Does the costume make the man?

It is Halloween night.  In the United States children are preparing for trick or treating that won't commence for hours.  The final candy is being bought, the finishing touches being put on bars, restaurants and haunted houses about the cities. Here?  It's a quiet Sunday evening after the last call to prayer. Most folks are home with family, perhaps dreading the eventual Monday return to work.

I am left reflecting on the events of the weekend and the holiday.  By most measures it was a big Halloween for me.  As you hopefully read in a previous blog, I'm not much for dressing up.  That being said, I was convinced to do so this year.  A friend and I hit a new bar on Friday night.  Being that we were the only two people crazy enough to be in costume, we won the costume prize. The bottle of moscato is in my cupboard.  I was happy to see my first jack o'lantern of the year and felt good about my costume.

he's so cute!

 

Not bad, and comfortable to wear.  No paint necessary.

I skated through on one costume for two nights. Donna had two completely different looks; a pirate on Friday and a cyber punk on Saturday. As expected, the bars were full of people, especially women, using the holiday as an excuse to reveal a skanky dressed side of themselves. Night one included a vampire, a nurse and a devil all in unbelievably short dresses and all Indonesian. Night two included Poison Ivy from batman in short shorts, a dominatrix (in pants but tight clothing), Amy Winehouse, Snookie from Jersey shore, a strange orange and yellow thing that involved short shorts and skin, a girl dressed in a short white dress and wig, black cat in skin tight black and numerous others at the bar. I will give a hand to the creativity of cyber punk, Papa Smurf, the Chilean miner and Cruela Devile.

Cyber punk!

Chilean Miner

Cruela Deville

I was asked more than once what my costume was.  A friend made a great guess via facebook today of Lois Lane.  I should have said that was it.  One friend said, "Oh a reporter? don't you mean a sexy reporter?  It's Halloween, whatever you are, you are a sexy that."  Ahhh no.  Not wanting to be a buzz kill I didn't go into my line of thought about the sexing up of Halloween.

There were several, more than several, guys dressed as women.  I often wonder if they're trying out cross dressing, giving way to an urge that stays hidden the other 364 days of the year or if they do it just because it's easy to find the parts for the costume. Do our decisions for costumes say something about us? Is it a peek into our subconscious?  That I prefer to be comfortable in a costume that has sloppy built into the idea? That I am rebelling against the sexing of Halloween? That I don't like my thighs and therefore will not wear a ridiculously short skirt?

When I would stay home and pass out candy from my mom's house in Seattle, we would often keep a tally; how many princesses, how many ninjas.  I figured most parents knew what their child is doing and hopefully helped them choose a costume.  Even as kids turn into teens, I would continue to hope that parents are involved in the Halloween plans and processes for their kids. A unique example?  A friend works at a large international school here told me about a student of hers. The student was given 300,000Rp to buy a costume. On Friday morning the child (13 yo) got into the car to go to school in full Nazi regalia. The father complained and rightfully so.  By the time the kid got out of the car at school he had changed his costume.  He was Jesus. Jesus! Hitler one minute, Jesus the next. I can't be the only one shaking my head.