I want to be a book when I grow up.

October 30, 2008 3:12 PM

Can the hive mind help me by suggesting some good, but simple, literary costume ideas for halloween?

I need a really good literary costume for tomorrow night. I'm pretty short on cash and time, so please keep your suggestions simple, in other words I will not be purchasing any victorian gowns, or stitching together a lavish costume in the next 24 hours. I'm hoping for something humorous, but tragic would be alright as well. Also, I refuse to dress up as a sexy librarian. Thanks.

posted by anoirmarie to clothing, beauty, & fashion (29 comments total)

Tragic and Possibly Humorous- Ophelia covered in seaweed and fake fish. You could just wear a nightgown or something for the actual dress.
posted by thebrokenmuse at 3:22 PM on October 30, 2008

I went as Hunter S. Thompson one year. It took an easy, cheap trip to the thrift store to pull off. But it looks like you're a girl, though you could still pull it off. I wore:

-Hawaiian shirt
-White pants
-One of those sailor/jungle hats
-Large sunglasses (I found some yellow hunting ones)
-A long cigarette holder, with cigarette

Everyone immediately knew who I was.
posted by nitsuj at 3:25 PM on October 30, 2008 [1 favorite]

You could go as Raskolnikov. Wear sort of shabby, simple clothing and purchase or make (with cardboard) a bloody axe prop. Have some fake money in your pockets and brood a lot.

Clarissa Dalloway. Wear a green dress and buy yourself a bouquet of flowers (preferably yellow roses.)

Find an army hat or costume and be really paranoid - voila, you're Yossarian.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 3:31 PM on October 30, 2008 [1 favorite]

TVTropes to the rescue! If you filter out the silly anime and TV stuff, there are some insightful examples of tragic women in literature floating around.
posted by svolix at 3:37 PM on October 30, 2008

I went to a "dead celebrity" party once as Hamlet.

I wore black, carried a sword and acted sad. I had to explain myself all night.

You could wear a black leather jacket and go as Neil Gaiman?
posted by robotot at 3:38 PM on October 30, 2008

Go as a slutty* book:
Wear a cardboard box painted a solid color and with the title of your choice. (Paint binding and pages, too.) Also, wear fishnets.

*Costume is not actually slutty. Get it?
posted by Airhen at 3:49 PM on October 30, 2008

Edgar Allen Poe, of course!

All you need is a black jacket, white shirt, some white cravat-looking thing and a pained expression. To hammer the point home, consider sewing a stuffed raven to your shoulder. The costume works even better if you happen to be blessed with a ginormous forehead.

Seriously, Poe = Halloween.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 3:50 PM on October 30, 2008

Beard, turtleneck sweater with letter C on the front, fishing boots. You are Old Man and the Sea.

Oversized paper bag with head and armholes cut, dirty up a little and put on a crown. You are the Paper Bag Princess.

Red union suit, blue crazy hair. You are Thing 1/2 from the Cat in the Hat.
posted by jessamyn at 4:01 PM on October 30, 2008

My roommate, one year, taped something like an inflatable earth (might have been a very poor facsimile thereof) to his upper back. "Atlas", or if you're feeling Rand-y & want to lower the globe a bit, "Atlas shrugged".

Hester Prynne, just get an A taped to whatever you're wearing.
posted by knile at 4:33 PM on October 30, 2008 [1 favorite]

Torn wifebeater with wine stains and cigarette burns, scruffy and filthy ill-fitting pants smelling vaguely of shit, rope for a belt, broken shoes. Viola, you're Charles Bukowski!
posted by turgid dahlia at 4:38 PM on October 30, 2008

OR

See above + bloody makeup

ZOMBIE BUKOWSKI!
posted by turgid dahlia at 4:39 PM on October 30, 2008

"Driiiiiiiiinks."
posted by turgid dahlia at 4:40 PM on October 30, 2008 [3 favorites]

A friend of mine once wore a slip with a piece of paper pinned to it that said "Freud."
posted by charlesv at 5:05 PM on October 30, 2008

Three years ago, I bought a long, white, ruffly nightgown at an antique store. Every year since then, I've wanted to go to Halloween as Emily Dickinson, but something's prevented me.

Seriously, Emily Dickinson is perfect for Halloween. She's sort of scary and ghost-like anyway. Wear a long white nightgown/dress type thing, put your hair in a bun if you can, and carry a copy of the Collected Works of Emily Dickinson. Bam!
posted by toomuchkatherine at 5:15 PM on October 30, 2008

You could wear an old-fashioned nightdress, adorn yourself with a sash that says "yes I said yes I will Yes" -- ta-da! Molly Bloom during her soliloquy.
posted by scody at 6:08 PM on October 30, 2008 [1 favorite]

preppy clothing (extra points for a shirt that says WEST SIDE TENNIS CLUB), constant use of the words "phony" and "crummy" = Holden Caulfield

oven mitts and sobbed off mascara = Sylvia Plath
posted by Juliet Banana at 6:32 PM on October 30, 2008 [3 favorites]

How about novel title puns? I've thought of a few, but nothing perfect. Any more suggestions?
posted by anoirmarie at 6:48 PM on October 30, 2008

I've thought of a few, but nothing perfect. Any more suggestions?

In the same Poe theme, you could wear a bucket with the word "Amontillado" written across it.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 6:55 PM on October 30, 2008 [1 favorite]

Oh, wait, that's a story, not a novel.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 6:56 PM on October 30, 2008

There's always Hester Prynne...just pin a scarlet "A" to yourself.
posted by HeroZero at 7:00 PM on October 30, 2008

Oh, heck. Missed it in the Atlas Shrugged comment above.
posted by HeroZero at 7:01 PM on October 30, 2008

Shabby white evening gown = Blanche DuBois. (Plays are OK too, right?) Bonus points if you go around depending on the goodness of strangers. For maximum shabbiness, get a used slip at a thrift store and tart it up with costume jewelry, or lace/sequins if you're feeling a little crafty.

Do you have long blond hair? A simple little-girl dress, white pinafore apron and Mary Janes would make you Alice in Wonderland. A small bottle with a tag saying "Drink Me" would be good too.

Long skirt + long coat + carpet bag + small hat + umbrella = Mary Poppins.
posted by Quietgal at 7:04 PM on October 30, 2008

Oof, maybe this is too lame, but you could wear a tie dye shirt and some beads on top and camo pants and boots on the bottom and be War and Peace.
posted by rebel_rebel at 7:38 PM on October 30, 2008 [3 favorites]

So, not literary literary, but has to do with a book: I once went as Where's Waldo, which was a blast, because everywhere I went, everyone else was a part of my costume. At the convenience store, I was Where's Waldo at the convenience store. At the Halloween Party, I was Where's' Waldo at the Halloween party.
posted by Toecutter at 8:37 PM on October 30, 2008 [2 favorites]

oven mitts and sobbed off mascara = Sylvia Plath

Ooh! Or just put a box (decorated to look like an oven) on your head!
posted by scody at 8:38 PM on October 30, 2008

If you're sufficiently thin, you could always dress yourself in black shoes pants and a sleeveless t-shirt and if anyone asks who you're supposed to be, stand up straight with your feet together and say I am "I".
Or if a capital I isn't to your liking, dress up as a semi-colon, literary types are always happy when one of them makes an appearance. If they're really into reading about literature then they will have undoubtedly read some of the many articles over the past couple of years bemoaning the death of the semi-colon. If that's the case you could dress as a semi-colon in zombie make-up and walk around saying "I want your related clauses"; of course even better then would be to go accompanied by a husband or brother dressed as santa so you could bring your own, but that might be gilding the lily a bit...
posted by mr.grum at 9:42 PM on October 30, 2008 [1 favorite]

As a grad student my mum dressed up as the Oxford English Dictionary, small-print version. I have photo proof.

Also, sexy librarian? Redundant.
posted by spamguy at 6:45 AM on October 31, 2008

An ex-boyfriend of mine was Zombie Derrida a few years back. Blazer + bad tie + white, curly hair (he just put flour in his), a pipe, your standard zombie makeup, and a copy of "Structure, Sign, and Play BRAAAAAAINS" in his pocket.
posted by quatsch at 10:03 AM on October 31, 2008

Ooh! Or just put a box (decorated to look like an oven) on your head!

A friend of mine did this in college and it's still one of my favorite costumes.
posted by MsMolly at 11:37 AM on October 31, 2008