I have been obsessed with Alice in Wonderland for as long as I can remember. After reading the books and watching numerous film versions, I have become quite fond of the darker versions of Alice. The Disney version is way too sugar coated as it is with all of its renditions of fairy tales. My favorite portrayal of Alice is from the EA game, American McGee’s Alice. After a long time of collecting just the right items, my costume is complete.
Certain characteristics set the game version of Alice apart from others. In the game Alice has returned from wonderland and is back with her family. Alice's house is burned down by an accidental fire, killing her family, and leaving her as the only survivor. Due to her survivor's guilt, she tries to commit suicide (bandages can be seen on her wrists), and becomes catatonic. She is institutionalized and ten years later, the White Rabbit summons Alice to aid a radically altered Wonderland, which became a twisted version of itself as it came under the despotic rule of the Queen of Hearts (this description is taken from Wikipedia). Alice had an array of weapons she uses to fight her enemies. She starts out with a knife, then a deck of playing cards, and so on. Her apron is splattered with the blood of her victims, her boots heavy with buckles, and a skull sits in the middle of her apron bow in the back.
It started with the dress. All of the “Alice” dresses that I could find were too light of a blue and the apron was always too frilly. I finally found a dark blue dress on eBay and my mom made an apron for it that is perfect. Next was to stain my mother’s work with blood splatters. I used stage blood and a large paint brush to splatter the blood all over. I found a wooden knife at a Halloween store and painted it to look a little more realistic. I added blood along the edge for further effect. I also stumbled upon a giant deck of cards in my searches. I stuck a few of them in the pocket of my apron to use as weapons as in the game. After a few failed attempts of different skulls for the bow, I finally found a decorative skull doorknob cover made of soft latex. After a few cuts and some Velcro, my bow accessory was perfected. Alice wears an upside-down horseshoe necklace and huge buckles on her tall black boots. Finding a small horseshoe was simply luck. My mom found a Christmas ornament that had a 3 small horseshoes on it. I took it apart, painted it silver, and fastened one to a necklace chain. I didn’t want to spend money on the Hot Topic looking boots that Alice wears and I already had some tall black boots so I just had to find the buckles. I was in Santa Barbara when I came across a Collectables type store with all kinds of random objects. They had drawer pulls, hinges, glass, and all kinds of collected items. With all of the cabinet hardware I found something that I could use. I am not sure what these bulky silver things were intended for, but I easily sew them onto elastic straps that I could slip on over my boots to look like buckles. I think it worked quite well. The last thing I needed to complete my outfit was some sort of purse. Alice doesn’t wear one, obviously, and I wanted to stay true to my costume. So I went to Toys R Us and bought a white stuffed rabbit. I cut him open along the seam on his back and took out most of the stuffing. I slipped in a drawstring bag, pulled the strings through holes that I cut and cinched it tight. I could fit some money and my camera in it so it was just the right size. As people would walk by me on the streets during Halloween, I would slip my hand into the legs of the rabbit and use him as a puppet. It was very fun messing with people.
I have now been Alice for 4 years straight. I think next time I might have to be Alice from the new Burton film coming out March 5th, 2010. Thank you for your interest in my costume. Please feel free to ask me any questions!
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