Tag Archives: sexy

5 Smarty Halloween Costumes

I love the creativity that Halloween brings out in me and others, and I always try to DIY my costumes by collecting things from friends and family, Goodwill, my own wardrobe with an assist from the craft store!

Unfortunately, Halloween has notoriously been known as the holiday where you can “dress like a slut and get away with it,” —that is, according to the movie Mean Girls.
So instead of going sexy, I vote going smarty this Halloween. Here are my top 5 Halloween costume ideas for 2014! What are you going to be? Leave your ideas in the comments!

1. Carmen SandiegoCarmenSandiego

Relive the 90s! The education game show series began airing on PBS in 1991 that had viewers and contestants becoming detectives to solve various mysteries and geography challenges leading up to the chance to capture Carmen and receive a trip! Also, who could forget that iconic theme song?

What you’ll need:

  • Red trench-styled coat
  • Red fedora hat
  • Yellow scarf
  • Black shirt and pants
  • Black boots

Additional Accessories: inflatable globe, a map, or binoculars
Couplet? Have your mate go as Where’s Waldo, you both can we “lost” in love, HA!

AmeliaEarhart2. Amelia Earhart

Take your costume to new heights by dressing up as this pioneer pilot.

What you’ll need:

  • Brown bomber or aviator jacket
  • Khaki pants or slacks with a trim-cut leg
  • Brown riding boots or combat boots
  • White scarf, bonus points for adding a hanger via tape or a trusty needle and thread to the inside and making it look like its “blowing in the wind.”
  • Goggles, ski goggles may do the trick if you have those laying in your coat closet
  • A helmet or a floppy-eared hat, if hats aren’t your thing, the goggles may be enough to get the idea across.
    If you don’t feel DIYing this one, there’s an accessory kit!

Additional Accessories: You could potentially get a model airplane and carry with you, bonus points if you find a backpack like this one!
Couplet? Have your mate go as an airplane! Weee!

RosieRiveter3. Rosie the Riveter

A cultural icon with an empowering message, “We Can Do It!” And you can do with this easy-to-put-together costume.

What you’ll need:

  • Red with white polka dotted scarf or fabric, enough to go around your head and tie in the front
  • Jeans, bonus points if they’re high-waisted—how retro!
  • Blue button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up, be sure to tuck in the shirt or tie it in a knot at the waist.
  • Red lipstick
  • Hair up!
  • Black combat boots
  • A flexed bicep for the iconic pose.

Additional Accessories: Create a yellow “backdrop” with the “We Can Do It” speech bubble on cardboard, attach elastic loops, wear as a backpack.  This may be a bit difficult for a night on the town, but may work well at a house party…with large doorways.
Couplet? Have your mate go as a member of the Army, both are appropriate for the WWII timeframe.

LadyLiberty4. Lady Liberty

Because Amurica and Freedom and because in several states this November it’s election season!

What you’ll need:

  • A blue-green bed sheet or a white one dyed a blue-green
  • Rope or chording from the craft store painted/dyed the same color as sheet
  • Burger King crown, halfed and painted to match
  • Flip flops or gold sandals, feel free to spray paint these as well to match
  • This amazing clutch that looks like a book from Asos! 
  • Torch: flash light, add matching colored foam around the base and up and attach orange and yellow tissue paper to the lens of the flashlight and WHA-LA! or you could just buy one here. 

Additional Accessories: Purchase silver or blue-green body paint for your face and arms (though a long sleeve shirt may be easier and more comfortable when dyed to match) Also if face paint irritates your skin, like it does mine, opt for silver eye shadow and lip stick to finish the look.
Couplet? Have your mate go as Uncle Sam.

RubiksCube5. Rubiks Cube

Who doesn’t love a creative costume brainteaser?

What you’ll need:

  • Three boxes from UPS or FedEx that are wide enough to fit around your torso
  • Different colored construction paper or paint (don’t forget the brushes!) to create the different colored blocks
  • Black duct tape to tape it all down or define the blocks of color
  • Sharp Scissors or a X-acto to cut round holes in the boxes, big enough for your body
  • To wear under: anything! I recommend a black tank top or long sleeve shirt and leggings or shorts.

Additional Accessories: Wear color sneakers to complete the look, Converses work great! Oh! and bonus points if you make the rubiks cube solvable!
Couplet? Have your mate go as a nerd that is trying to solve you!

From SunshineSouthern.wordpress.com. Click here to visit her blog and get more step by step instructions!

A version of the finished product from SunshineSouthern.wordpress.com. Click here to visit her blog and get more step by step instructions!

Now, I want to hear from you! What smarty costumes have you come up with in the past? What are you going to be this year?

 

 

Seduction is Exclusive

So as you know, I’m a fan of Beyonce and last night I was lucky enough to attend her Mrs. Carter show at the Verizon Center here in D.C. and first, let me start by saying WHAT a SHOW. Holy moly. She played all her hits and a new song on her new and ever-popular visual album and she did it all with energy and eternal gratitude for the fans that came out in droves for the show on a WEDNESDAY. She’s a performer, a feminist and a damn powerful singer.

Picture I took at the Mrs. Carter Show. Please note this ever fab purple jumpsuit Beyonce is sporting.

Picture I took at the Mrs. Carter Show. Please note this ever fab purple jumpsuit Beyonce is sporting.

In between sets she took the time to change her wardrobe from one leotard to another then to the purple jumpsuit clad in sequins, an outfit that even Elton John would be envy. While her quick changes were happening behind the scenes she put together video introductions of the next song/set coming up.

My favorite quote of the evening (p.s. Ms. Bey a poet) introduced “Naughty Girl.”

Here it goes:
“Seduction is much more than beauty. It is generous. It is intelligent. It’s mysterious. It’s exclusive.”-Beyonce

This is right on and I think it embodies Beyonce’s multiple performance personalities. She’s the fierce female, the confident hustler, Houston dirty with a touch of southern hospitality and ballad belle.

Something we have as women is seduction (no hair fan required, also can I have one of those following me around everywhere… please?) and the ability to feel and be sexy, but that sexy comes in many different forms and Beyonce captures it perfectly in her poetic nuances.

As females we are givers and caring individuals just by nature, because science. So when we are in seduction mode and being all “heeeeyyyyyyy how you doin’?” we are giving the men (or women!) our attention not because we think we can sack ‘em per se, but because we chose them for x, y, z reason. We shouldn’t be giving away our hearts or our bodies for free. We are sacred.

We must first learn to love and respect ourselves if we expect love and respect in return from others.

and if others don’t love and respect you, they don’t deserve you proceed to tell them to get gone… to the left, to the left!

 

 

 

The Spooky Reality of Sexy’s Sister, Naughty

Naughty is not so nice when you’re talking about Halloween costumes for toddlers. This year Walmart housed costumes of the animal varieties on their shelves and labeled them as “sexy”, “naughty”, “playful.” However, what Walmart and the Consumerist.com seem to be the most concerned about are not the adjectives describing the costumes, but how inaccurate and non-animal-like the costumes are. Well, I agree with that!

ladies and gents I give you the "naughty leopard"

ladies and gents I give you the “naughty leopard”

For instance, as you can see in the photo to the left the “naughty leopard” frock has a tutu and purple leopard ribbon trim—not quite the furry feline we’re used to seeing in the pages of National Geographic. Spoiler alert: Walmart is pulling the costumes from the shelves to do more “research.”

So why am I writing about this ordeal? Well for one, it’s been cluttering the Interwebz for weeks and I just can’t ignore it any longer. And two, why the heck do people (myself included) get irritated when kid things are labeled with sexual-ese language that connotes that something (this costume for instance) is sexual when in reality it’s not? To be real: It’s a dress accessorized by animal ears.

To be real part deux: It’s marketing at its finest. I’m elated to know that people are opening their eyeballs to these marketing tactics and calling out their one-of-these-things-is-not-like-the-other bluff.

As Jezebel had pointed out, the Halloween costume industry has been a contributor to the over sexualized culture. So now, when we hear “naughty” we (for the most part, admit it!) picture a risqué and lewd version of the actual “thing”. In this case the “thing” is a leopard.  BUT WHY!?! Naughty has since the 1600s been a word used to describe someone being mischievous or behaving improperly. The 1900s is when “Naughty” became “Sexy’s” sister.

I know you’re tired of hearing about leopards, soooo let’s use the “naughty elf,” imagery as an example.

What do you picture when you hear “naughty elf?”

Half of you just pictured a nugget-sized human in the north pole clad in a coat with fur trim and a pointy hat, misbehaving or rigging all the toys to make children sad AND the other half of you thought of a hot-to-trot blonde in a mini skirt covered in jingle bells, sporting a cropped-coat that features white fur trim (surely, that thing can’t be warm) sounding out her vowels (ay-ee-iee-ohhh-ouuu *duck face*).

naughtyelf

north pole toy maker vs. human hot-to-trot woman ready for a costume party. disclaimer: cartoon elf not true to size (in comparison to woman elf on right)

You get the point. So it’s not about the costume being labeled as “naughty”, but rather what the word “naughty” actually means in our culture vs. the dictionary.

It’s time to send Naughty back to the days of wetting paper balls in our mouths and launching them through straws at our classmate’s head, to eating dessert right before dinner, and getting yelled at for not taking off muddy shoes before walking in the house!

Which imagery do you have when you think of “naughty?” How can we get Naughty to stray from her sister Sexy? Share in the comments!