Carbon Costume

Alvin and the Chipmunks is a popular children’s film from 2007 that follows three musical chipmunks named Alvin, Simon, and Theodore who find a new home in Dave’s house, a singer songwriter that helps them gain popularity and show off their talents to the world.

To dress like Alvin, wear a green hoodie, a headband with ears, a chipmunk fuzzy tail, and a mic headset. For pants and shoes, anything goes but khaki shorts or pants might fit best.

Cinderella is a 2015 live-action remake of the original animated Disney film. This follows the same classic story of a girl who has to live with her evil stepsisters and stepmother until she meets her Prince Charming. This film has beautiful realistic versions of the costumes we know so well, and one of them that could be recreated is her casual, “peasant dress”.

To create this look, wear a blue blouse with a maxi full blue skirt. Add a muted brick red apron to the skirt and a wrapped headband created with frayed white fabric wrapped in your hair.

Valentina is a character from the new Despicable Me: 4 and voiced by Sofia Vergara. Valentina is the girlfriend of the character, Maxime Le Mal. Maxine is nicknamed the ‘insect man’ and was a student at a school for villains. He is part cockroach and is seeking revenge on Gru.

To dress like Valentina , wear a pink double-breasted coat and use white piping at the edges. Pair this with a purple mock-neck shirt, oversized silver sunglasses, white gloves, and carry a stuffed poodle. This would make a fun duo costume with Maxime.

Alvin and the Chipmunks is a popular children’s film from 2007 that follows three musical chipmunks named Alvin, Simon, and Theodore who find a new home in Dave’s house, a singer songwriter that helps them gain popularity and show off their talents to the world.

To dress like Simon, wear a blue hoodie, a headband with ears, a chipmunk fuzzy tail, and black round frame glasses. For pants and shoes, anything goes but khaki shorts or pants might fit best.

Abigail is the horrifying character in the new horror film called Abigail, and is played by Alisha Weir. The film tells the story of criminals that kidnap a young ballerina to try and obtain ransom money from her father. Over time they begin to discover there is something scary to this girl they are locked in with.

Abigail would make an awesome Halloween costume for girls and teens. To recreate this, wear a white leotard and white tights at the base. Over this wear a lace top (which you can crop by simply cutting it at the length you want), and a white tutu. Pair this with a white feather hair piece and glitter sneakers. To recreate the blood on her costume, stick to one side and the shape similar to the picture by slowly mixing and layering red, black, and brown fabric paint. Use paper towels or gloves (or your hands) to make it look more natural and realistic. Add this to the skirt, shirt, and some on the tights. Also add red face paint to the face and wear fake sharp teeth.

Phoebe is a character from the new Ghostbsuters film, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire and is played by McKenna Grace. The film follows The Spengler family as they return to New York City, specifically the iconic firehouse we know from the original Ghostbusters. An ancient artifact is found and releases an evil force that brings on a second ice age, but both the new and old Ghostbusters are there to stop it together.

To dress like McKenna in her regular/ casual clothing, wear things like a black and white plaid coat or jacket or a red button down short sleeve shirt with denim shorts and combat boots. For her classic Ghostbusters uniform, wear khaki coveralls and add on a Ghostbusters patch on the arm, a custom name tag on the front, a khaki belt, and elbow pads.

Claire is a character from the TV drama series, The Bear, and is played by Molly Gordon. Claire is the love interest of Carmen, the protagonist of the show. It follows his story as he tries to restore a Chicago restaurant after the death of his brother.

Claire’s style can be recreated for everyday life or even a duo or group costume with other characters from The Bear. One of her casual looks features an oversized denim jacket and a loose-fitting white henley shirt. Another and more recognizable dressy one is at the opening of the restaurant. For this, wear a black mini a-line dress, black printed tights, and a black floral lace cardigan.

A new film in the Joker series is releasing October of this year, called Joker: Folie á Deux. This film is new in that it is actually a musical, and features singer Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn.

To dress as Harley Quinn in this film, start with the makeup. Her makeup uses black eyeshadow or black cream makeup that is smudged around the eyes in a clown-inspired shape. For lips, she wears a cool red lipstick that you can also smudge around the edges with your fingers. For the outfit, wear a black coat for an easier more low-effort version, or you can take on her red blazer one. For the red blazer, take a ruffled/ peplum red blazer as the base. Cut the sleeves to right above your elbow, leaving an extra inch 1/2 or more to turn under and attach the ruffled pleated fabric, which is two pieces at two different lengths. If you want to take on the diamond/ argyle pattern, use red piping or cording to sew or glue on in similar shapes. Even further, add light distressing at the edges and on some of the piping with watered-down paint and/ or sandpaper.

For the top, take a muslin or cream corset-style top as the base. Using black fabric paint, paint on the argyle pattern (Tip: use a pencil and tape or a cut out piece of paper as a stencil to make the edges clean). To mimic the pointed shape at the bottom of the corset, take muslin fabric and attach it underneath and fold it in the similar draped pleats as in the photo. Lay the fabric flat on the ground and run sandpaper across the edges to create the raw edge.

Wear these with a black leather mini-skirt, black argyle patterned tights, and any black shoes to finish off the look.