Executed Today’s Guide to Halloween, Part I (Click here for Part II.)
Grim, ghastly, and gruesome — it must be election time Halloween!
The grisliest tricks of the past are the tastiest treats of the season, and that makes Executed Today purpose-built for the occasion. Heck … that’s why it’s our anniversary.
That’s also why it’s rich with ghoulish inspiration for your Halloween costume.
For all the severed heads and flayed skins around here, the set of execution victims who are Halloween-ready is a limited one. It’s just not enough to be famous (or infamous); one must also have an iconography recognizable enough to get the public credit you deserve for your inspired disguise.
If you happen to roll with a crowd that’s totally going to get your Savonarola outfit, more power to you. The rest of us have to play to the masses.
But some few of our principals fit the bill well enough to be fine Halloween choices without too much exertion in the prep department.
Even a character as renowned as Anne Boleyn is a little hard to play: quick, what does she look like?
But between The Tudors and The Other Boleyn Girl, there’s a current pop-culture context for the character (and plenty of precedents). Tudor garb plus the famous “B” necklace will be a dead giveaway for those in the know. For extra credit, add a prosthetic sixth finger to simulate her alleged polydactylism.
Accessories: Date decked out as Henry VIII … or as the French swordsman who beheaded her.
You could rock this collection of Antoinette portraits, but unless you’re designing for a movie, an 18th century gown and a big tall stack of hair ought to do the trick.
Though ahistorical for Marie herself, a red ribbon around the neck, a la the post-Terror “Victim’s Balls”, makes a nice twist.
Accessories: Bring cake.
Armor, a Christian emblem, and a tomboyish look will take you home. Totally roust any English you come across.
Accessories: Business cards reading “Miss of Arc”.
There’s the intrinsic sensuality of death and all, but the famous stripper-spy is this blog’s best choice for a sexy look still true to the theme.
Mata Hari was known for her (supposedly) Indian outfits and routines.
Accessories: Orientalism, by Edward Said.
“The only man to enter parliament with honest intentions”: that is, to blow it up.
That V for Vendetta mask is re-usable for Guy Fawkes Day on — remember, remember? — the fifth of November.
Accessories: Let’s just say it’s nothing they’ll let you take on an airplane.
Cromwell succeeded where Fawkes failed, at least as pertains the royal person. And if you’re the type who can sell a Charles I costume — possibly requiring a fairly highbrow room — you’ll have nigh outstripped the achievements of both.
The lush coiffure, the wispy facial hair, the delicate movements … not everyone can pull that stuff off. If you can, get your Alec Guinness impression down and you’re on your way to a date at Whitehall.
Accessories: The whole point is to wear the silly hat, isn’t it?
Francophiles may go for Vercingetorix, but Mel Gibson made Wallace the barbarian everyone loves to hang, draw and quarter.
Don’t neglect to bellow “FREEDOM!” repeatedly at the top of your lungs. Everyone loves that.
[audio:William_Wallace_Freedom_Speech.mp3]
Accessories: That big, swingin’ sword. You know what I’m talking about.
Gone but not forgotten, Saddam offers a variety of looks:
Beaten, older Saddam, with salt-and-pepper beard (wear the noose with this look, unless you’re a dead ringer);
Haggard, fresh-captured Saddam (not recommended; neither the goofball look nor the implicit triumphalism square with the known sequel)
Younger, despotic Saddam, with crazy smile and military fatigues;
The Coen brothers’ “bowling alley Saddam” that can double as duds for your neighborhood Lebowski Fest.
Accessories: Be sure to complete the outfit by bringing Colin Powell. Seriously, he’ll be grateful for something to do.
Love him or hate him, no post-World War II icon is more instantly recognizable than the Cuban guerrilla. Do your part, comrade! Contribute to the posthumous appropriation of his image with a “revolutionary” is-that-ironic-or-not-? Che costume.
Accessories: Che Guevara cigarettes. Che Guevara ankle socks. There’s no shortage of Che Guevara accessories to choose from; for a more meta look, go as Che’s mediated historical image by simply dressing entirely in various Che-branded apparel.
Creative Commons pumpkin image courtesy of fabbio
On this day..
