Our Costumes Inspired by Famous Films

Recently, I have tried to join every blogathon I can find, since it is great publicity for PEPS, gives me a steady stream of interesting post topics, and it is fun. November 12-14 is the time for The 2020 Costume Blog Party, hosted by MovieCritic of Movies Meet Their Match. This is an unusual blogathon topic and thus very interesting, since it inspires creative posts! I had to join when I heard about it, since I love creating costumes based on films.

Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday (1953), wearing the costume I wanted to review.

Naturally, I wanted to write a Film Fashion Friday article, since one of the ways to participate in this blogathon is by describing how to replicate a film costume, which is what I do in those articles. I planned to write about Audrey Hepburn’s main costume in Roman Holiday (1953), since MovieCritic requested that I write about it some time. However, I am still struggling with inserting Amazon Affiliate links in my articles, a glitch which prevented me from writing a proper article about a Fred Astaire costume last week. I must solve this problem soon, since I have signed up for writing Film Fashion Friday articles for other upcoming blogathons. Fortunately, I was planning on writing two articles for this blogathon, so I will just do my back-up plan.

Rebekah (left) and Tiffany Brannan (right), founders of PEPS, on Hallowe’en.

One of the options for participation in this blogathon is posting pictures of a costume you wore on Hallowe’en. My family has never celebrated Hallowe’en, and we strongly disagree with the evil and ghoulish elements of it. In more recent years, I have enjoyed researching and observing some traditions associated with the Christian version of this holiday, All Hallows Eve. Since we don’t celebrate this holiday and never attended a Hallowe’en party at school, having been home-schooled, we never dressed up for this holiday before. This year was the first time we ever did! At Rebekah’s ballet studio, a Nutcracker rehearsal fell on Hallowe’en this year, and it was also Free Dress Day as the last Saturday of the month. Thus, all the students could wear costumes and compete in a competition. Rebekah decided to make a costume out of her ballet wardrobe, so she wore a long-sleeved white leotard, white handkerchief dance skirt, and silver belt to be Princess Leia from Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977). Coupled with two buns, she really looked the part! She didn’t win, but she got several votes and compliments from teachers and students alike. Unfortunately, we didn’t take any pictures of her in her dance attire, but you can see a picture of her in her street attire with me above.

Rebekah as Padme Amidala.

Going to and coming from the ballet studio, Rebekah dressed as another

Natalie Portman as Padme.

Star Wars heroine, Queen/Senator Padme Amidala from the Prequel Trilogy. She was particularly emulating the costume pictured at right from Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002). She planned this outfit for a couple of weeks. She used a long black dress which we ordered online several years ago as the base. She wore a black cincher belt over it to give the waist some definition. She completed the look with a sheer, shimmery silver turtleneck underneath. She transformed her twin buns a la Leia into one of Padme’s elaborate hairstyles by wrapping a sparkly silver fabric belt around the two buns, crossing it in the back and looping them to let them dangle. She wore her own special shell necklace as a nod to the wooden token Anakin gives to Padme in The Phantom Menace. Some real Star Wars fans at the studio recognized her style and were impressed with her cosplay!

Tiffany as Mary Poppins

I am planning a non-dancing role in this year’s Nutcracker. Although I wasn’t rehearsing on Hallowe’en, I wanted to be part of the festivities. I decided to wear my cosplay of Mary Poppins which I wore the last time I went to Disneyland. I created this costume out of items from my regular wardrobe. I wore a very Victorian-looking long sleeved black blouse with buttons up the front which I got at Macy’s. I paired it with a long black skirt. I accentuated the waist with a black scarf I tied around the top of the skirt. I tied a small black scarf around my neck for another splash of color. I topped off the outfit with my first black fascinator; the top hat style, feathers, and veil make it look very Edwardian. For a final touch, I wore a Mary Poppins pin that says “Practically Perfect in Every Way,” which I got at Downtown Disney last September. As you can see in the picture of both of us, I wore a blue coat over this some of the time. Rather than being inspired by a particular costume, this outfit is inspired by the general style of Julie Andrews’s famous titular character in the 1964 Disney film.

When this is what you wear on an average day out at the mall, what can you wear for Hallowe’en?

You probably are wondering why two Breen Era (1934-1954) aficionados like us chose to replicate Shurlock Era (1955-1968) and Rating System Era (1968-present) costumes. The main reason is that we wanted our characters to be recognizable. No matter how clever or authentic it is, no costume from a movie made in the 30s through the 50s is going to be recognizable to a group of middle school and high school students, unless of course it is from a Disney movie from that era. The other reason is that we wanted to look different than we do on an average day. We always wear very fancy vintage-style clothes when going out, including the ballet studio. We often wear outfits which are replicas of costumes or at least inspired by some actress’s style. Thus, we had to do something different to look unusual on this special occasion.

Thank you, MovieCritic, for hosting this costume party. It was a lot of fun!

Please join our other upcoming blogathon!

The 2nd Happy Holidays Blogathon!

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