Everybody Dance Now

Last night was my dance school’s annual recital. It went great, we had a lot of fun and I got to wear three costumes overall.

My School Dress:

Gwenyver in her School dress at the 2010 ECRO, November 2010

My Solo Dress:

Gwenyver in her "Water" Solo dress (being pursued by a tired baby) at the 2010 Ville-Marie Feis, May 2010

And for our finale, we had a surprise planned for the audience: and 80’s/90's number to the song Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) by C & C Music Factory. Which of course meant an 80’s/90's inspired dance costume! (I mixed influences from both "eras" to make this outfit.)I decided to go for an aerobics look, without going for anything too skin tight. Here are the pieces I have found to make my outfit.

"Pure" by Alfred Sung Pink Square Shirt

This is the main piece: the loose t-shirt. It is a lovely shade of bright pink, and the neckline, shoulders and sleeves are trimmed with braided self fabric. I seem to remember my mom had something with similar braiding back then. This is an Alfred Sung “Pure” T-shirt from Zellers, on sale.

Athletic Works lime green sports tank top

I would have liked to have a leotard to go under my t-shirt, but since getting one in my size would have been ridiculously expensive (Discount Dance Supply’s shipping charges to Canada generally doubles the cost of the order), I instead found a lime green sports tank top that looks perfect when peaking from under the pink t-shirt. This is an Athletic Works sports tank top from Wal-Mart, also on sale.

Black Leggings

I wore black leggings which I already own as a bottom.

Neon Green Leg Warmers

Nothing says 80’s Aerobics Fashion like leg warmers. I found these at Ardène in the 3 for 10$ section They are a different shade of green than the tank top, but this is a St. Patrick’s show after all!

Neon Yellow Fingerless gloves

When you look at photos of Madonna in the 80’s, she was often wearing fingerless gloves. The fashion was also picked up by many at the time. I got these neon yellow gloves at Ardène, also in the 3 for 10$ section.

Rainbow Bright inspired Earrings

These rainbow coloured earrings are also from Ardène, but they were bought three years ago. I saw them in magazine and loved instantly.

Neon Yellow and Black Scrunchie

I wore my hair in a high side ponytail and got a neon yellow scrunchie at the Dollar store to cover my elastic (and match the gloves). Nothing says 90's like a good old scrunchie!

Sansha Unisex "Hi-Step" Dance Sneaker

For shoes, I wore my dance sneakers. These are incredibly comfortable and worth every penny. I even wear them to work sometimes!

Want to see the result? (I am the second from the left).

YAID Senior Class, Finale, 2011 Annual Recital

Yep, we looked cool! I think I’ll wear that outfit to dance practice from now on. So comfortable!

Bunny me!

Happy Easter! Today is a day of bunnies, baby chicks, eggs, chocolate, and other more serious stuff, but it concerns book religions, so I’ll leave them to it while I stick to my specialty, costumes. To go with today’s theme, I went through some photo albums at my parents to bring you a Vintage Costumeholic Moment:

Gwenyver as a Bunny for Halloween

Yes, that is me, at age three, in the fluffy bunny costumes my mom had made me for Halloween. Don’t I look cute?

Now I’d love to tell you exactly which pattern she used to make it, but I truly don’t know (although knowing my mom's preferences, it was probably a Butterick). Besides, it is probably way out of print by now. If you would like to make your own, any bunny costume from the “Classic Halloween Costumes” section of commercial pattern books will do.

Butterick 3238

Enjoy the family dinner, but be careful not to exaggerate on desert or you won’t fit in your costumes anymore (I speak from experience).

"V": The Series

We have been seeing the promo for weeks. ABC's new series "V" begins tonight. Ah! Yet another remake. I remember seeing the re-runs of the original series as a child.

Does anyone else remember the Visitors in their orange jumpsuits?

The Visitors, V: The Series (1984)

I wonder why, orange was considered a Sci Fi, futuristic colour in the 80's. After all, anyone who has seen Legally Blonde (2001) knows that "Whoever said orange was the new pink was seriously disturbed". But I have seen on occasion costumers dressed as those 80's aliens.

Now for the new series, they have got Morena Baccarin playing the beautiful alien in whom everyone trusts.

In this early century, the futuristic colour is silver toned, white or gray (I wonder why).

Morena Baccarin as Anna, "V" (2009)

Now I have to admit that that is lovely. You could make that suit as a costume for a Sci Fi convention during the week-end and wear it to the office on Monday. Talk about practical costuming!

2009 Most Popular Halloween Costumes

According to this article found on Yahoo! Finance, this year's most popular Halloween costume is... [drum roll]... Michael Jackson!

You read it right. According to Jalem Getz, president and CEO of Buyseasons Inc., the parent company of BuyCostumes.com, searches for the costume, which generally includes tight black pants, a leather jacket and, of course, a glittering glove, have gone up more than a 1000% (or so says the aforementioned article).

The 80's are definitely back. What I mean is, it is kind of funny that we are seeing so many 80's trends in fashion nowadays AND one must remember that Michael Jackson was the most influential artist of that decade. His red "Thriller / Beat it" leather jacket was probably the most copied jacket ever. OK, I know it has more to do with him dying this year, but still, it is kind of a funny relation (not funny "Ha ha", but you know, interesting).

By the way, I was a great Michael Jackson fan as a kid.

Back to the article: according to Mr. Getz, other popular dead celebrity costumes will include Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon and infomercial pitchman Billy Mays. (How do you pull off this one? Do you try and sell Oxy Clean to other party guests?)

More costumes that expected to be popular include:

• Vampire - it's a classic, but books and movies such as Twilight have brought up this costume's popularity a notch.

• The Joker, preferably the Heath Ledger / The Dark Knight (2008) version. (I believe that. You wouldn't believe the number of requests I get for custom made Joker costumes. So for the last time, I charge 350$ minimum for a custom made tailcoat, and the price will go up depending on the fabric you choose.)

Reno as the Joker - Tailcoat by Gwenyver. Unknown Harley Quinn.

• And Jon and Kate Gosselin of Jon & Kate Plus Eight. Yeah, I don't get that one either, but it's apparently true:

Eight Is Too Much Adult Wig

Funny, I had expected Cleopatra costumes to be more of a hit this year, considering how fashionable bib and pectoral necklaces are this season.

Gia Collar Necklace by Forever21

Another popular thing this Halloween, considering the economical factor, is to make your own costume from things you own instead of spending 40$-50$ on a pre-packaged costume. To all of you who choose to follow this trend, kudos to you. I despise pre-packaged costumes. In my opinion, they are low quality, cheap looking and often way too revealing. If you're going to spend that much money on your Halloween costume, get some fabric and a pattern and make it yourself: it might be cheaper, but it will definitely look better.

Or you can get your friendly blogger / Costume designer to make you a custom costume!*

*But that will have to wait until next year because I'm already booked for this year!