Incorporating a Red Union Suit into Fancy Dress!
October 23, 2012 4:40 AM Subscribe
Costume ideas revolving around a red union suit?
Hey Mefites,
So I was recently gifted an oversized red cotton onesie, but have never had any opportunity to put it to use until this Halloween.
I would really love for this onesie to be the key part of my costume, but am having trouble coming up with ideas since I'm currently living in the UK, and dressing up like a moonshiner or prospector isn't easily recognizable.
Could anyone think of any costume ideas involving this thing?
Snowflake details:
- I'm a gangly, masculine-presenting queer lady, with short dark hair and freckles.
- My past Halloween costumes have been: Log Lady, a Mormon missionary, and this Otto Dix painting.
- Any topical/dark humor references to pop culture or art history would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks so much everyone, and Happy Halloween!
Hey Mefites,
So I was recently gifted an oversized red cotton onesie, but have never had any opportunity to put it to use until this Halloween.
I would really love for this onesie to be the key part of my costume, but am having trouble coming up with ideas since I'm currently living in the UK, and dressing up like a moonshiner or prospector isn't easily recognizable.
Could anyone think of any costume ideas involving this thing?
Snowflake details:
- I'm a gangly, masculine-presenting queer lady, with short dark hair and freckles.
- My past Halloween costumes have been: Log Lady, a Mormon missionary, and this Otto Dix painting.
- Any topical/dark humor references to pop culture or art history would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks so much everyone, and Happy Halloween!
You could hold a sign demanding a shorter working day and be a Union Organizer. When people ask about the rest of the costume, you could say "this is my Union suit." Which is kind of topical.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:24 AM on October 23, 2012
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:24 AM on October 23, 2012
I would make a DIY Superhero costume (something that a kid would make): wear men's briefs and tall colored socks over the suit, sew a letter to the chest with thick thread, add a cape and cut some eye holes out of a rectangle of fabric and tie it around your eyes for a mask.
posted by FreezBoy at 5:34 AM on October 23, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by FreezBoy at 5:34 AM on October 23, 2012 [3 favorites]
I just watched Ghostbusters again this weekend. I think you should go as one of the guys covered in pink slime.
posted by phunniemee at 5:49 AM on October 23, 2012
posted by phunniemee at 5:49 AM on October 23, 2012
I instantly thought of this bit from Woody Allen. You can go as a fire truck!
posted by chiefthe at 6:01 AM on October 23, 2012
posted by chiefthe at 6:01 AM on October 23, 2012
Oh, I love the Otto Dix lady! As a short queer person of indeterminate gender, I feel that I look a lot like the famous pre-war Otto Dix self-portrait.
So anyway. I threw a Cold War themed party for a bunch of radical history types - the mood was strange and fey, as it were. And I went as the people's flag. At the time I wore dresses, so I wore a red dress and made a gold hammer and sickle hair ornament.
(I made invitations celebrating anti-capitalist heroes of the Cold War - the Liverpool 47 who stood up to Thatcher about council housing, anti-Reagan/anti-nuclear demonstrators, etc. We had fifties party food and various Eastern European snacks. (People from former communist states attended - like, this wasn't callous kitsch, it was more a queasy and surprisingly intense way of thinking about the Cold War....or at least, it definitely had a mood.) We had people dressed as Paris '68 protesters, figures from Soviet children's cartoons, I think someone came as Brecht, which is a little out of period....) I made these really delicious baked olives wrapped in cheddar pastry straight out of some mid-century cookbook and, were I not vegan, I would make them all the time.)
posted by Frowner at 6:11 AM on October 23, 2012 [3 favorites]
So anyway. I threw a Cold War themed party for a bunch of radical history types - the mood was strange and fey, as it were. And I went as the people's flag. At the time I wore dresses, so I wore a red dress and made a gold hammer and sickle hair ornament.
(I made invitations celebrating anti-capitalist heroes of the Cold War - the Liverpool 47 who stood up to Thatcher about council housing, anti-Reagan/anti-nuclear demonstrators, etc. We had fifties party food and various Eastern European snacks. (People from former communist states attended - like, this wasn't callous kitsch, it was more a queasy and surprisingly intense way of thinking about the Cold War....or at least, it definitely had a mood.) We had people dressed as Paris '68 protesters, figures from Soviet children's cartoons, I think someone came as Brecht, which is a little out of period....) I made these really delicious baked olives wrapped in cheddar pastry straight out of some mid-century cookbook and, were I not vegan, I would make them all the time.)
posted by Frowner at 6:11 AM on October 23, 2012 [3 favorites]
(Also, no one came to the party as, like, Mao or Stalin or something that would treat the mass purges and violence of the Cold War as a lightweight subject for Western kitsch - you kind of need to know your crowd on this one.)
posted by Frowner at 6:12 AM on October 23, 2012
posted by Frowner at 6:12 AM on October 23, 2012
Fire hydrant.
Just add a nozzle or two to the appropriate places. Put a stuffed dog on your ankle or go with a friend dressed as a dog.
posted by bondcliff at 6:31 AM on October 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
Just add a nozzle or two to the appropriate places. Put a stuffed dog on your ankle or go with a friend dressed as a dog.
posted by bondcliff at 6:31 AM on October 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
FWIW most British people will be only vaguely familiar with 'The Cat in the Hat' and the terminology 'union suit', so I wouldn't recommend basing your costume around either
posted by Acheman at 6:32 AM on October 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Acheman at 6:32 AM on October 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
Mailbox? or Ketchup? A Hot Pepper? A bottle of Red Nail Polish? Red Lipstick?
posted by Yellow at 6:38 AM on October 23, 2012
posted by Yellow at 6:38 AM on October 23, 2012
Unless I'm far more out of date than I think I am, Halloween costumes in the UK pretty much all revolve around Halloween itself - witches, skeletons, vampires and by extension anything creepy or scary.
Dressing as a superhero or a fire hydrant for Halloween would be considered very odd. Not that there's anything wrong with that if you know what you're getting into!
I suggest making a devil costume out of it.
posted by emilyw at 6:55 AM on October 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
Dressing as a superhero or a fire hydrant for Halloween would be considered very odd. Not that there's anything wrong with that if you know what you're getting into!
I suggest making a devil costume out of it.
posted by emilyw at 6:55 AM on October 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
I second Yellow's idea of a Royal Mail Post Box. If you're living in the UK, everyone will recognize it, and it should be easy to pull off: add black boots, some artistic "E II R" gold lettering with fabric paint on the union suit's midsection, and for an added bonus a red pillbox hat (which could be made with cardboard and red paint/red paper if you're somewhat crafty).
Bonus points if you can add an opening in the hat, with postcards you can take out/drop in your hat.
posted by Ardea alba at 6:57 AM on October 23, 2012 [3 favorites]
Bonus points if you can add an opening in the hat, with postcards you can take out/drop in your hat.
posted by Ardea alba at 6:57 AM on October 23, 2012 [3 favorites]
Wrap spirals of white tape around you and you'll end up in a red-and-white-striped suit. Add a red stocking cap/toque and "Where's Waldo? Right here!"
posted by wenestvedt at 7:08 AM on October 23, 2012
posted by wenestvedt at 7:08 AM on October 23, 2012
Or make a small sign reading "Budget" pinned to your chest and you can go as the red ink of the deficit.
posted by wenestvedt at 7:09 AM on October 23, 2012
posted by wenestvedt at 7:09 AM on October 23, 2012
A white string hanging off of your head makes you a tampon.
posted by bluedaisy at 7:23 AM on October 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by bluedaisy at 7:23 AM on October 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
Do you have to be a specific someone or something? I mean if you put on a boa, some tacky jewelry, really bad makeup, and other embellishments, you could be a child playing "make-up" before bed or something along those lines.
posted by patheral at 7:42 AM on October 23, 2012
posted by patheral at 7:42 AM on October 23, 2012
Iron Man?
20 other "dress in red" superhero options.
(There's an entire website devoted to footie pajamas? Sweet!)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:54 AM on October 23, 2012
20 other "dress in red" superhero options.
(There's an entire website devoted to footie pajamas? Sweet!)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:54 AM on October 23, 2012
Actually, elsewhere on the web site you linked to, they have a whole page devoted to "ideas for using your union suit in a costume."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:58 AM on October 23, 2012
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:58 AM on October 23, 2012
Assuming everyone's still excited about Bradley Wiggens, how about Tour de France superfan Didi Senft?
posted by hydrophonic at 8:29 AM on October 23, 2012
posted by hydrophonic at 8:29 AM on October 23, 2012
You could be Katherine Hepburn's brother who, when he was seen around Old Saybrook in the years we lived there (late-80's - 90's), was always wearing a red union suit.
posted by partner at 8:31 AM on October 23, 2012
posted by partner at 8:31 AM on October 23, 2012
Not real original but with a tail, horn and pitchfork you can always be a red devil. With a "workers of the world unite" button or something like that you can be the spirit of Demon Communism.
posted by mermayd at 9:06 AM on October 23, 2012
posted by mermayd at 9:06 AM on October 23, 2012
From your linked site: One of the Teletubbies (Po).
posted by MonkeyToes at 9:18 AM on October 23, 2012
posted by MonkeyToes at 9:18 AM on October 23, 2012
Carry around a banjo or a jug of moonshine, wear a straw hat and you can say (in an Appalachian accent) that you were just takin' a nap on your porch when next thing you knew, aliens transported you to this party.
posted by not_on_display at 9:20 AM on October 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by not_on_display at 9:20 AM on October 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
Mystify your friends and family by going as a Clamper!
posted by Lynsey at 9:29 AM on October 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Lynsey at 9:29 AM on October 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
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posted by ChuraChura at 4:58 AM on October 23, 2012 [6 favorites]