Happy Halloween!

The swirling Halloween spirits and my secret agent gene had my my creativity bubbling this week. I wanted an easy costume to pull together since I wasn't even sure what I'd be doing. The idea to be Amelie hit me mid week. I love the movie Amelie, it's probably my favorite in terms of the story and the cinematography and Audrey Tautou is just too cute.

I stopped into a local Halloween pop up store after work on Friday saying, "if I find the right wig for Amelie, I'll pursue the rest of the costume." After navigating the packed parking lot, I walked right into the store and the second wig I saw was perfect. And so it began.

Next stop, Goodwill for some costume hunting! I found everything I needed - a black silk skirt with a small white circle print, a dark red top with a lace up detail and a pair of Doc Marten's. The skirt needed to be shortened. My trusty fabric scissors took care of that - I didn't take the time to hem. Although the Docs were the right size, they were brown, so I had to take some black shoe polish to them to turn them black and change out the laces. I don't think Amelie's were Docs, but they are very close.

Wig styling happened on Saturday morning. The unfortunate thing about synthetic wigs - you can't use heat to style them! I did a quick hair cut to get it more Amelie-length. I was a little worried about how sleek the wig looked-more 20's flapper than I wanted. I needed a little unruly-ness. I used some Aveda Sap Moss Styling Spray (did not know that it's no longer available!) to set a few sections in rollers for the day. When I removed the rollers, and sprayed the heck out of it with AirControl hair spray, I got the look I was hoping for.

I added a little jacket and black socks that I already had and bought a gnome to carry with me. From an authenticity standpoint, I would have liked to paint the gnome (green shirt, red pants) or find one that is exactly like the movie, but what can you do on short notice?

I stopped by my mom's prior to heading out then met up with my friend A and her friend M. We hit the West Side of Grand Rapids for a fun party featuring the bands the Concussions & Delilah DeWylde and the Lost Boys.

There were some great costumes! An Edward Scissorhands, Dwight Schrute, Sasquatch, a really good Captain Jack Sparrow, complete with beard braids. Delilah and her band were dressed in Amish garb. They guys even seemed to have real Amish-style beards. That's commitment to a costume! Costumes are standard whenever the Concussions play, they wore glow in the dark skeleton suits with skull masks.

I questioned when I was putting the costume together if people would know who I was supposed to be or if I'd just look a girl carrying a gnome. Sasquatch knew who I was. So did a friend that I used to work with, but I was met with question marks by almost everyone else. I even had someone I haven't seen in forever know who I really was. Well, hopefully, everyone who didn't know Amelie will find her on NetFlix and watch the movie so it can become their favorite movie too! I had fun, and that's all that matters when it comes to dressing up for Halloween!

Hope you have a great time today!