Off With Their Heads!!!

Whaaaat issss thisss?

(You're supposed to say that part like the chef in 'The Little Mermaid'.)

After a particular bad run of lameness at last year's Hell-o-ween in Manhattan I decided to return to my roots this year.

I believe three Halloween things to be self-evident:

1. Dressing up is mandatory
2. Store bought costumes are lame in a bag
3. Funny, Glamorous or Smart always beat Gorey, unless it's Edward

If you know anything about me you're well aware of my Alice in Wonderland obsession.I was drumming my fingers against the table in my studio a few weeks trying to conceptualize this year's Halloween get-up when my eyes caught the vase of white roses on my windowsill.
Mike private joke - Fed Exed them to me a week or so prior to this bought of sketchiness. The first thing out of my mouth as I broke the seal on the box was, "Off with their heads!" Duh. I whipped out this fashion sketch in about ten minutes.
I called my personal seamstress/buddy ol' pal Emily of the Balcon'.Before I knew it we were combing the Fashion District looking for checkers and scarlet reds.
Emily put together the final touches on the gown - her dress making genius is mind blowing. She added the idea of transparent sleeves from elbow to wrist. We did a final fitting on all Hallow's Eve.
I spliced and wove an exhausted set of playing cards to fashion the collar I'd sketched. This dress was design on the fly and while the collar wasn't going to stay up and was a tad overkill - the cards made the perfect crown atop my head - only queens get to use 'atop'. I wanted to make sure I used it for this one royal post. My hair and face were done up courtesy of the Duchess of Justice. She's my personal make-up artist these days. I have always known how important it is to have friends, but in the last few years I've been awoken to how important it is to have talented friends. Haha.
Once I'd been primped and primed I hit the streets of New York and a few Halloween parties of magic and wonder and glitter, always glitter. I actually met a Mad Hatter - we have a date on Thursday. I took pictures with four different little girls dressed like Alice and held some lady's poor tabby. He'd been painted with purple and pink stripes. The costume was a smash and the perfect end to this year's Rock-tober.
Plus it rekindled my Louis Carroll Illustration frenzy.
Here's to genius, mine and others.