Carbon Costume

Angel (David Boreanaz) is a major character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He became a vampire in the 18th century, originally known as Angelus, the cruelest vampire in history. When he kills the favorite daughter of a Romani group, they punish him by returning his soul. His curse is that he can never experience true happiness, or he will lose his soul again. As Angel, he is brooding and reserved. In the 20th century, his destiny is to meet the Slayer – Buffy – and become their ally. Eventually Angel and Buffy end up falling in love. The ring signifies his Irish heritage, and he gives it to Buffy as a symbol of his affection.

Miro (voiced in Japanese by Tarusuke Shingaki and in English by Ricco Fajardo) is a secondary main character in the anime/manga series My Hero Academia.

He is part of the ‘Big Three’ at UA, along with Nejire and Tamaki, and eventually becomes a big brother-like figure to Eri. His hero name is Lemillion, and he wears an outfit that emulates classic comic heroes. His Quirk is Permutation and it allows him to pass through solid objects, though he cannot safely do this while wearing his school uniform, as only his body can go through, leaving his clothes behind. His hero costume is constructed from his own hair.

Mirio has golden blonde hair worn gently spiked up, and blue eyes that make him look like an old-style cartoon character. His Lemillion costume is a bodysuit with segmented blue and white parts, golden detailing including the large 1,000,000 across his chest, red gloves, a long red cape, and tall knee-covering white and gold boots. The outfit is finished off with a white helm piece with a yellow visor.

In Clarence, Ashley is a fourth-grader in Ms. Baker’s class. She goes on a date with Clarence to the Pizza Shack, where they decide that it’s less awkward if they just stay friends.

Clare Devlin (played by Nicola Coughlan) is a supporting character in the Netflix series Derry Girls.  She is friends with Erin Quinn, Orla McCool, James Maguire, and Michelle Mallon, though the latter often sometimes teases her for her studious nature.  Clare is intelligent and often stressed out by her friend’s antics and what the consequences might be.  She wears the standard uniform while attending Our Lady Immaculate College and often wears overalls outside of school.  She has long blonde hair with bangs.  When recreating her look, there are a number of different outfits to choose from, but you can’t go wrong with plenty of denim and splashes of floral or pink.

In Clarence, Darlie is one of the students in Ms. Baker’s 4th grade class. Her costume is a simple one: a long blue pointy hoodie and dark purple-blue boots. Not often seen but she also wears light blue shorts under her hoodie.

Palm (voiced in Japanese by Kikuko Inoue and in English by Karen Strassman) is a prominent character in the Chimera Ant arc in the anime/manga series Hunter x Hunter.

She is part of the Hunters, and her nen type is Enhancement, with her specialty being clairvoyance and being able to track people with that. Partway through the Chimera Ant she gets captured by the ants and turned into one of them, integrating her nen ability more permanently into her body and giving her a fish-based look. She gets heavily attached to people to the point of obsession and stalking, and will go to extreme lengths to go after her object of affection. This is slightly lessened in her ant form.

Palm has extremely long black hair, with the front parted in a way to show the crystal she has on her forehead, and her eyes are a soft grey-blue. She wears a lipstick almost the same color as her eyes, but just a little more purple. Her arms and legs are covered in blue fish scales with fins, and for this outfit (there are a few she has in her ant form) she wears a short lilac colored strapless dress.

Kaio Kincaid (voiced by Stephanie Nadolny and Courtenay Taylor) is the protagonist of Cartoon Network’s OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes.  Kaio, more commonly known as K.O., is an optimistic boy who wants to become the world’s greatest hero.  He works with his friends Enid Mettle and Radicles X at Gar’s Hero Supply and Bodega.  K.O. wears a dark pink headband and matching wristbands, with lighter pink sleeves on his calves.  He also wears dark blue shorts, a white tank top, and a lighter blue vest, which is his work uniform.

This past weekend, the 2024 Oscars were more than memorable thanks to Ryan Gosling bringing the Kenergy to the awards with his explosive live performance of ‘I’m Just Ken.’ Although Barbie didn’t win best picture or director, Ryan truly made a lasting impression by flooding our screens and the stage with pink. He was accompanied by a large ensemble of Kens supporting him as background dancers. The look of the performance was inspired by the iconic scene featuring Marilyn Monroe’s ‘Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend’ from the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Of course in this case, Ryan is the iconic blonde and the ensemble wear costumes inspired by the men in the ensemble from the film. Choosing this classic film as inspiration is also fitting as Greta Gerwig took a lot of inspiration from large sweeping sound-stage musicals from that time. The I’m Just Ken scene in Barbie is actually inspired by Singin’ in the Rain, from the dream ballet sequence with Cyd Charisse and Gene Kelly.

To dress like a backup dancer from this performance, wear a black tailcoat blazer, white pocket square, white vest, white shirt, white bow tie, black pants, pink socks, and black dress shoes. Pair this with a black cowboy hat and don’t forget to create the pink sash. This can be made by wearing a hot pink 3.5 inch wide sash and either gluing or sewing a 2 inch light pink ribbon down the center. The sash is worn over the white button down tux shirt, but under and tucked into the white vest. This would make for a great duo or group costume with your favorite Kens, and one of them being Ryan’s Ken in the all-pink suit.