My original plan was to wear clothes I already have and make a Lara Jean (from To All the Boys I've Loved Before) outfit out of it since I am basically the Filipino Lara Jean and love her outfits. But I changed my mind about a week before Halloween when I saw how could it was going to be. (It ended up being like 35 degrees and snowing.) All of my potential Lara Jean outfits involve skirts, and while I could wear tights, it would kind of ruin the look of the outfit, so I had to come up with another costume.
About three weeks ago, my sister sent me a sponsored Instagram post of these really awesome platform boots she found on Instagram. They're white with iridescent/holographic pink flames on the sides and reminded us both of something Elton John would wear, so we both thought back to those shoes, and I decided to try to be Elton John for Halloween. After all, Rocketman has become one of my favorite movies, and I've become a fan of him (outside of of The Lion King) this year because of it. Plus, with his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour going on and his autobiography coming out recently, it seemed to be rather timely.
I bought Public Desire's Ablaze White Flame Detail Platform Block Heeled Ankle Boots despite not knowing how/when else I would wear them (they're just so cool that I couldn't pass it up. I'll figure something out) and sought to plan the rest of this costume. Thanks to Rocketman, I had an idea of the kinds of flamboyant outfits Elton John would wear while performing and took inspiration from two specific outfits from the movie rather than copying exact looks.
The orange devil jumpsuit from the movie is one of the most iconic as it appears throughout the entire movie as Elton recounts his life in rehab. It's also Taron Egerton's favorite outfit from the film. I really like the monochromatic look as well as the flared pants and decided to go for that in my costume. (Obviously I chose pink because duh.)
The other Rocketman outfit I drew a bit of inspiration from is the white outfit with the feathers on the shoulders. It's more memorable from the promotional photos from the movie than the actual film itself, but I like the dimension and flair the feathers add. It's not a lot like the bird outfit in the movie when he's singing "Pinball Wizard" but it does have that touch of extra that you expect from Elton John.
The sunglasses worn with the white feathered shoulder jacket are similar to the ones I wore with my costume as well, but I've actually owned these sunglasses for months. I remember seeing them in a Target Instagram post and thinking they looked just like a pair of big, sparkly sunglasses Elton John wears and needed to have them. Plus, they're pink! So accessorizing my costume with those Wild Fable sunglasses was a no brainer.
When it came around to actually finding clothes I could buy to create this outfit, I immediately thought of the Chicago-based store AKIRA. I'd never actually shopped there before but had been in the store several times (and even got a job offer there a year and a half ago!) but hadn't bought anything from there. I always found cool clothes in their stores, but a lot of their clothes are things people would wear to parties or clubs, and I just don't do parties or clubs.
Before heading to the mall, I did a quick search on their website to see if they had anything close to what I was looking for, and they did! They had a variety of flared pants, which I knew I wanted to find first and base the top for my costume off that. Luckily for me, all of the pink flared pants in the store were in the clearance/sale section, saving me some money. I found a few pink flared pants but the Mama Mia High Rise Flare Pant worked best.
While browsing through the clearance racks, I found this Think I'm In Love Mesh Mini Dress in pink that immediately reminded me of the white feathered jacket. I definitely wasn't looking to wear a dress, but since it's a bodycon dress, I figured I could figure out a way to tuck it into the pants and use it as a top. Because it's mesh, it's super sheer, and I'd have to wear another top underneath. Luckily, I already own a black high neck bodysuit that would work great underneath.
This definitely isn't pictured but is worth mentioning. Knowing all of these clothes I was buying would be rather body conforming, I knew I wanted to wear some sort of shorts underneath. I found these nude high rise bike shorts that have a zipper in the back and don't show or create any undergarment lines under the pants. So I'll definitely be wearing those again under dresses and other pants.
So my outfit was complete after one trip to AKIRA! I didn't think about how my arms would likely get cold, but my sister reminded me of this denim jacket I own. It's just a normal blue denim jacket but has a detachable pink faux fur collar, which was the perfect addition to my outfit for when I'd get cold.
We actually found a different denim jacket that had pink, silver, and gold sequins all over, and I would have loved to buy it to wear with this costume, but it was $100. So while my sister and I both agreed that my outfit could use more sparkle (we all know Elton John isn't afraid to shine, figuratively or literally), it was just too expensive.
Overall, I'm pleased with how my outfit turned out, and although I wore it only to work for about five hours, I got a good response from it. My shoes especially were a hit, and I enjoyed dressing up for Halloween again. It was fun to channel Elton John and his campiness for a day, and now I may be turning into one of those people who love Halloween because you can dress up and be whoever you want to be.
What/who did you dress up as for Halloween? What's your favorite Halloween costume you've ever worn?
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