Aria: Witch
EQUALLY WITCHY EARLIER IN THE EPISODE
Aria’s witch costume teaches us the most basic thing about witch costumes: You can wear pretty much anything. Do you have anything from Hot Topic? Anything black? Anything red? Anything that laces up? Anything striped? Anything left over from junior high that you thought was cool at the time but now wouldn’t be caught dead in? That’s right, you can wear all of the things. This costume is nothing more than a quick trip to your old bedroom at your parents’ house.
But wait! Aria forgot something really important! Yes, this was probably because she saw her dad making out with a grad student and thus wasn’t too concerned with Halloween, but still! Even the most basic witches need one crucial thing. A witch’s hat! Stores will try to sell you really lame hats that will fall apart and craft sites will teach you how to make crappy paper hats. Here, I’ll explain how to make a cool, fabric, bendy witches hat that will last you through Halloween to the inevitable next time you attend a Harry Potter party.
LIKE THIS EXCEPT NOT FROM AN LINGERIE AD
Materials
+ 1/2 yard of black felt
+ fabric glue or hot glue
+ a pen and piece of string
+ pipe cleaners
+ ribbon (optional)
How To
1. Measure around your head. Add four to that number and divide by 2.
2. Tack a compass (a string tied around a pen) to a large piece of black felt (or other sturdy fabric). Use the pen to draw a 1/3 circle (120 degrees). Cut out the 1/3 circle like it is slice of pizza.
3. Glue (sparingly) pipe cleaners along the 1/3 circle. Optionally also in arcs towards the top (like rings).
4. Meet the two straight edges and overlap them such that you make a cone. Check that this cone fits snugly around your head. Overlap the edges more if the Hat is too lose. Pin the hat at the appropriate size and glue or sew the edges together.
5. Take the cone and use it to trace circle in the center of another piece of felt (with plenty of room around it).
6. Find the center of the circle and measure the radius. This is shown as “d” in the image below despite it being a radius not a diameter (I used d=”distance.” Not my finest math moment). Make a compass this time that is two times this distance d. From the center, make another full circle around the smaller one at this length. This is going to be the brim of your hat, so if you want the brim smaller/larger, adjust that now.
7. Cut out two of these donuts.
8. Glue (sparingly) pip cleaners along one of the donuts. You can also optionally sew the pipe cleaners about a half inch from the outer edge.
9. Cut approximately every inch along the bottom of the cone. Use these tabs to glue to the cone to the donut.
10. Glue the two donuts together such that they sandwich the pipe cleaners and the tabs.
11. If you need/want to, cover the seam between the cone and the hat with a piece of black ribbon.
12. Bend your hat in to an awesome witchy shape!
See?! Wasn’t that fun and easy? For a simpler project, omit the pipe cleaners and the second donut for a simple straight witches hat. Alternative Use: Make bigger or smaller versions of these hats to give out candy in!
Alison and Jenna: Lady Gaga
GAGA OVERLOAD
Jenna and Alison spent about fifteen minutes arguing over who would get to go to the party dressed as “Lady G.” Am I slow? ‘Cause it took me like a half hour to realize they were talking about Lady Gaga. Does anyone call her that? That’s a real question. Either way, zomg Lady Gaga costumes!
So Alison was pissed because Jenna’s costume was clearly better than hers. But wait, what exactly makes Jenna’s costume so much more obviously Gagalicious? It comes down to three things. Outfit. Wig. Sunglasses.
For starters, you want to choose a Gaga outfit that is distinctly Gaga, and not taken from a moment where Gaga was doing “a themed look.” Though Gaga did wear the “biker look,” Alison’s costume, therefore, could just as easily be just a biker. This is the same reason Jo Calderone is such a (disappointingly) non-distinct costume. No one can tell you from a regular T-Bird Greaser. Jenna chose, on the other hand, an outfit that (without adding devil horns) couldn’t be anything but a Lady Gaga look. Look for outfits Gaga notoriously wore– searching “the Google” and Gaga Fashionland are good places to start. In a pinch, take anything super tight and put huge foam shoulder pads in it.
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| $13.30 – Capezio Women’s Tank Leotard | $13.99 – Red Lightweight Circle Ring Infinity Scarf |
Similarly, Alison’s wig is just not Gaga enough. Gaga works in extremes. When her hair is straight, it’s stick straight. When it’s curly, it’s short and curly. When it’s long, it goes down to her waist. When it’s short, it ends at her chin. I do think that the most recognizable Gaga hair is the one Jenna’s rocking: a long white-blond wig with blunt-cut bangs
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| $9.15 – Amazon |
Costume and wig aside, Alison’s costume never had a prayer. Why? No sunglasses! The key to any great Lady Gaga costume is big, sharp, outrageous sunglasses. It might be dark at the club/part you’re at, but you’ll just have to soldier through. Lady Gaga rarely shows her face, and so neither should you. Besides, sunglasses are wicked fun. I don’t know how to explain when you’ll know that you’ve found the right pair, but believe me. You’ll just know. If you can’t find pair that are outrageous enough, I suggest investing in some adhesive rhinestones.
Random Person: Creepy
One last costume. If you watched the episode, you know that this happened a lot:
I'M SCARED JUST LOOKING AT THIS!
That’s right. Half the characters in the episode were running around in basically the creepiest baby doll mask thing ever. Weirdly enough, it’s actually called a Creepy Baby Mask and, if you so desire, you can totally purchase it for your super creepy costume! Just don’t come near me because it freaks me out too bad.
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| $18.49 – Amazon |
Okay now that wraps it up for real! Thanks to Home of the Nutty for the shockingly complete screencaps. See you later this week for more costumes, crafts and general halloween musings.
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I hope every girl in the world reads your carefully laid out instructions and shows up as Jenna Gaga. Cause like, that would be majorly hot/I could work my emily eyes/smize on em
I hope so too! Because then I would be FAMOUS!
why the hell is emilys outfit so offensive? yeah i get it, it’s a bit too sexy and not that original but so? really?
Yeah I’m confused too.. why is her costume offensive?
Is it something about Indians of America?
(I don’t know much about that, I’m Italian forgive me..)
I am totally okay with sexy unoriginal costumes. On the other hand, I don’t personally feel okay promoting dressing up as a stereotype.
Peep this: http://mycultureisnotatrend.tumblr.com/
Well, she’s dressing up as a Native American stereotype. She’s not Native American. So if you see it like that, it’s offensive. I don’t really think it’s that offensive, but I get why people do.
Why the costume could be considered offensive:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/26/living/halloween-ethnic-costumes/?hpt=us_t4
Thanks T!
I read the first line of this article as “I think we all know what the third base of Halloween is …” and though I love PLL, I must say, I was slightly disappointed when I realized I wasn’t actually going to learn about the (Gay) Halloween version of “Rounding the Bases.”
I feel like things just change so much when costumes are involved, and I may be woefully unprepared to handle a Halloween base hit. How do you slide to third with a Mary Queen of Scots costume or do you just go for the Squeeze Play?
TL/DR: NSFW Sunday needs to teach me how to conquer someone else’s costume … and baseball terminology is deliciously dirty.
“If you’re reading this site, then you know how to put clothes on.”
That’s a pretty big assumption.
As a form of non-violent protest against this offensive assumption, from now on, I will read Autostraddle naked.
#OCCUPYAUTOSTRADDLE
I think u.s. citizens are extremely conscious about ethnicities and I don’t mean that in a good way.
Could you elaborate on that?
I’m latin, mexican actually, and I don’t care if someone dresses up for halloween as a mariachi or whatever you guys think is mexican. I think it’s funny to be honest.
I’ve lived in US and AAAALLL the time people had something to say about race/ethnicities, for example a guy would be ofended if someone asked him about his race, as if it was something taboo people shouldn’t be allowed to ask.
Or on the other hand some people would be uber interested in talking about their race and play the victim card “I’m black/latin/asian/whatever and omg my race has been through SO MUCH ugh! people don’t get me, I should get extra attention just because of the color of my skin”
I don’t know, maybe is like a thing in your country, but it isn’t in mine and I think we live better at least in that specific aspect.
P.s.Lizz don’t take this the wrong way, let’s just agree to disagree
I understand what the girl in the letter says but can I onestly say something? Reading between the lines you have posted it looks to me like she is ashamed of being a native. I understand government must have been hard on them, I do, but the problem seems not to lie on the costume. What I mean is… it’s a little bit like jersey shore for italian people. Do you know that in Italy lots of people watch it?Why? Because stereotypes are as a definition stereotypes (captain obvious here).They don’t represent the truth, we are not all like snooki or whatever, american people know that, we know that. Being Italian is not easy (if you know something about the italian government, you know what I’m talkig about) and that’s one of the reason why so many young people come to America, but the problem will not be worked out just taking away the costume and certainly it’s not gonna get worse just for a Halloween costume. That is just my opinion, I don’t intend to insult anyone.
Race is definitely a thing in this country. As an American who actively despises racism and can’t fathom the thought process of racists, I can also admit there is a hypersensitivity about race in this country that I think undermines legitimate concerns about racial stereotyping or bias.
Now, was Emily’s costume offensive? I don’t know. Do we know what her costume is? Is she just a Native American, or is she Pocahontas? Did she ever say? Hannah never did, but we know she was Britney. I don’t recall Emily saying either. (I could be wrong. I just don’t recall it.) If she is Pocahontas, is it more offensive than Spencer being the Queen of England? For all we know, Emily Fields could be part Native American just like Spencer is probably English (given the name Hastings). Her dad looks Asian, her mom looks Latina, but we don’t know what mixture of ethnicities she could be. But really, I don’t think it matters. So while I can appreciate the sentiment of the link Lizz posted in the blog My Culture Is Not A Trend, no one is belittling someone’s culture by dressing up as Pocahontas anymore than dressing up as the Queen of England, Hapshetsut, Susan B. Anthony or any other famous figure.
I think for my costume this year, I’m just going to wear my regular clothes and tell everyone I’m Mystique (from X-men) in disguise.
That wig that Allison is wearing is basically the worst thing I’ve ever seen. She looks like a bleached out Elvira. If I saw this picture out of context and without explanation, “Lady Gaga” would probably be my last guess.
ELVIRA! YESSS.
Nerdy quibble: The Tudor costume is pretty clearly Elizabeth I, not Mary Stuart. The hair gives it all away.
Isn’t it just a Pocahontas costume?