Those of you with calenders or with awareness of dates in October will know that tomorrow is my favourite day of the year .... Halloween! Halloween is my Christmas Day, I put more effort into Halloween decoration crafting and drawing than I would dream of for Christmas.
Halloween appeals to me because I have a very dark side, it makes me a good goth. I don't do the whole let's dress up slutty and pretty for the evening. In my opinion if you're gonna dress up you gotta look scary or at least original or funny (sexy pirates, naughty nurses et all need not apply). Last year I went as 'bipolar' (when we all still thought that was what was wrong with me) with half my face done in my vintage stylee red lippie and eyeliner with my arm on that side decorated with one of the vintage-style charm bracelets I'd made. The other side of my face was white foundation and lots of black eyeliner designs. Down that arm I covered myself in studded wrist bands, skull bracelets and my rock n roll red glove. Pretty witty I think.
There are many different origins and traditions that Halloween 'costumes' come from. All Hallows Eve (Halloween) is believed to be the time when the veil between the living and the dead is at it's thinnest. One of the earliest costume traditions is believed to have originated here in Britain where people dressed and went round collecting offerings for spirits of the departed (this could possibly be a very early precursor to trick or treating). My favourite tradition is the belief that if you dressed your child as an evil spirit or supernatural being then the spirits that prowled that night would believe that they were one of them and thus not steal them. I love the idea of hiding them in plain sight. Look up some of the costumes that kids were dressed in and I guarantee they'll be scarier than anything you'll see tomorrow night (hence not including them on this post).
Halloween is also a very useful oppourtunity for me to stock up on goth clothes and accessories to keep me going through the year! I still have some lovely spider ear studs that I got in Sainsburys about 5 years ago that I wear regularly. More recently Halloween has been the perfect excuse for me to make goth jewellery to my heart's content, I have so many gorgeous skull, skeleton and spooky charms to play with. I've just finished the bracelet to go with my costume this year, It's a gold and black wrap-around bangle with black skulls.
This year I'm combining my love of the 1920s with the Mexican Day Of The Dead celebrations that happen directly after Halloween (the celebrations remember the souls of departed loved ones, there are parades and people will build alters in honour of their spirits and decorate them with things they enjoyed in life - I'd like to request bunnies, unicorns, a Vulcan bomber, a 30 Seconds To Mars CD, gin and chocolate!). I'm going to be attempting Day Of The Dead face make-up (and praying to god that my spots and eczema play nice tomorrow and don't show through the white foundation!) and have bought a 'flapper' dress to wear over my skull print leggings (another buy from about 6 years ago!). It's all being accessorised with some 1920s style earrings I found in Primark of all places 3/4 years ago. Strings of fake pearls, the aforementioned bracelet and skull ear studs.
I like the idea that for one night of the year people go out of their way to abandon their normal selves and lightly (in most cases) embrace their darker sides. I obviously take it as a compliment that people wish to impersonate the way I dress throughout the year and dedicate an entire evening to it! I encourage everyone to step out of their comfort zones for one night whether it's watching a scary film, going on a ghost walk (I promise myself every year that I will actually get round to going on one!) or layering on the black make-up - tip from a pro, if you don't have a primer to go on underneath then pop some concealer over your eyelids/around your eyes (depending on how mad you're going), it'll help the make-up stick all evening.
Whatever you're doing have a terrifying Halloween and look out for the dead flapper behind you ..................
Love Jen
XxxX
Ps for god's sake do not let anyone convince you that doing any kind of seance or ouija board is a good idea, you may have contact from spirits of departed loved ones but you are leaving the door and yourselves open to demons and bad spirits who will wreck holy hell (no pun intended) on you. Don't say I didn't warn you!
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