Playing Dress Up Over The Years

Anyone off to a Halloween fancy dress party?
 

I'd absolutely love to go to Becky Bedbug's party on Thursday 31st October but sadly I can't get the time off work and it's too far away to get there and back in an evening. If anyone else fancies it though, I think she's got tickets left.

 

The instructions for the party say to dress up appropriately and looking around on Pinterest and other blogs, it seems that dressing up (American-style) is becoming a bigger and bigger thing for Halloween each year. Funnily enough, for all the years I've spent dressing up for Carnival processions, I've never actually been to a Halloween party (and have only been to a handful of fancy dress parties).

 

So although I could put together a half-decent fancy dress costume, I'd be a bit stuck for a Halloween costume. The nearest I could do would be a Vampiress outfit, which I wore for our Carnival club's entry in 2006. Although if I ever needed a Spanish, Aztec, Fishy, African, Flapper, Cheerleader or Roman Gladiator costume, I only have to raid my loft for an outfit!

 

Here's what I've worn over the years...

  

2004 - Devil's Nightmare

Our entry was based on church gargoyles with a huge (and heavy!) gargoyle headdress. My dress was strapless and covered with sequins - which took absolutely ages to sew on one by one!

 

 

2005 - Sol Espanol

We went Spanish this year with all sorts of flamenco dresses. I loved this costume, the skirt was so swishy and our dance routine that year made it really easy to flap the skirt out at the crowd. I'd never fit into the outfit now though, I still have it in the loft and can't really believe how small the waist is!

One other thing I learned that year, I really don't look good with black hair!

 

 

2006 - Vampires Kiss

Based on vampires (with Jump by Girls Aloud as the music), my dress was made up of two parts: a floaty cropped top and a corset and skirt piece. Red is my favourite colour so I really liked this outfit and even though I didn't suit black hair the previous year, I loved my dip-dyed red and black wig. We also had heeled lace up boots and a very jumpy dance routine so after two hours of dancing each night, my feet were red raw!

 

2007 - Mesheeca

This year was an entry all about Aztecs with incredibly short dresses, but luckily we all wear bikini shorts underneath so nobody saw anything. Usually we have a costume lady who makes everything but this year she only made the basic dress and we did all our own embellishment and decoration. It was quite good fun designing my own costume and we all got to wear furry boots - bonus!

 

 

2008 - Mundo Parade

A world parade of nationalities, I was an African lady with a huge feathered headress - so big that it had to be made smaller after the first Carnival procession as I couldn't lift my arms over my head to do part of the dance routine!

 

 

2008 - Battleground (Beginning of the End)

I made a guest appearance on another Carnival club's entry the same year - a space themed float with a very clingy dress. I liked the outfit but I wish I'd worn some kind of support underwear to smooth everything out!

 
 

2009 - Parade
I helped out a fellow Carnival club this year and wore a cheerleader/band person outfit complete with pom poms. My skirt was a kind of swishy 50's style skirt which swung out when we danced and learning how to use pom poms was certainly an experience!

2010 - Rome 217 AD
Again, I made appearances on two different Carnival floats in the same year with the first being a Roman gladiator theme. This was one of my favourite dresses to wear, it was fairly simply but made you feel great wearing it. I think it shows in the picture as what you can't tell is that the night the photo was taken we had a torrential downpour; my dress was soaked through and my hair was plastered to my face!

2010 - The Deep
The second outfit of the year was a fishy themed entry. This is the outfit I disliked the most as it was made of horrible material which made you really hot the moment you started dancing. Plus I love wearing dresses and this was trousers and a top!

2011 - Roaring 20's
A sparkly flapper dress for this years entry based on the 1920's. We danced to 'Anything Goes' and I had great fun posing for the crowd as part of the routine.

And for the last couple of years, I haven't had a costume; instead I've taken a step back from performing to let some of the younger members of the Carnival club have a go.

Maybe next year though, I'll gain a new outfit!