How I did it: most of the components of this costume came from my regular wardrobe (yes, i dress that much like a drag queen on a day-to-day), so my main point of anxiety was on the beard and make-up.

i'm not normally one to voluntarily use cosmetics.  i did cover my face and torso with violet body paint for last year's costume, but that didn't really require any precision...this, on the other hand...

turned out to be quite fun, actually.  i'm kind of wanting another excuse to go crazy with my new face paints now, actually.

Lessons & tips: the cockettes are brilliant and looking at pictures of them is definitely inspiring for doing something like this, but don't just imitate one of their costumes precisely.  it's a whole lot more fun if you just take on the spirit of their endeavour and play around with it.

making a beard is easier than you think.  (although growing one is anther fine option if you're biologically empowered to do so...not that having a beard is absolutely necessary--but it was something i wanted to play with.)

Resources: my beard was made out of wool hand-spun and dyed with grape kool-aid by a friend of mine, but i'm sure thee are commercially available yarns that would work just as well.  do try to pick stuff that's as thick as possible, though, unless you've thought of a good tecnique you want to try out with finer stuff.

all my make-up came from the dollar store, with the exception of some blue mascara borrowed from my flatmate.  thanks flatmate!

i also used stickers.  i got some butterflies that were cute, but they fell off of my face.  honestly, the best call was those shiny star stickers that come in packs of 400 for about a dollar.  they stuck much better to the make-up, and then i had plenty left over to give my friends some shiny bits too, as a faery godomma ought.

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Nov 06, 2008, 08:09PM PST | 0 comments