With preparations in full swing for Halloween Gay Christmas, the mad dash is on for the perfect costume. For the crafty types there are always the homemade options. Otherwise it is a full tilt boogie on the retail options. You have that odd store on Fourth Avenue that by now always has a line (but no list? how rude). There are the 254 locations of Ricky's throughout the city. A favorite has always been the largest Salvation Army in the city, just a three or four stops on the R or V train at the Steinway Street stop.
Before you go shopping though you need to know who or what you are going to be. Of course there are the basics which can be relied upon. For a costume to be successful, a more specified stamp is needed. It's fine to want to be a 'fireman', but you have to own that fireman. Add specifics, such as 'horsehung fireman from North Dakota' or 'foot fetish fireman' or 'fireman with a fear of fondue'.
Drag, is, as it is every weekend, an option, but "if you're going to do it, do it right" is the rule here. There is nothing sadder than a half-assed drag queen. You cannot use lipstick as rouge. You certainly cannot just wear a mumu and a wig and call it a night. Drag requires preparation, purchases and personality. One hint for those who aren't particularly skilled with eye makeup: big sunglasses. As for drag though, consult the experts such as the blogolicious Lady Bunny, Amnesia Sparkles, et al.
"You do an awfully good impersonation of yourself." This is the first line of Bret Easton Ellis' Lunar Park and it is the mantra that applies to the best of Halloween costumes. A costume that is an extrapolation of your personality or that is the exact opposite of you is the one that you and your friends will remember. Take an aspect of yourself and blow it out of proportion. If you're horny, be a horny devil or goat. If you're bookish, be 'librarian of the damned'. The converse of this is to go as the opposite of you. The mirror you, if horny, might be an angel or a member of the Chastity Club, or, if bookish, might be a a future vision of Sean Preston Federline, who will certainly never read a book.
One year, in a fit of poverty and desperation, the store-bought route was taken and the only thing available was a viking costume. The costume was fine on its own merits, but it reflected no characteristics of me. Some powder, some lipstick, a wig, and a chicken-cutlet-filled bra suddenly transformed the drab viking into a daring valkyrie/performance artist. Perhaps the best costume ever wasn't even for Halloween, but for a birthday where I wore a fur coat and sunglasses and nothing else; it wasn't amazing as a concept, but it matched my personality, blown out to an extreme.
So close your eyes and let your mind wander. Collect images in your mind's eye, but commit to none. Go through your closets and makeup kits and see what supplies you already have. Then wander through some shops and start pulling things on a whim. Then go home and combine all of this on your bed and edit. Let your costume inform itself and steer itself into creation. Go out into the night and grab the world by the balls!
