Silent Film Star in Grey Scale

Just a quick post today. I wanted to share share with all of you the costume I made for Halloween. I know Halloween was a couple weeks ago, but hey better late then never. My original idea was Betty Boop but I didn't think I could pull off the cartoon look. Some how that idea evolved into the creation you see below - the silent film star in grey scale.

Searching for make up tutorials for this was frustrating at best until I changed my search strategy. I had been searching with the terms 'black and white make up' and the only hits I got were for mimes, zombies, etc. - cool but not very helpful for what I needed. Then I tried 'gray scale' and Ah Ha!

I have to give credit to my friend Becca for her help with the make up. There is no way I could have pulled this off without her. Becca works as a make up artist for a local theater.

Becca working her make up magic!

For my hair I used a ton of setting lotion and some black spray on hair color. I couldn't find any long hair clips so I used a combination of smaller clips and bobby pins to hold my hair in place while it dried. This was my first attempt at finger waves and it proved rather challenging. Looking at several how-tos online the concept looked easy, and after a lot of practice I'm sure it is. However I think this is a hairstyle that is probably easier to do with another person's hair then with your own.

My hair is supper long so only the front sections were set in finger waves. The back portion was pulled back, rolled, and pinned low. I set my hair in the morning and left the clips in for most of the day. I looked pretty silly.

I made the my dress out of some cheap poly-satin, recycled from an older Halloween costume. I followed the directions for Draping a Magic Dance Frock from Dress Making Research. This is a great resource with lots of free patterns. Check it out!

Here is the finished look. I used black sequins for trim and a vintage rhinestone pin to complete the look. It's hard to see in the pictures.

Cori went as Pop Eye. He wore one of his vintage Navy jumpers with a pair of surplus denim work pants.

And just for fun, here are couple costumes from past years. All photos by Kris Jarrett Photography & Media Production.

Bonny and Clyde

Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf.