

Above is my original design, based the top off of Kiera Knightly's character in the movie King Arthur. 

Now enjoy some incredibly nerdy and hilarious pictures from a year ago:

(when I first started work on this piece)

For the top, I went to goodwill and bought a bunch of old woven leather belts and hot-glued them together, weaving in some extra leather scraps. It ties together in the back very simply. The bottom portion of the costume is a bunch of skirts chopped up and sewed back together, with touches of old scarves, burlap, and leather scraps. 

I bought my celtic torque necklace online (like what Kiera is wearing above) and put a scarf in my hair. 

And that's it! Easy, breezy, beautiful cover-girl. 

Tribal Style: Raccoon Face Paint

Happy Cinco de Mayo! 

I don't know why, but I found myself ruminating on the day-of-the-dead skulls. I love how some women  paint their faces up, accented with flowers and scroll-work. 

Like this....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shellycrash/2994098954/

     But it struck me that the dark eye sockets could be used for a raccoon style make-up. And so this monstrosity was born. 

     Part Dia de los Muertos, part tribal, and part animal. 

     When I started scrounging around for colors, I came across silver acrylic paint. I don't recommend this for face-paint (my eyes watered like crazy) but the shinyness of it was really cool. So without further ado, enjoy my simple design. 

Want step by step instructions? 
Leave me a comment.