The Anime Blog

It’s that time of year again folks! It’s that time when those of us who choose not to (or can’t) cosplay have a chance to shine and not be labelled freak-show’s by “normal” society…Oh yeah baby, it’s Halloween time again!!!

Halloween for Dave and me is like Christmas, birthdays, Easter and the Fourth of July all rolled up into one, only better. We take Halloween seriously; while most people will lose weight and get in shape for spring break and their weddings, we do that for Halloween.

I’ve been planning my costume for two and half months and I now understand what hard-core cosplayers go through for cons. My hat’s off to all the cosplayers who make their own costumes from scratch; I salute you. I’ve endured discrimination and funny looks by non-believers when I say I’ve been planning my costume for Halloween…in the middle of July.

I can’t imagine the trials cosplayers go through when they make their costumes and it’s not even for the grandest holiday of them all. I’ve gotten closer to fellow seamstresses and sewers and learned things I never thought I would because of the earnestness of my latest endeavour. This Halloween is really special to me for personal reasons and I’m going all out on the fabric, the shoes, the hair, the nails, hell; the whole nine yards!

Not everybody is as die-hard about Halloween as me nor is everyone a cosplayer, but I’m hoping everybody out there is at least starting to think about their costumes. I’m putting up a list of sites that might be helpful for people who are having a hard time pulling things together.

I personally am having a few a rough patches obtaining certain items for my costume and I’d like to share what I’ve learned and the sites I’ve been to that’ve helped me out. One of the greatest resources for me and Dave, though, is something in our own backyard (figuratively speaking people) that I’ve been yammering about ever since I discovered it: Rock Star Rags.

This place has been invaluable to us and sinfully cheap to boot. I’d been having the worst time getting a hold of a petticoat suitable for a loli dress that wouldn’t cost me an arm and a leg (take my advice my fellow loli wannabes; don’t ever buy a square dance petticoat for a loli dress cuz it’s way too big and flouncy).

We went to Rock Star Rags last week and I hit the jackpot while looking through a big pile of full length pettis in the middle of the floor. I found this awesome full length hoop skirt that I knew I could turn into a mini hoop skirt. I took it home, washed it, and did a bit of surgery on the hoop, yoke and bottom lace, and viola, brand frick’n new crinoline perfect for a loli dress that cost me $2.50 and two hours.

So what I’m trying to say is; If you live here in St. Louis or the area, get yer ass to Rock Star Rags before they close so you can make yourself a kick ass costume for less than 10 bucks!!!

Without further ado, here are the links that I found to be helpful on my lil’ journey:

• Ruffles and Lace - Don’t let the chick with the big rack on the home page fool ya; this place has what you need for petticoats and pettipants. (For lolitas, keep in mind that the petticoat shouldn’t be very full nor should it go past the middle of your thigh. Mine is 15″, 16.5″ with the ruffle and it fills out my skirt beautifully. The only problem with a crinoline versus a petticoat is now I need to wear pettipants or everyone can see my dainties, and well, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone unless they paid for it).
• Spooky Boutique - Cool shoes for costumes or whenever.
• Ben Nye Makeup - It just wouldn’t be Halloween without the makeup!! Ben Nye is the best makeup for stage, Halloween, etc., IMO.
• World of Wigs - Sadly the wig sites I wanted to post are all booked with orders till further notice. This place is decent and has good prices, but for cosplay or something really different it would seem that you would need to plan months in advance for Halloween, hmmm…
• How to Style Spiral Curls - For those of us who already have long hair and/or are too cheap/broke to pay $45 for a wig.
• Jongleur Cosplay - This is a cool site with some great how to tips and tutorials. They no longer accept commissions but it’s still worth a look.
• Cosworx - The well known cosplay website that has a ton of stuff. I’ve been noticing a trend though, that some small commission based cosplay sites are closing down or are too booked…Is that a sign of booming business or impending doom?

Dave and I have never personally cosplayed, as I’ve stated time and time again, but we’ve been making our own costumes, jewelry, props, and clothes for over 15 years so we know a little bit about costumes, jewelry, accessories, etc. If someone has a sewing question, a makeup question, prop question, whatever, leave a comment or send us an e-mail and we’ll try to help out. I would post pics of prior costumes, but frankly, I’m too shy of my former weight to do that, sorry.

Good Luck with your costumes and let us know what you’ll be dressing as or how you’re making your costume so we can share some tips!