Carbon Costume

Olivia Rodrigo is a pop singer/songwriter whose music continues to skyrocket on the charts. Following the smash success of Sour, her first full length album, Olivia released her new single, “Vampire” just last week. Its promo photo featured two band-aids on her neck, and the aesthetics in the music video certainly allude to Twilight. The music video currently boasts 22 million views plus just over 50 million streams on Spotify. Good 4 u, Olivia!

Rusty Martin is a character from the 1964 film Viva Las Vegas and is played by Ann-Margret. Viva Las Vegas is a musical film following Lucky Jackson as he prepares for the first Las Vegas Grand Prix and needs an engine, but he loses his money after meeting Rusty and has to earn it back to make the race on time. This colorful film reflects the charm of both Vegas and Hollywood tropes in both the sets and costumes.

Rusty’s costumes are very bright and summery with with lots of red and yellow pieces. In her iconic dance class scene, she wears tights and a red shirt, which you can re-create by wearing a red mock neck top with sheer black tights and black spandex shorts over them. She has two different swimsuits, one being the bright all-yellow outfit with a yellow one piece, yellow cover-up and white pointed kitten heels. Another is a red one piece with buttons down the top. And finally when she goes out dancing with Lucky, she matches his yellow blazer by wearing a yellow sleeveless scoop neck dress.

Dave Grohl is an American rock musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. From 1990 to 1994, he was the drummer of Nirvana, the grunge rock band featuring Kurt Cobain and Kris Novoselic. Afterwards, he founded Foo Fighters, for which he sings, writes songs, and plays guitar. Some notable Foo Fighters songs include “Everlong” and “My Hero.”

Pearl Krabs is a character in SpongeBob Squarepants: The Broadway Musical. A stage adaptation of the Nickelodeon cartoon, the show premiered on Broadway at the Palace Theater in 2017. Pearl is the high-spirited yet overdramatic teenage daughter of Mr. Krabs. In the musical, she wants to become a rock band singer, not manager of the Krusty Krab like her father hopes. Jai’len Christine Li Josey portrayed Pearl in the Broadway production. You can stick with a cheerleader uniform, which is what her costume is based on, or go more accurate to the musical with a light pink tennis dress and iron on a “P” varsity letter. For added accuracy, use the black fabric paint to create the stripes on her jacket.

Old Man Jenkins is a minor character in Spongebob Squarepants: The Broadway Musical. A stage adaptation of the Nickelodeon cartoon, the show premiered on Broadway at the Palace Theater in 2017. Old Man Jenkins is an elderly, disgruntled fish. J.C. Schuster portrayed Old Man Jenkins in the Broadway production.

David Byrne’s American Utopia is a musical show that was on Broadway and released as a live recording in 2020 to HBO Max, directed by Spike Lee. In this show, Talking Heads’ David Byrne leads the way with international musicians as they put on a rock spectacle about art, openness and faith in humanity on a minimalist and bold background. Byrne performs songs you may be familiar with like Burning Down the House, Road to Nowhere, Glass, Concrete & Stone, and more.

David Byrne, like the rest of the artists on stage, wears an all-gray suit with a gray shirt-but loose enough to dance in. Pair this with a stage mic, prop brain, and leave the shoes out this time for this costume!

Olivia Rodrigo is a pop singer/songwriter who started her music career in 2021 with “Driver’s License.” Her debut album, Sour, dominated the pop charts. Off the heels of the recent single “Vampire,” comes “Bad Idea, Right?” The music video features Olivia leaving a party to see her ex, which she contemplates through the lyrics of the song. The promo picture featured Olivia in front of a mirror, with the title written in red lipstick. The music video has 11 million views and over 50 million streams on Spotify. Fans can expect her second studio album, Guts, later this year.

Mrs. Puff (played by Abby C. Smith) is a character from Spongebob the Musical.  She is a pufferfish.  As a teacher in Bikini Bottom, Mrs. Puff helps students like SpongeBob SquarePants learn to drive boats as a means of underwater transportation.  In the Broadway musical, Mrs. Puff wears a bright blue jacket with polka dots and a pillbox hat to match.  To recreate her appearance from the stage production, focus on finding a coat in your budget that has a bit of flare to the bottom.  Layer it over a red petticoat skirt and blue and green striped tights.  Mrs. Puff’s accessories include an oversized pearl necklace, teal gloves, and Mary Jane shoes.  Finish the look with blue eyeshadow and red lipstick.