Costume wedding help, difficulty level medium
January 10, 2019 3:47 PM   Subscribe

I just got an invitation to my favorite kind of wedding - two very lovely people who belong together having a fancy costume party. There is an added theme of "birds/space." They have left it open as to whether costumes should involve just birds, just space, or both. This couple never half-asses anything, and I'd like to have a costume worthy of the event.

Right now my brain is kind of stuck on Duck Dodgers, which might be fine, but can you help un-stick my brain with some other possibilities? I prefer not to do a pre-existing pop culture character (like DD) but won't rule it out.
posted by queensissy to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (21 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
There are various nebula named after birds. No idea how you could incorporate that into a costume, but it would definitely be bad-ass if you did.

Enormous space wings? The short story "Menace From Earth" takes place on the Moon and a major part of it is the residents flying around in a huge chamber wearing wings. Googling the name brings up a picture. They look pretty spacey even without context.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 3:55 PM on January 10, 2019 [2 favorites]


Night sky costumes (black or blue clothes, with white or yellow stars...if you want to be extra fancy, the stars are battery-power christmas lights!) are always extra awesome, and a raven mask or black feather collar would match it well just in terms of color scheme.
posted by zinful at 4:02 PM on January 10, 2019 [3 favorites]


Damn, I need cooler friends.

Does "space" have to mean "outer space" or could it mean a space for birds, or a space filled with birds, or the space between birds?
posted by mccxxiii at 4:04 PM on January 10, 2019


Best answer: What immediately springs to mind when I think of birds and space is a meteor and dinosaurs.
posted by barchan at 4:07 PM on January 10, 2019 [7 favorites]


Best answer: I would do something with the Esca from Cat Valente's Space Opera.

They're an alien race described as an ultramarine half flamingo, half angler fish. I feel like a vivid blue dress and a luminous fascinator could be awesome.
posted by the primroses were over at 4:11 PM on January 10, 2019 [6 favorites]


I don't think I could resist the temptation to have an utterly frothy confection of a hat with flowers and birds, including small birds on flexible transparent struts apparently "hovering" around my hat. Maybe fuchsias on the hat and hummingbirds hovering? And then a leafy, floral motif on the rest of the clothing.
posted by Lexica at 4:13 PM on January 10, 2019 [4 favorites]


What immediately sprang to mind was to do something like a kind of space-bird, like a rough bird costume (more a suggestion than something exacting), with wings made out of a light, galaxy-patterned fabric. Maybe a dress of fabric feathers?
I am also obsessed with the Angel from the recent revival of Angels in America; that might spark something?

(Ugh, if I was the bride I would definitely have puppeteers working my wings your friends are so cool!)
posted by kalimac at 4:16 PM on January 10, 2019 [3 favorites]


Best answer: Or (not to abuse the edit window) maybe choose a bird species you like and come up with an outfit that evokes them? This recent Birdnote episode about hooded Mergansers got me thinking about outfits, although I don't know if I'd want to do the backbend-and-froggy-croak thing for verisimilitude.

Maybe check out Dr. Lisa Buckley's #BirdGlamour hashtag on Twitter?
posted by Lexica at 4:19 PM on January 10, 2019 [4 favorites]


Best answer: Go as Constantin Brâncuși?
posted by kickingtheground at 4:23 PM on January 10, 2019 [7 favorites]


Best answer: My mind also went first to Brancusi’s Bird in Space. Can you do an homage with something sleek and columnar?
posted by kittydelsol at 4:37 PM on January 10, 2019 [7 favorites]


If you type Bird Costume into the search feature on Pinterest there are some wonderful things. I'm on my phone and Pinterest is not letting me link.
posted by BoscosMom at 4:52 PM on January 10, 2019


Best answer: I can imagine someone who wears dresses replacing the bodysuit in this Björk swan dress tutorial with something dark enough to be embellished on the back with stars in a Cygnus pattern.
posted by Wobbuffet at 5:15 PM on January 10, 2019 [4 favorites]


...it is a serious risk. You know, we hit a bird one 114. We also immolated two other birds. We talk about a quarter pound of foam being catastrophic to the vehicle. These are four to six-plus pound birds.

Vultures and space launches discussed here.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:46 PM on January 10, 2019 [1 favorite]


If I really wanted to be a harbinger of doom at someone's wedding, I'd show up in one of these (or similar).
posted by praemunire at 6:54 PM on January 10, 2019


Is there any way to put the Eagle Nebula on a dress, cape, or other custume object?
posted by twoplussix at 7:02 PM on January 10, 2019


Or at least some combination of colors and LED lights that evokes that famous image?
posted by twoplussix at 7:04 PM on January 10, 2019


Bird Person from Rick and Morty?
posted by sexyrobot at 7:52 PM on January 10, 2019 [1 favorite]


Vintage bird and space: Chicken Little, "The Skylab is falling," from 1979
posted by Iris Gambol at 7:58 PM on January 10, 2019 [1 favorite]


There is a Swan constellation. Do you dance? Could you make/borrow a Swan ballet costume and maybe outline the constellation in sequins or rhinestones on the skirt?
Note: If there is alcohol at the party, eschew pointe shoes. You don't want to do the dying swan.
posted by Cranberry at 12:53 AM on January 11, 2019 [2 favorites]


The chicken lady from Kids in the Hall.
posted by Enid Lareg at 5:40 AM on January 11, 2019


I know they're pre-existing pop culture characters, but birds and space just screams for the space cop versions of Hawkman and Hawkwoman/Hawkgirl.
posted by sardonyx at 9:11 AM on January 11, 2019 [2 favorites]


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