Hello Hello!
(or should I say Bonjour?!)
Today I have a French Can-Can dancer costume to share that I put together for my best friend Emily and her fiancé’s house warming party last Saturday (Her fiancé , Francois, is French and the party happened to be held on Bastille day!)
I’ve always loved dressing up, so costume parties are a great excuse to rummage through the old dress up box at my parent’s house where we've accumulated quite an assortment of interesting clothing items over the years and that come in very handy for these kind of occasions!
I feel like piecing together costumes is one of my secret talents, and a huge part of the fun when it comes to costume parties is the creative process of playing around, styling things in different ways and seeing what you can come up with! After reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s book “Big Magic” I’ve realised that creativity takes many forms, and this is one of the ways I used to express creativity all the time when I was younger and that I’ve really missed lately!
As kid’s we would always dress up and play make-believe, making up wild stories and putting on an endless number of plays for our parents, and while those days may be long behind us, I love the occasional chance to step back into that world of imagination.
The Can-Can Dancer Costume
For this costume I layered two old dance skirts for a multi-layered effect (squeezing into them was a bit of a challenge!!), slid down the sleeves of a black t-shirt for an off-the-shoulder look, popped on some stockings and black heels, added a flower to my hair, dug up an old necklace, swiped on some red lipstick - and there you have a Can-Can Dancer Costume!
I love how the little details can totally make an outfit just a little extra fun, and hair and makeup can do wonders to the overall look too!
The Marie Antoinette Costume:
Emi’s Marie-Antoinette costume was all sourced from her own dress-up box as well! By pairing an old dress that belonged to her Grandma, a cardigan which she added little lace cuffs to and doing some crafty work with plastic bags to create volume in the hips (as well as the little touches of curling her hair, adding a feather and throwing on some pearls) she transformed into a Queen of France!
If you don’t have your own collection of dress up items, charity shops are always a fab place to source pieces inexpensively and then it’s all about how you style them, and adding the little extra details that you probably already have lying around somewhere!
No matter your age, it’s always fun to dress up and let your imagination run wild now and then, so next time you have a costume party to attend I encourage you to have a little fun – take a trip to your local charity shop, look through your own wardrobe and see what you can come up with!
Are you a fancy dress fan? I'd love to hear your thoughts on the post or if you have any particular favourite costumes that you've dressed up in? Leave a comment below or come and say hi on Instagram - @laurennatalia29
Lots of Love
Lauren
xxx
