In a continued push against prevailing cultural norms...
...I am seeking a Halloween costume for my six-year-old daughter that is neither cute & sexy, pretty & sexy, Goth & sexy, frightening & sexy, nor historical & sexy. Edith doesn't understand why every Halloween costume for girls online
seems to be a variation on what she calls a ballerina and I call a
cocktail waitress. Neither do I.
She wants to be a large wild cat (a panther, preferably). That means she wants to put on a full-body costume that has ears and fur and whiskers. She does not want to wear a mini-skirt and legwarmers in leopard print with a spandex top and call that a leopard costume. She wants to paint her nose pink, not paint her lips red. As far as she knows, no one would ever connect the word "tail" with any of these costumes, because they don't have long, furry, feline appendages.
If this is what Halloween looks like in the elementary school years, I might start to understand the population protesting that Halloween is an immoral holiday promoting subtly dangerous messages. Unfounded fears, I thought. Maybe I just didn't appreciate where the threat lay.
6 comments:
Wow--crazy. I can't imagine how frustrating that is. I'm also shocked by how adult the girls clothes look, but haven't encountered it first hand yet. FYI, in situations like this (where I can't find exactly what I want), especially as a non-sewer, I always turn to etsy. It is a perfect spot to find someone who can make just what you want. Good luck! Campbell
Fully share your frustration. Ever since Edith mentioned her interest in being a panther I have been looking online (her great-grandmother would have whipped up an unbeatable panther outfit of the kind she wants in a jiffy, but alas, Mor-Mor never developed those skills). It seems children want to be Pink Panthers or Ninja Shadow Panthers, but beyond that -- if she's not into the cocktail-waitress-pole-dancer-black-cat thing -- it seems you're looking at mascot outfits, which are much more convincing but run $500 to $1200. I figured she'd some day prefer our having put that kind of dough into her college savings. XOXO, M-M
Woosh. You said it sister. I got a catalog in the mail the other day that baffled me in the costumes they were selling for the under 10 yr old set. Really? When did sexy nurse make it down to size 6x? (and then again, when did this darn sexy nurse craze hit anyway?) I can't say that I'd be able to whip up a full on realistic panther costume either but Martha Stewart's website has great ideas and patterns for kids. Stel is going to be our neighbor's horse - and I'm just using a brown hoodie sweatshirt and brown pants as my base. Could you do that with black ones? (felt ears attached to the hoodie, tail in back?)
Something like this?
http://malcolm.mdickinson.com/images/halloween.jpg
My mom made that one for me, from a sewing pattern. Check your local wal-mart for the sewing pattern, then find a local neighborhood grandma who will teach you to sew! It doesn't take as long as you think!
Would any of these do the trick? (Maybe searching for "leopard" rather than "panther" helps)
http://www.amazon.com/Childs-Cheetah-Girl-Halloween-Costume/dp/B000J5P6IC%3FSubscriptionId%3D19BAZMZQFZJ6G2QYGCG2%26tag%3Dsquid1616065-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB000J5P6IC
http://www.amazon.com/Pretty-Leopard-Child-Halloween-Costume/dp/B004UUHFIG/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1318088397&sr=8-7
http://www.amazon.com/Childs-Leopard-Halloween-Costume-Medium/dp/B001S4EB6Q/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1318088435&sr=8-13
http://www.charliecrow.com/kids-fancy-dress/leopard_costume_childs_size.php
Somewhere in between sewing and the great options Uncle Peter found: you could buy a face mask (like maybe this one: http://www.hearthsong.com/Furree-Faces-with-Noise_p2963_S2008_D1305_C4409.html) or just do face paint,
together with a sweatsuit with hand-painted spots (sweatshirt/pants are cheap at hanes.com, and you can use sharpie or a fabric marker)… and I’m sure you can either fashion a tail out of pantyhose or tights or buy one solo (together with kitty ears). Not furry, it's true, but easily completed and the same or less overall $. And fun to make together, maybe?
This is all unrelated to the broader social issue, which is infuriating. Did you see the trailer for the movie miss representation?
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