Carbon Costume

“There cannot be peace without, first, a great suffering. The greater the suffering, the greater the peace,” is the core belief of August Walker (Henry Cavill), alias John Lark. Unbeknownst to Mission Impossible‘s hero, Ethan Hunt, Walker is instrumental in orchestrating nefarious plans to achieve a new world order. Who would suspect such a sharp-dressed, level-headed gentleman (who bears an uncanny resemblance to Superman)?

In Girl, Interrupted (based on Susanna Kaysen’s memoir), Lisa Rowe (Angelina Jolie) is a sociopathic patient at the psychiatric hospital where Susanna (Winona Ryder) has checked in. Lisa proves to be charismatic, manipulative, and ultimately, dangerous, although she is well-liked by the other patients and bonds with Susanna.

In Little Miss Sunshine, Richard Hoover (played by Greg Kinnear) is the son of Edwin, the husband of Sheryl, the father of Olive, and the step-father of Dwayne.  Richard is extremely Type A and hopes to become a professional motivational speaker and life coach.  Richard wears khakis that too long for him, bulky sneakers, and his cellphone clipped to his belt.

In the movie The Long Kiss Goodnight, Samantha Caine (Geena Davis) is a small town school teacher who suffers from amnesia living with her boyfriend and young daughter.  After she thwarts a would-be attacker in her own home, Samantha discovers she is actually a highly-trained CIA assassin named Charlene “Charly” Baltimore.  Her transformation into her true self becomes especially evident when Charly ditches her long, red locks for a short bleach blonde bob and she begins tracking down the bad guys responsible for kidnapping her daughter.

Roy Batty (played by Rutger Hauer) is a replicant – an android – built for the sole purpose of fighting in places seen as too dangerous for humans, much like Pris, Zhora, and Rachael. Unfortunately for him, soldier replicants only have a four-year lifespan. It is this injustice that brings him back to Earth and pushes him to try any means necessary to extend his life. He’s one of sci-fi’s most enduring antiheroes and is almost more a fan favorite than the the movie’s hero, Deckard.

Roy’s costume is simple but pulling it off takes a little bit of work. There are two iconic parts to his look: his white blonde hair and the dove her carries. You can either bleach your hair or opt for a wig. And there are many prop doves on Amazon, one of which is listed above.

For the rest of his costume you will need a leather trench coat, grey t-shirt, black tactical pants, and  – as odd as it might sound – a pair of black and white sneakers. If you want to try and get some of the detailing on Roy’s coat you can use leather tubing and a hot glue gun to try and recreate the specific style.

It’s a simple costume with parts that can be repurposed for other cosplays. But it’s still a costume with an impact and a shelf life of a lot more than four years!

Glen Lantz (played by an early-career Johnny Depp) is one of the protagonists of the classic 80s slasher fic Nightmare on Elm Street. He is the boyfriend of Nancy, the films main hero and the one who ultimately finds out how to defeat Freddy Kreuger. Although Glen supports his girlfriend and believes her when  nobody else does, he ends up falling prey to Kreuger in one of the film’s most spectacular deaths.

Glen has several looks throughout the movie but the most iconic is the outfit he’s wearing right before he falls into Freddy’s clutches for the last time. A feathered brunette wig (or your own hair and some pomade) will give you his hairstyle. His top is a jersey-style sweatshirt that has been cut to bare his midriff, which you can easily recreate with a white pullover, blue fabric paint, and blue iron on numbers. All you have to do is paint stripes around the shoulders, iron on the number 10 and cut the sweater into a crop top.

Grey sweats, Nike socks, and white 80s-style trainers finish off the look. You can accessorize with a pair of large silver headphones. And, if you want to go for a post-Freddy Glen, you can add in some fake blood as well.

Marnie Piper (Kimberly J. Brown) is the protagonist of the Halloweentown movies from Disney Channel. Upon discovering her grandmother Aggie Cromwell (Debbie Reynolds) is a witch, she sneaks onto the magical bus to Halloweentown, full of other supernatural creatures. The first film deals with an evil warlock named Kalabar, and the second on the revenge of his son, where Marnie must stop them both. The third movie revolves around Marnie bringing students from Halloweentown to high school in the mortal world. There’s a fourth movie too, but we don’t talk about it. Throughout the saga, Marnie steps into her power as an headstrong, independent witch. Iron or sew on the moon and star appliques to the hat and cloak as shown in the picture. A second option could be to cut the shapes out of silver foil, as the material looks rather shiny. For some extra magic, add silver trim to the lining of the cloak.

In the Netflix film Hubie Halloween, Hubie Dubois (played by Adam Sandler) is a deli worker in Salem, Massachusetts.  Hubie is the laughing stock of his town, and the butt of many jokes, but this does not deter him from dedicating himself to being the town’s official Halloween Helper, which is obvious when he wears his blue “MONITOR” sash.  To create Hubie’s sash, you can take matte navy blue ribbon and write on it with white fabric paint or a marker.