Believe it or not, I won't have the most obscure costume.

October 27, 2006 12:45 PM

Yes, another Halloween question. Help me out with my obscure costume! In short, I'm going as a visual representation of the Weimar Republic.

Slightly longer - well, technically the end of the Weimar Republic, I suppose. I'm taking The Dresden Dolls and Cabaret as my major influences, but I have actually done a modicum of research on the Weimar culture.

What I've got so far:

-Stripey stockings with holes hacked in them

-A big poufy skirt

-A bowler hat (assuming I can find one in a thrift store this weekend)

-Possibly opera gloves, also looking battered

-Either green 10-hole battered Doc Martens (socialism!) or a vintage-looking pair of flats with ankle straps

-a half-empty bottle of 'absinthe'

-For makeup: Lots of white powder, bright red smeared lipstick, very dark eyeliner and mascara, everything splotchy and generally looking like the morning after the night before.

What should I wear as a shirt? (something not too revealing, please - I'm wearing this to work.) Which shoes should I go with? I have very short (jaw-length) blondish hair, other than ratting it up, what can I do? What else can I add? I feel like there's a lot more I could do with this, but I'm not getting any solid ideas.

Thanks!

posted by kalimac to grab bag (8 comments total)

You need a bag full of money to buy bread with. A wheelbarrow would be even better, but hard to navigate with. :) You should add more bags of money after lunch. When people ask, tell them you got your afternoon salary. :)
posted by Malor at 1:00 PM on October 27, 2006

Dammit, I hit post instead of preview.

By the end of the day -- have at least four or five bags full. You can do this with bags of confetti with just a few fake bills on top, artfully arranged to hide the confetti and glued in place. If your first bag is filled with 'real' bills, you can hand them out freely and try to buy things with them, especially food.

*wave a handful of cash* "I'll give you all this for that donut!" If they don't go for it, try more handsful. :)

You'll probably have to go in the night before and hide your bags ahead of time... you might also be able to keep them in your car. If your boss will go along with it, have him come and give you your noon salary, your 2:00 salary, and your 4:00 salary. This is a bit of an exaggeration, but it's not as much as you'd think... twice daily pay schedules were not that uncommon.
posted by Malor at 1:07 PM on October 27, 2006

A clock stopped at 5 until midnight?
A book on Bauhaus design?
A battered war medal?
A tin drum?

(finally, my 20th Century Northern European Studies class pays off!)
posted by 1f2frfbf at 1:24 PM on October 27, 2006

Not to be a pedant, but Weimar's hyperinflation was in 1923-24. By the early 1930s, they had a whole set of other problems. For your costome, think Depression. You're getting your images, it seems, from Cabaret, which isn't a bad source; some Weimar costuming of that type would be NSFW. How about a black eye from being beaten up by an SA-man? Or a passport, for getting the hell out of there?
posted by annabkr at 1:55 PM on October 27, 2006

costume.
posted by annabkr at 1:56 PM on October 27, 2006

I think you should just go as a Dresden Doll. And ideally stop by my place and play some songs for us.
posted by blacklite at 2:39 PM on October 27, 2006

Green nail polish. Though that might push the Cabaret thing too far.
posted by expialidocious at 2:43 PM on October 27, 2006

brown pants, white socks...
posted by growabrain at 8:56 AM on October 28, 2006