Halloween in My Closet: Part 2: Can-Can Girl

Yesterday I was a sailor, today a can-can girl. Don’t you just love the flexibility of modern life? After Part 1 of Halloween in My Closet… thanks to requests to see a can-can girl from Kate and UND I decided to with this for Part 2.

If you look to the left, you’ll see me as a can-can girl circa 2004. I borrowed a striped evening gown from a friend and wore a corset over it. Underneath I wore the biggest red petticoat… and between the squeezing for the corset and the layers of the petticoat, even at night in the autumn I was boiling hot.. .and the next day I was in pain… goes to show, if you’re going to do corsets, go custom, ask Ashe Mischief, she seems to know a lot about corsetry.

Here is the the second part of my Halloween series… yesterday I was a sailor… every day I’ll post a costume made mostly of the the clothes I already own. Of course I’ll need accessories, but while we still have time (9 days) I’ll only post accessories you’ll actually be able to acquire before Halloween. Towards the big day, I’ll work entirely with my own pre-existing wardrobe.

Can-Can Girl Essentials

Below are the base essentials I found in my closet… to be a can-can girl, you’ll need a tube top, here I have a sequin one, two skirts one for the top, a second one to give volume and look like a petticoat-luckily I had a lace skirt that works perfectly. Gloves… all I have right now are leather gloves and vintage tea gloves, but opera lenght gloves will work even better. Lace or fishnet tights. A choker… I made one out of black bias tape, and sewed it on with a single stitch… but some of you may have more substantial chokers.

The Result

If I had no time… this would be my end result, some improvements would be getting a pair of opera length gloves, or feather fascinator… like this, this, this, or this.

I put my hair up in a bouffant, which can also be handy for other costumes revolving around the 60′s… liquid eyeliner is handy for giving lovely cat eyes, and a beauty mark. I used lipstick to make more exaggerated blusher and for red lips.

Since I have a lot of ideas of what I can do for Halloween, and I can only post a few of them, and please let me know if there is anyone you might want to see, or if you have any suggestions… please leave a comment:

Halloween in My Closet:

1. Circus Ringleader (second by Nikki)
2. Sailor (done! click here to see!)
   
3. Natasha from Bullwinkle & Friends
4. Can-Can Girl
5. Pirate or …
6. a Founding Father… same base costume as Pirate.
7. The Mad Plaider
8. Beetle Juice
9. The See’s Candies Girl (only makes sense in California… but Jeanne would like to see it!)
10. Evil Babydoll (second by Mette)
11. 60′s Housewife
12. An East German DDR protester (may be offensive… but Tres Plus Cool would like to see it)
13. A superhero
14. Dawn Davenport (suggested by Imelda Matt)
15. Cat Lady (suggested by shopfair)
16. ?????