heart & soul mates

June 24, 2010 11:10 AM

creative "heart and soul" costumes for a group of eight writers?

I'm attending a writers' conference with seven female writer pals. midweekend, there's a great big poolside gala at which attendees are encouraged (but not required) to wear "heart & soul" themed costumes. they can also wear red costumes. red heart & soul costumes would be best. red heart & soul costumes that tie into books for kids or teens would be epic, but not necessary.

the obvious choices are out. we don't want to be angels, devils, ghosts, demons or reapers (all too trendy in kids' books, plus others will dress as these for sure) unless we can think of a really creative twist. we also don't want to be souls. or human hearts. or the 80s band Heart -- not enough members.

the eight of us are different ages & sizes with varying levels of comfort & flamboyance (put me in the flamboyant camp). so different twists on a similar theme would be better than us each wearing the exact same costume. we can also split up the group if we must, but it'd be better if the two groups were related in some way. (like angels & demons, except not that.) everyone attending the gala will be an adult, but since we all write for kids & teens we'd rather not be gross or offensive or overly provocative. a little bit is probably okay.

to recap, we're open to fabulous red costumes, heart-themed costumes, soul-themed costumes, heart&soul-themed costumes, red/heart/soul book-themed costumes, and any sort of creative interpretations of the words. we have a month to plan, but we're scattered all over the country. some but not all of us can sew.

any ideas? you guys are so great at costumes. THANKS!

posted by changeling to grab bag (14 answers total)

When I think "Heart and Soul" I think of amateur pianists.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:13 AM on June 24, 2010

The first thing that comes to my mind when you say "Heart and Soul" is the song and the Chopsticks version. Could you do something with that?

The truley meek among you could just wear chopsticks in their hair and the more flamboyant could really go all out in red Asian style dresses and big black Asian wigs. Kabuki make up would be optional, but you would have to have chopsticks in your hair.

I know it's obscure, but you'd probably be the only ones dressed that way.
posted by TooFewShoes at 11:21 AM on June 24, 2010

What if you went as hart and soles?
posted by valoius at 11:32 AM on June 24, 2010

The first thing I think of for "heart and soul" is "Chicken soup for the soul."


anyway, half of you could go as Heart and half of you could go as soul singers.
posted by sarahj at 11:32 AM on June 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

My first thought was the Queen of Hearts – there's the obvious link to Alice in Wonderland, but there are other variations on the theme (the Princess of Wales, the playing card, the poem, etc etc). Maybe you could all go as Queens of Hearts in various guises?
posted by HandfulOfDust at 11:37 AM on June 24, 2010

how about one of those heart shaped boxes of candy? You could dress as the chocolates poking out of the box.

Trying to dress up as "soul" reminds me of that Simpsons where Milhouse's dad tried to draw "dignity."
posted by drjimmy11 at 11:39 AM on June 24, 2010

or... Queen of Hearts (and accompanying cards) and the godfather of soul (and accompanying... souls?)
posted by sarahj at 11:40 AM on June 24, 2010

Could you all go as "soles" of various shoe types? Some could just be plain brown or black soles, but others could be, say, a Louboutin sole or one of the various Fluevog soles?
posted by shesbookish at 11:41 AM on June 24, 2010

half dress up as different styles of paintings ("art"), and half wear stoles.

or bring tarts and dress as moles.
posted by sarahj at 11:53 AM on June 24, 2010

thanks everyone so far! I want to add that hard-to-make, hard-to-pack (like human-sized shoes, lol) probably won't be practical, since 7/8 of these woman must fly in. also I think we'd prefer costumes skewed to the somewhat attractive side as opposed to the hilarious objects side.
posted by changeling at 11:55 AM on June 24, 2010

Hart to Hart?
posted by chazlarson at 11:56 AM on June 24, 2010

Mary Hart? Bret "The Hitman" Hart?
posted by chazlarson at 11:57 AM on June 24, 2010

I think each of you should design a shirt or costume based around the idea of Mexican sacred heart imagery. Each one could be different and somehow reflect the personality of the person wearing it.
posted by hermitosis at 12:03 PM on June 24, 2010

hermitosis: your comment made me think of dia de los muertos, which works BEAUTIFULLY, especially when paired with sacred heart imagery and lots of red. if anyone reading this has any ideas to be creative with that theme, please derail in that direction! we are all crazy excited.
posted by changeling at 12:26 PM on June 24, 2010