Costume How-tos: Leela and Zapp Brannigan

Our Futurama Halloween costumes were a success on Saturday night - though there were a few hairy moments where I really doubted our ability to pull this off.

Actually I doubted MY ability, since I was the one who made the costumes.

Leela was actually the easiest. Comfiest costume ever, as well!

I wore my Lululemon yoga pants tucked into these buckled boots I had bought in Italy. A Forever 21 white tank top for the top. I made Leela's metal armband out of cardboard and duct tape. I bought the purple wig on Ebay and put it into a ponytail (just wish it was a darker purple).

The eye of course, was the hardest part but it ended up working out the way I wanted. Being an avid horseback rider, I immediately thought of horse fly masks - you can see out but not in. So I bought one off of Ebay. Sadly, the colour was more beige than white so after I cut out the eye shape, I filled it in with Liquid Paper.

Next I cut an elastic string into the corners and tied it around my head. The only problem there though is that it pulled the eye tight against my face which made it look flat - also the white out was pressed against my eyes and MAN does that stuff sting! I was probably getting high off of it all night.

Solution: a pair of reading glasses with the lens popped out. I wore the mask on top of that so it would stay a safe distance from my actual eyes. Success!

Zapp's was hard. The white rubber boots I had gotten off Ebay (btw VERY hard to find, especially in a size 11!). The velour (very important! Zapp and Kif's uniforms are velour...and scandalously tight!) was a red dress that my bf's mom found. I cut it short (very short...too short) and then added extra fabric at the neckline to create a turtleneck.

Next I added a girdle. Yes, Captain Zapp Brannigan wears a girdle on the show haha, and actually my bf wore my beige SPANX if you can believe it, because we needed to cover him up lest he flash someone. He could not even bend over lol.

Then came the gloves. White gloves were very hard to find. We looked everywhere. Finally I turned a pair of rubber gloves inside out and then stapled on two peices of white foam board to create the top.

I then cut out gold paper from a discarded gift bag and stapled and pinned that to his red "tunic" to create the fancy space-looking shoulders.

Interestingly enough, it was the wig that was the part that didn't really fit. We couldn't find a proper wig anywhere and ended up having to paint one.

Luckily we are dressing up again on actual Halloween, so we have this week to get the hair just right.

I guess you could say the party was a trial run...I must also mention that it was the most amazing Halloween party ever. The host must have spent a week getting it ready. It was insane the amount of detail that went into it. There was projection screens outside with the theme from Halloween and ghostly faces. There were cages with monsters inside. A spider the size of your bed. A graveyard with mist (real and fake!). A haunted maze complete with padded walls and cells. A woman that rocked back and forth and watched The Ring on repeat. A scary clown that started singing Black Sabbath when you sat down on the toilet. Totally rad.

Spider Baby - Fantômas

PS I know I've talked about Fantomas being the best, coolest, awesome Halloween music before - If anything go download this song in full "Spider Baby" from the Director's Cut CD - you won't be disappointed. It should be up there with the Monster Mash and Thriller for everyone's Halloween - plus it has that Mike Patton charm ;)