plus size costumes

October Ramp-up to Halloween

I freakin’ love ANY excuse to dress up! ❤

That’s why Halloween is one of my favorite times of year – cuz you get to do just that.

Since I’m a corporate-type by day, I wanted to do a little something with my outfits that was a gentle nod to Halloween… A lil’ nod once a week, every week leading up to the big day for the entire month of October.

Here’s what that looked like…

A Nod to Halloween – The Month of October

Gentle nod with a striped dress (F21+) and soft trench (F21+); Sparkle kicks (Sketchers) … giving off a Mime, Jailbird or Beetlejuice vibe.

He-he! Ooow! This was my attempt at bring MJ’s spooky spirit to my outfit with my Thriller tee (Old Navy) and my Lepoard pencil skirt (SexyPlusClothing)

Trying for this all-black-everything look for complete with my “Handbook for the Recently Deceased ” tee (PublicButter) with this angled pencil skirt (F21+) and Black booties (Winners). Sadly this was photographed without my stripped cropped blazer, to truly give off the Beetlejuice… Beetlejuice …BEETLEJUICE vibe!

Halloween Weekend – Saturday Night

With October 31st falling on workday (boo!) …the weekend before was the weekend of all Halloween’ing!!!

How lucky am I to have artsy friends in my life. Joel Colbourne and his amazing make-up job transformed me into a scary skeleton! Check out this Instagram for more of his makeup artistry. ❤

I had picked up this fab Skeleton Dress from Unique Vintage while I was in L.A. last November …ps: very, very delayed blogpost about that trip coming soon 😉

The make-up just brings this cute dress into spook-tacular frock… Worthy of winning Toronto Lindyhop’s “Most Scariest Costume” prize at the 2nd event I was at!!!!

Halloween Day – Office Costume

It took a month of convincing … but finally my office team agreed to dress up as Cowpokes for October 31st!

Since I didn’t get their permission to share the team photo… here’s what **I** looked like for the Cowboy theme:

: How I Got The Look: Boots from Aldo; Jeans & cowboy hat from F21+; Super old belt from Lane Bryant; Plaid shirt from Old Navy; Vintage scarf for my neck ❤

Halloween Night – The Village (Church St. in The6ix)

I’ve lived in Toronto my entire life and this was my 2nd time ever enjoying the sights and sounds of Church Street aka The Village” on Halloween Night! (Click here for the 1st)

Somehow I’ve managed to insert myself into a fabulous social circle of shameless, onsie-wearing friends who were all more than happy to parade around in public with me.

I fell in love with the Giraffe onsie from Kigurumi … thinking it wouldn’t be a popular choice. I was wrong.

Found a total of 5 onsied Giraffes in The Village…only managed to photograph these 3 🙂 Photo Credit: Joel Colbourne

Oh, the fun that was had simply walking up and down the street as a zoo of animals!

We were sooooo famous – everyone was asking to take our photos.

WE WERE A TOTAL SPECTACLE! 😀

Curious about what I’ve done for Halloween in the past?

Click here and here and here and here and here for past October fun!!!

Hope you enjoyed this post…and that it’s given you smiles for your day and inspirations for your next excuse to dress up 🙂

Which one is your favourite? Let me know in the comment section below! OH, and follow me on Instagram!!!

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The Roaring ’20s at Palais Royale

The most familiar symbol of the “Roaring Twenties” is probably the flapper: a young woman with bobbed hair and short skirts, excessive makeup and jewellery, who drank, smoked and said “unladylike” things … and more sexually “free” than previous generations.

10930542_10152695011024072_4536018237813705931_n — Some of the lovelies behind the Toronto Vintage Society

The fashions of the ’20s are one of my faves…but sadly extremely difficult to find in my size, and even harder to make look good on my body shape. The drop-waist isn’t something that I can pull off.

But I love me some fringe & feathers!!! So when I found this getup on sale at an online costume shop – it had to be mine! ❤

And there was finally a reason to wear it as Toronto Vintage Society hosted a Selfie Photo Booth at Palais Royale’s Winterlicous night of dinner and dancing!

I have to admit, this might be the most glamorous venue in Toronto!!! The Palais Royale Ballroom has been around for 92-years. This space is oh-so magical.

Winterlicious diners enjoying before the dancing begun.

Since I’m not the best with makeup application – I googled what a flapper in the 1920s would do and then tried to replicate it with what I had on hand. Here’s what I found and my results…

Screen Shot 2015-02-03 at 6.37.15 PM — Volia! Me trying my hand at Gatsby makeup: base from *PURMinerals*, eyeshadows and blush from E.L.F., lipstick from *MakeupForever*, mascara from Younique 3D Fiber Lashes (please ignore the hair curlers)

The best part of flapper wear…is all the accessories!!!

10865894_306700666205685_5411200464454242060_o — T-strap shoes from Naturalizer; feather headband came with the dress; earrings from Necessities; pearls and bracelets picked up at Toronto Vintage Clothing Show

And…with all the pieces together – TAH-DAH!!!

I was pleasantly surprised how well my hair worked out. There was a sh*t-ton of hairspray to keep these waves in. And I’m happy to report that the doo lasted pretty much the whole night…including post-event libations in the wee hours of the AM…which is pretty impressive with my thin hair, blustery winter weather and Lindy Hopping all night. 🙂

Now that I had the hair, makeup and outfit all done…..it was time to dance my feet off to the music of Alex Pangman!

Swing dancing to Alex Pangman + an excuse to get dressed up in 1920s garb – what better way to end the work week!

The Toronto Vintage Society had a fabulous Selfie Photo Booth set up, complete with fabulous authentic props!!!

Here’s a selection of moments captured “TVS-Selfie-Photo-Booth” style:

Dapper swing dancers romancing me for the camera – Giddy Up! 😉

All the fabulous vintage props at the TVS Photo Booth….

Screen Shot 2015-02-03 at 7.55.10 PM — This fab pic of the Toronto Vintage Society gang – at our fab Selfie Photo Booth — tons more on Instagram #palaisroyaleballroom

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Oktoberfest!

For years now I’ve been trying to round-up the troops to enjoy Oktoberfest in the K-Dub (Kitchener, Waterloo) – the 2nd largest Oktoberfest celebration next to Munich, Germany! Sadly, I’ve failed every year. 😦

This year however, a few fun friends and I were determined to dig out our lederhosen and dirndls for Toronto’s 3rd annual authentic Oktoberfest party – at Ontario Place! Inspired by traditions started in Munich, Germany over 200 years ago, Toronto Oktoberfest brings a taste of Munich to the City as it captures the essence of authentic food, drink and merriment.

Naturally – we HAD to dress the part!

A few of my table mates have been painstakingly sewing themselves authentic-looking dirndls to wear to this event. I had my heart set on wearing an old Halloween costume I had in my closet of a German Beer Maid. Figured if this outfit won me 1st prize at my Office’s costume party – it was deserving enough to make a reappearance for this event. (woot! woot!)

german beer girl ppmeow — Last year’s winning Office Costume Party outfit (the blonde braided wig was on loan) 😉

Buuuuut then as Toronto Oktoberfest continued updating their FB page as the big weekend arrived …. it seems that their waitress staff were all going to be wearing my EXACT outfit!!! Le sigh… 😦

Needless to say, I was heartbroken. We bought our tickets back in July specifically for the dirndl wearing. Sooooooo I was DETERMINED to wear this get-up no matter what!

I figured my fancy buttons and a floral crown (Claire’s Accessories) would do the trick 😉

A few added button accessories … to look different from the waitstaff 😛

Floral crown from Claire’s Accessories (oh-so difficult to find in Fall)

There where fabulous hair inspiration in this article —- but y’all know how much I hate brushing my hair, let alone doing it. In the end, I went for a simple double ponytail look. Nailed it! 😛

German Beer Girl costume from Candy Apple Costume (online)

I was told that there was great importance and rules placed on how a dame ties the bow of her apron:

Rightside = married/taken. Back = virgin. Leftside = single n’ ready to mingle. As you can see, mine was tied accordingly 😉

Click here for deets on that.

Me with Liz of The Vintage Inn and Jacquie of TVS

I’m not typically a beer drinking kinda gal …. but this festival allowed you to taste a bunch of different ones, so I did. You can almost pinpoint the exact moment when the beers started to kick in by the excessive laughing and blurry-ness of each snap….:)

As per usual, the Toronto Vintage Society ladies brought their A-game, all decked out … in proper German dirndl attire! ps: I am NOT double-fisting my drinks. I’m a lady! I was kindly holding a pint for the photographer taking this pic …geez! 🙂

Me and my empty Beer Stein with the WINNER OF BEST DRESSED, Joy!!! She sewed this entire outfit herself, including the adorable hat!!! Mad skillz…with a ‘z’!

Before vs. After ….. an evening of Oktoberfest!

Turns out we closed down the tent!!! And stumbled our way out of the Ontario Place parking lot around 1am …. we were halfway to Brampton on foot (or so it felt like we were) before a kind cabbie picked us up and dropped us home safely. ***Hiccup***

Overall, a fantastic time! Can’t wait for next year’s Oktoberfest!

Would you be up to going if PPMeow! organized a table-o-fun? Let me know in the comment section and let’s start planning some beer + costume + blog-reader fun!!!

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