Principles of Epic Costuming: Chapter 8

I have a personal rule for my own costumes that ALWAYS makes me happy when I follow it. This is the rule. When I am trying to pick out what to wear, if I have a SINGLE bit of hesitation about whether or not something "goes together" I know that it is a compass pointing me in the direction that I need to go! I immediately conquer that fear and uncertainty by putting the things together, and then I get  my best costumes. 

Just barely, I was getting dressed for the Salt Lake Comic Con, and I was trying to match my Lumpy Space Princess/Adventure Time leggings. I thought, "Oh no, these are light pink, and the only corset I have is this dark gray snakeskin that is in totally a different color pallette! I let that fear guide me, and I put them together anyhow. Because I knew that I wanted to have a uniform  look, I painted a light pink blush on the very high apples of my cheeks all the way up to right beside my eyes. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it all turned out together, and I felt like I had some personal kind of triumph.  I know it sounds dorky. Just a pair of leggings and a corset. Why is that a triumph? Because I challenged my own beliefs about what "worked" and what was the "right way to do things."

When you take the thing you automatically want to do, out of laziness, fear, and distress, and do the exact opposite, that is where you gain ground. This principle applies to nearly everything in life. There is  a huge pizza. I want to eat all the pizza. I want to rub it all over my face and growl while I exclaim revelry in my utter ecstasy.  But, guess what? The pizza never delivers on its promise. I should have eaten something that would make me feel light and free, instead of heavy and like a failure. I could have USED my absolute lust for the pizza to direct me down the path of celery sticks and reverse osmosis water. Alas. 

 But seriously, trust me here. If you are afraid of wearing something on your costume, you should at least ONCE try to figure out a way to make those colors, patterns, or shapes marry each other. I think that the very act of stretching your brain in this matter helps you to be a more understanding, forgiving, and compassionate person. These things DO translate across the wiring in your brain.

So, let's repeat.  When you feel a fear about a color, confront that color. If you have a color that you "hate" and you "never wear" because of "insert excuse here", you should find a way to insert that very color into your costume. In this act, you show that you have mastery over a thing as simple as a freaking COLOR! It no longer has mastery over you and your thoughts and actions.

The next time you pull out a black corset and think, "Okay....what would this go with...Oh! I've got it!! My BLACK SKIRT!"  you need to swat yourself with a newspaper. Bad! BAD!  Any old fool can put black with black.  Be a LEGEND! Put black with periwinkle. Put black with brown, heaven forbid! Put anything with anything! Stop letting color scare you, and let it energize you!