Well, it’s now officially October, so I have started planning my Halloween costume. As an adult, I have shunned the sexy cop/nurse/witch/girl scout costume-in-a-bag options and gone for the obscure, detailed, usually decidedly non-sexy costumes.
My past three costumes have been: No. 2 from ’60s British TV show The Prisoner, The Log Lady from ’90s TV show Twin Peaks and Roman goddess Pomona. OK, so maybe my choices are not always of-the-moment, but they’ve always provoked fun conversations. (Mostly in the vein of, “What are you supposed to be?”)
This year (again, a few years behind the times), I’m going to attempt one of my favorite literary villainesses, Queen Jadis, or the White Witch, from the Chronicles of Narnia.
Disney's interpretation of Jadis for The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe
Illus. of Jadis from paperback book
BBC's interpretation of Jadis
In The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis describes Jadis as having extremely white skin with blood red lips. In The Magician’s Nephew, he says her skin is “white as salt.” I guess Disney wanted to go in a different direction with the makeup, instead giving Tilda Swinton a slightly glossy, silver-tinged eye shadow and a pale pink lip, and a natural (though pale) skin tone. I do like the dreadlock look and the costume created for the movie, both of which I plan to re-create in my costume.
Jadis looks more powerful with dark hair, though, and that’s how the illustrations in the book depict her, so I’m going to stick with my natural hair color. Sorry, Tilda. To create the makeup look, I’m going to start with the Ice FX Frostbite Makeup Kit, which I purchased locally for $4 (buy it online at partywiththis.com for $6.99). The kit includes white/blue/pink greasepaint, ice gel (a sparkly adhesive), ice powder (crystals about the size of table salt), ice crystals (about the size of rock salt) and snowflakes (iridescent flakes).
My makeup plan for “Her Imperial Majesty Jadis, Queen of Narnia, Chatelaine of Cair Paravel, Empress of the Lone Islands”:
1) Prescriptives Illuminating Potion in Translucent
2) White greasepaint (if this looks too odd, I might try simply a lighter foundation)
3) Silver and Gold glitter eyeshadow
4) Ice Powder and Crystals on browbone
5) Ice Powder and Silver glitter on cheeks
6) Cover Girl Queen lipstick in Black Current (if I do a blood-red lip, will I look too much like a geisha?)
7) Black mascara, if needed
UPDATE: I’ve finally started making the costume. Read about it at White Witch Costume Details.
I would like to know where you plan on finding the dress! Its not halloween yet for 09 I am planning this same look for next year!! HOW FUN!
I have found some ice makeup kit at the local Wmart I need to go back and get before they sell out! I did find a replica pic of the crown from Narnia and a funkie wig the girl was wearing would be THE ONE TO HAVE but unable to find a wig that wild YET! I have a bit over a year ;D
If you have any tips on the dress please let me know!
Thanks TonyaT
Tonya,
I am going to be adapting the dress from a Burda sewing pattern. (I’m going to start working on it this weekend, so we’ll see how that goes.) After sewing the dress, I’m going to attempt to dip-dye it with Dylon Permanent Fabric Dye in Light Blue (which you can find at craft or fabric stores).
Here is a site that shows how the dress was constructed for the movie: http://costumes.narniaweb.com/witchtemplate.asp
I don’t know if my dress will be that complicated because I may run out of time.
And I’m am looking at this wig in Light Blonde: http://www.maxwigs.com/milly-vin-dreadlock-by-lacey-costume-wigs-p1624.html
I haven’t figured out how I’m going to do the wand or the furs yet, but I’ll post more when I figure it out!