Dark Avant-Garde Halloween Ideas

Some Creative Ideas for Halloween Costumes and Accessories

The best Halloween costumes are self-made, especially if you have talent for it. I've always been a fan of the avant-garde; i.e. strange and experimental expressions of art. Here in this blog, I hope to portray some of my favorite expressions as to spring ideas in your own mind of what to create in order to flavor your Halloween experience. 

If you're in control of the atmosphere you'll be in (party at your home or friends house), you could take advantage of black lights in order to make your effects really pop out. You can even have "invisible effects", where you look one way in normal light and seem to "transform" into a different character under the black light.

                                                                                              Doll/Puppet Design

I like the way this piece screams "DAMAGED CHILDHOOD"! I imagine a cruel puppet master who brings his creations to life and mistreats them. I really like the doll head crown and the messy, stringy hair. I would even say the orange is appropriate for the holiday and would call for some temporary hair dye. I also suspect white hair would look very doll-like and creepy. White makeup is also a given. To come across as a doll or puppet, one must look the part. I would even suggest taking out the green eyeliner and going with all white and maybe drawing some stitch-work around the lips and eyes. We can't see the entire dress in this picture but from what shows in the shoulders it looks colonial style. It's fantastic! I think she has the right idea with this yellow dress. If I were making this, I would probably add some dangling puppet strings from the arms/legs/head (for effect). If I had to name this character, it would be "Marionette"



Duel Personalities

I really like the idea of two souls sharing one body (I'm a Gemini btw). I like this costume design, except that for a Halloween costume I would go with black vs white rather than Mardi-Gras-looking colors. The emphasis really needs to be done on the justaposition of two polar, eternally separate, yet identical personalities; the bipolarity of doppelgangers. I really like the way one half is wearing a large earring and the other side is absent of such decoration. If I had designed a costume with this theme, it would be Ego vs Superego; Chaos vs Control. One half would be calm, collective hair and makeup while the other side is hectic hair, and wild unorthodox makeup. The clothing also has great potential: The collect half covering the shoulder while the darker, chaotic side is showing shoulder.

An old Cherokee told his grandson, "My son, there is a battle between two wolves inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, jealousy, greed, resentment, inferiority, lies, and ego. The other is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, empathy, and truth." The boy asked, "Grandfather, which wolf wins?" The old man said, "The one you feed."

Blood Lipstick

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I really like this idea. The combination of the sexy hot red lipstick and the trickling blood from a recent feed is absolutely captivating. Using blood for lipstick is an absolutely captivating idea in my mind. If you like this idea, I think I may suggest a great recipe for fake blood. Purchase some chocolate syrup (one bottle will do) and then a great deal of red food coloring/dye. The brighter the red the better (in order to contrast the chocolate). Mix it together in a bowl until the coloring suits your taste. Also it's edible and delicious!

I would also add that it may be a good idea to actually apply red lipstick and make sure that your homemade blood matches the color. This will assure that your costume doesn't fade over time as might happen if you only used fake blood.




Queen Death

This is by far one of my favorite pieces I've found so far. Granted, it is also the most difficult. The back and arm piece is just a simple origami fold design--I suspect made of cardboard or poster-paper. I see this costume and I think "Queen of Darkness". This is the entity I would expect to find at the bottom of the downward spiral. The true symbol of evil; seductive, mysterious, and dark.












I hope you've received this read very well. I look forward to reading your thoughts. If you have photographs of your own creations, please don't hesitate to message me with a request to show them on this blog. I don't mind sharing :) If you like, you can also explain how you made it and why you made the decisions that you did. I'd love to hear your thoughts on everything!