Forget the Monster Mash…here’s some real monster music.

The members of the Finnish heavy metal band, Lordi, are known as “The Finnish Monsters” and “The Monsters of Finland,” because of the elaborate monster-like costumes they wear during live shows and in music videos.

The band’s monster masks are made of foam latex. The mask for lead singer, Mr. Lordi, was glued together piece by piece and requires 2-3 hour to fit. The other masks are solid helmets, taking about 20 minutes to put on. The band members do each others’ makeup.

But you don’t think about all that when you’re watching their music videos. It’s more like, “Hey, those monsters really know how to rock!”

Here are two of my favorite Lordi music videos, in all their monstrous glory:

Looks like another great year for Dragon*Con attendees. The 2008 convention in Atlanta, GA ended yesterday and tons of photos are appearing online.

You can browse Dragon*Con photo galleries Here, Here, Here, Here, Here and Here.

I imagine most people have come home exhausted and are still trying to organize their photos. We’ll post more about Dragon*Con soon!

It’s not the sort of thing you want the kids to see…a handcuffed Snow White being dragged away from Disneyland by the cops.

It gets worse. Cinderella, Peter Pan and Tinkerbell were handcuffed, frisked and loaded into police vans last Thursday after a labor dispute involving three Disney-owned hotels.

Following an hour-long march, thirty-two protesters, many wearing costumes famous Disney character costumes, sat in a circle on a busy intersection outside the park holding hands before being carted off in plastic handcuffs by the police.

Tourists in Disney T-shirts and hats looked on with bewildered faces as the costumed picketers we’re hauled away.

“It’s changing my opinion of Disneyland,” an Australian tourist commented.

Indeed, the “Happiest Place on Earth” was less than a fairytale that day!

[via CNN]

Cosplaying is interesting. It’s one thing to dress up as a character you like, but cosplaying generally involves having to act like the character as well. Cosplayers pride themselves on having the most accurate, authentic costume possible, and when cosplayers start making up their own characters, things start getting a little crazy.

One interesting phenomenon I’ve noticed is something I’m going to call crossover cosplaying (this is not to be confused with crossplaying, which is crossdressing cosplaying). It’s when a cosplayer, usually for a humorous effect, combines two characters from two different canons. Sometimes a character from one canon is simply placed into a different canon, without being combined with another character.

A fairly famous example of this is the Hello Kitty Darth Vader.
 

Perhaps an even stranger Star Wars crossover cosplay is the Elvis Trooper.
 

I like the Sailor Blueberry Muffin, a Sailor Moon and Strawberry Shortcake
crossover, which I found on cosplay.com. It’s delicious!

Obviously, this type of cosplaying veers away from the canon image that is so highly respected in cosplaying, which is why this is done more for fun and laughs. It also requires more creativity in designing the costume than normal cosplay, because the cosplayer first must decide which characters to combine, and then figure out how to make a costume which represents both of these characters in the way the cosplayer desires.

This isn’t a very popular trend yet—in fact, crossover cosplayers are kind of considered the oddballs of the groups! Some cosplayers feel that crossover cosplayers are just mocking the cosplaying phenomenon, but I think they’re just trying to have fun with costume design and characters they love.

Let us know about some crazy crossover cosplays you’ve seen!

We’re continuing with our Star Wars theme this week. I thought it would be fun to show some Youtube clips of great costumes and creativity.

Star Wars (Sweded): A Cardboard Hope
We’ve talked about Sweding before. This video was made for the popular BeKindReWind’s sweding competition, and it’s very well done.

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Next we have a fine procession of costumers at the 2008 Motor City Con in Novi, MI. Darth Vader looks terrific, but what really impresses me is the costume of General Grievous.

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Star Wars: Attack of the Lightsaber Clone
And finally, the good people of Backyard FX, the masters of DIY filmmaking, put together a funny lightsaber video along with a tutorial for making your own weapon. Great stuff!

You know, George Lucas invented the lightsaber over 30 years ago. It’s rather hard to believe that our top scientists haven’t been able to make one for real. What’s up with that?

When it comes to throwing a party as big as the Olympic opening ceremony, the Chinese take it very seriously.

It’s a chance to showcase their culture and history to the world so the show must be spectacular.

Based on some of the pictures I’ve seen, they succeeded. The 3 ½ hour show highlighted 5000 years of history, featured 20,000 performers and 33,000 fireworks.

And apparently, the creators of the show spared no expense on costumes.

I was not able to include some of the most impressive costumes here, but you can view them on the NBC Olympic web site.

Awww, look at the little furry animal…

Over at SourHumor.com they have a fun collection of animals in costumes. They are definitely cute.

 
The blogger writes, “If you think about it, we are really mean for making animals wear this stuff.”

Do you think that’s true? Sound off with your opinion in the comment section below.

[via SourHumor.com]

What is it about vampires that captivate the imagination? Is it the concept of immortality or maybe the thought of being loved by a broodingly handsome lord of the night?

Whatever the fascination, Stephenie Meyer seems to have tapped into it in her Twilight book series which has turned into somewhat of a cultural phenomenon. Twilight fan sites have shot up all over the internet and the books have sold more than 7.5 million copies.

The Twilight series follows the relationship of average teenager Bella Swan and the vampire who loves her, Edward Cullen. While the seemingly improbable relationship is the stuff of young girls’ fantasies, the book manages to capture the real-life angst and passion of the teenage years. But surprisingly, it’s not just teenagers that are reading it. Take it from me, a forty-something fan living in the “Twilight Zone.”

While Twilight’s vampires don’t wear costumes, fans of the book series do. In fact, hordes of them turned up in costume for the national book release parties, Friday night (August 1) to welcome the fourth installment in the series, Breaking Dawn. Barnes and Noble stores hosted “proms” while Borders book stores hosted “A Night with a Bite.” Borders reported selling over 250,000 copies in the first 24 hours following the book’s release.

It’s sad to see the series end, but I’m looking forward to some closure (I’m on page 79 of Breaking Dawn right now). I’m also looking forward to the to the movie version of Twilight, to be released in December. I think I’ve watched the trailer about twenty or thirty times already. Looks like a piece of entertainment you can really sink your teeth into!

Previously we posted about Flight of the Conchords and the zany costumes they come up with for their music videos. But they’re not the only band that dresses up for fun!

I don’t know how many of you are familiar with wizard rock. It’s a genre that promotes literacy and fighting evil by rocking out to Harry Potter-based music. There’s much more to wizard rock that I can really cover in a pithy sentence, but what I’m really here to talk about, of course, is the costuming. Part of what makes it so awesome is that everyone can dress up. The bands dress as characters from the books, the fans dress up as witches and wizards, and even the instruments get costumes!

Music, Harry Potter, and costumes—all in one! It’s too good to be true!

Brothers Joe and Paul DeGeorge wear Harry Potter costumes for their band, Harry and the Potters. The two of them created their band, and wizard rock, in 2002.

(more…)

An estimated 10,000 people wore costumes at Comic-Con last weekend. Lots of great photos are showing up online. Cinemablend.com just published a gallery with dozens of excellent photos.

Wow, everybody looks great! Be sure to visit Cinemablend.com to view the entire gallery.

It’s that joyous time of year again — Comic-Con! And thousands of people in costumes flock to the big event in San Diego. All the great costumes… it’s brings a tear to my eye.

Wired.com has a good article and photo slideshow of this year’s costumes. Looks like so much fun!

Well I hope everyone has a fun and safe Comic-Con. I know it’s sold out, and I’m so jealous for the people who get to go.

To view all of these great photos, head on over to Wired.com’s entire photo gallery.

Going to Comic-Con? Marvel Comics will be teaming up with costume vendor Disguise to hold the first ever Superhero Costume Fashion Show at this year’s Comic-Con in San Diego.

The Fashion Show begins in the Marvel Booth (Booth #2429) Friday at 2:00 and will be followed by a photo-op with the models.

According to the press release:

This is no cosplay; these are seriously fierce costumes worn by incredible models, strutting their stuff down the catwalk, for the debut of the sexiest line of costumes ever created and inspired by Marvel super heroes.

Dressing up as a super heroine in the past would have meant spandex and tights. No more! Disguise has tossed this old and unflattering cartoonish concept and instead made fashionable, wearable and fun costumes that not only fit great but look fabulous. These costumes are inspired by some of the hottest and most iconic heroes to grace the pages of Marvel, and this will be your first chance to see them live as they make their Comic-Con debut!

 

This looks awesome! I’m pretty sad I won’t be going to Comic-Con this year.

For a special preview of the costumes, CLICK HERE.

Sometimes, a costume is more than just the clothes you wear. Sometimes, a costume is less than just the clothes you wear.

Makeup is something we haven’t talked too much about around here. That’s because makeup is usually an accessory to the costume, something that finishes the costume to make it more complete. It’s not often that a costume is defined by the makeup alone—but sometimes, it can be.

The brilliance behind zombie costumes is that you can wear whatever you want—or just whatever you normally wear. If you had really turned into a zombie, that’s what you would be wearing. As far as costumes go, it’s about as simple as it comes. It’s the makeup that’s really the costume.

To be a zombie, you’ll need pallid, sickly-looking skin. Maybe with a bit of a greenish tint to it. You’ll need at least one wound—that’s the zombie bite that turned you. And if you want to be really dramatic, blood splatters are the way to go.

Fake blood can be easily made by mixing corn syrup with red food coloring. Adding a little cocoa powder to the concoction will give it a darker blood color and ensure that when it dries, it will look just like dried blood.

Making your wounds takes a little more work, but it’s so much more fun. There are plenty of recipes for this kind of thing. I’ve done it with cotton balls and gelatin. I have a friend who made amazing realistic-looking zombie wounds with marshmallows. You can experiment with other textures too, like tissue or corn flakes. The wounds can be glued on with latex (the kind they use in theater to attach fake beards and the like), and painted with makeup and fake blood.

You don’t have to wait until Halloween to do this, either. Grab some friends and make a fast and fun zombie film. Or better yet, participate in one of the many zombie walks that occur every year across the country! Zombiewalk.com is a good resource for finding one, or organize your own in your neighborhood.

Just when I was starting to despair that I wouldn’t find anything clever and unique to say about costumes, I stumbled upon Ennio Marchetto while doing some internet research. I was floored by this guy’s creative ingenuity when it comes to quick costume changes on stage.

Ennio Marchetto is world renowned and has performed in over 80 countries for more than a million people. His unique show has earned numerous awards and international critical acclaim.

He performs alone on stage, without any backstage help, changing character almost every minute, often in front of the audience. All his costumes, wigs and props are made out of paper and cardboard, flipping and folding to change from one character to another.

Marchetto and his costumes impersonate 350 characters including a wide variety of icons, from pop stars to opera singers, from works of art to mythological figures and each show is adapted to the particular country he’s performing in.

I could go on and on about this guy…but I’ve gotta go see some paper and scissors about a costume.

British photographer Stephen Schofield has published a gallery of ordinary Britons wearing American costumes. His goal is to explore the way American pop-culture affects citizens in the UK.

Schofield states:

My practice is concerned with exploring the fascination that the British public has with American popular culture and the sub-cultural world of fandom.

It seeks to offer a glimpse into seemingly ordinary lives of my subjects and allows the private to become public. The work hints at the depth of people’s fantasies and the methods they employ to adopt this culture as part of their own lifestyle as a means of escapism.

Very interesting! I can definitely see how costumes can be used as a form of “escapism” — but I don’t think it’s a bad thing. There’s nothing wrong with bringing a little imaginative excitement into our daily lives.

To view the entire gallery, CLICK HERE.

This is the third and final part of the history of my personal costuming experience.

Part Three: Post-College

These days, I try not to be too serious about costuming. I’m good enough of a seamstress now that I don’t stress about irreparably screwing it up and wasting a lot of money. If a situation pops up where I need a costume (I have a friend who is fond of throwing costume parties, for example), my strategy is to glance at my wardrobe and what costume pieces I have on hand, and just piece something together. I’ll make new pieces or buy them if I feel it’s necessary to complete the costume. That’s exactly what I did last year for Halloween, and I think my Little Red Riding Hood costume turned out very well. Even better is that I didn’t spend a lot of time, effort, and money on it!

But that’s not all I do with costuming. I’ve always been fascinated with historical fashion, and these days I do a lot of sewing to make garb. It seems more practical to me than costumes, although I’m not sure how I’ve convinced myself of that, because it’s not like I go to Renaissance fairs any more often than other costuming events. But I did get to go to one this spring! I ended up making medieval clothes for almost my whole family, so that we could look awesome at the Ren Faire. (And we definitely did look awesome.) Maybe I’ll end up selling garb at a Ren Faire someday.

It’s not all fun and games, either. My penchant for costuming has not escaped the notice of my friends, and now I’ve been asked to design and create the wardrobe for a feature-length independent film which my friends will be shooting this summer. For the film, I’m only making one costume from scratch, but it’s pretty exciting.

I’m definitely doing a lot more costuming now than ever before in my life. And I’m enjoying it a lot more than ever before too! The experience I’ve gained in sewing makes designing and constructing the costumes a lot more easy and enjoyable for me, while I can still challenge myself by trying styles and methods I haven’t done before. In the meantime I’ve come across more reasons to costume, just for the fun of it. Maybe my next birthday party will be a costume party!

I suppose the moral of the story is, if you like costuming, don’t let the lack of events stop you. Just keep on making costumes. I’ve had several events recently where I was really glad I had a costume stash, so that I could lend them to people and quickly come up with costumes for parties and other things. If you like doing it, do it! And if you’re really desperate for reasons to wear your costumes, I know we have entries addressing that matter in our archives.

Most importantly, have fun with it!

What if I told you this stunning costume gown is made out of paper?

Yeah, that’s what I thought too.

This and many other paper costumes are the work of Isabelle de Borchgrave, of Brussels. She is the designer of textiles, ceramics, porcelain and other products for the home.

Isabelle has expanded her talents into other fields, including interior design and a new line of party paper products now available at Target.

In 1994 Isabelle met a Canadian theatre dress designer. Together they created an astonishing collection of dresses in paper known as “Papiers a la Mode,” covering 300 years of fashion history.

First shown in France in 1998, this substantial collection has since traveled all over Europe, the United States and Japan and continues to be exhibited throughout the world.

You can actually commission Isabelle to make a party dress for you…but I don’t think you’ll like the price of the paper!

Babies are channeling their inner grown-up with a pair of stilettos…even before they’re out of the crib.

Heelarious creators have fashioned soft crib booties designed to look like high heels. Now baby will be ready for high fashion shopping trips, charity events, breakfast at Tiffany’s and red carpet events.

Apparently, these little spikes are selling like crazy in 22 states and overseas.

The tiny novelty high heals aren’t for walking, obviously, but they’re soft, funny and fashionable.

Heelarious crib booties come in leopard satin print, hot pink patent, black satin, zebra satin, black patent, and hot pink satin.

Here we have Naija from the popular game Aquaria. She’s even got her song wheel.

Very beautiful, I especially like her flipper feet. This gal (who’s name is Aleze) is a master of cosplay, and it turns out we’ve posted about her before.

Last year, she got famous posing as Midna from the Zelda series.

Great work!

For anyone interested, here’s a closer look at the game Aquaria.

She calls her herself the Venetian Princess…and she’s made a name for herself by producing creative YouTube videos like Brangelina, Adopt Me Too. The talented and beautiful 23 year-old is a one woman show, writing, acting and singing in the videos that she also edits and produces special effects for.

Oh, and most impressively, she does all the costumes herself as well!

The Venetian Princess has 40 original videos on YouTube, seen by as many as 18 million viewers.

Take a look at one of her homemade videos and you’ll know why she’s gaining such popularity:

You can see a broader scope of this gal’s talent and imagination by visiting her YouTube Channel.