Halloween's ghosts of past
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, for some.Ghosts, goblins, and ghouls once decked the homes for trick-or-treating kids, but once you outgrow your need for candies and treats, you stop house hopping and start club hopping. That’s what I’ve been doing same time every year, spotting the hot sots and the blood spots among us.
This year, what with all the tragedy that has happened to us and our country, the young and the young-at-heart needed to have a Halloween. This year has been one long Halloween for most of us, I mentioned that in my short speech at our soft opening costume party at Encore, at the space formerly known as Embassy Superclub. Call it an escape or whatever you want to, but the Halloween turnout this year was larger than expected, with all the night spots in full capacity, with people in full costumes at that. It’s that one time of the year when you’d be judged if you were “normal.” So it’s that one time of the year when you can unleash your fantasy, fulfill that secret desire, or just play dress-up. Of course, for some of us this is an everyday thing, but I’m talking about the most number of others.
“The others” all came out, and from what I’ve observed “everybody wins this Halloween!” I hopped over to the Members Only pop star party and to Fiamma’s “Heaven and Hell” party. Bureau had its own version and so did Alchemy and so did Ascend and so did every nocturnal spot in the city. Halloween is that time of the year when you savor being on the night shift. It’s that spirit of play that makes it so much fun nobody takes themselves too seriously. Maybe except me — I like to be in full character for my costumes.
Most Comfortable Costume Ever
This year, I chose to be Edward Scissorhands, after playing too many robots in my past Halloween lives. I decided to pay tribute to the one misunderstood gothic being that just wanted to make things of beauty out of his, well, scissorhands. Special thanks to my newfound design discoveries Chi Kotur and Nixon Marquez, who both work so well with metal I was able to drink shots of tequila with my scissorhands. To date, this was my most comfortable costume, ever. I didn’t weigh a ton, I could ft into the door, my train didn’t reach 25 meters, and I didn’t have to be carried or shipped into the party venues. Perfect! My initial concept was to be the giant dinosaur from the movie Night at the Museum, complete with hydraulics and me biking inside to make the dinosaur move, but scrap that!
Other noteworthy subjects were Divine Lee as Madonna, in her Like A Virgin years, complete with a handheld mic, bouquet of flowers, and a golden veil! I also spotted some guys wearing bubble wrap raincoats — I guess they were flood victims? At Fiamma, I saw some people who came as characters from Clockwork Orange, Watchmen and other cult classics. I like seeing characters that not-too-many people know or recognize. “Who am I?” A random Halloween reveler would go up to me, and chances are, I would successfully guess who they were. “Where’s Waldo!” And then there were some couples who came as Dr. Hayden Kho and Katrina Halili.
Some girls come extra sexy, some girls come as extra prettified versions of themselves. The “I’m a princess” act only works when you’re five years old. Past that, it’s boring. “Girls who come to Halloween still looking pretty are not so secure of their own beauty,” a friend commented. That’s why I take my hats off to Solenn Heussaff, who always makes sure to come as the most morbid train wreck victim slash horror star you’ll ever meet on All Hallow’s Eve. Some wore wigs and uniforms while others wore crazy hats with their parents clothes. Other free spirited ones wore only cologne. It was that feast for the senses that made my Fiamma nightcap all worth it. Carlo Trillo came as an angel, scrapping his original idea of coming as Hayden with a video camera. Others came as superheroes, older versions (Mond Gutierrez) of themselves and fairy-tale theater peeps. To enumerate what everyone wore (without an “h,” mind you) would be too tedious, just enjoy this Supreme hall of costumes — we’ve rounded up the best and the brightest for your viewing pleasure.
After all the dress-up, it’s time to wake up people! Another season comes to the fore and another form of wrapping is up. Are we ready? We better be.
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(Season of giving, up next. Give me a sign at twitter.com/iamtimyap.)
