I really like the idea of a Menswear Friendly Halloween. Some people may call it lazy but I think of it as a form of Forced Versatility, where the whole point is to challenge yourself to make a costume with the things you already own. It’s also a way to make sure you don’t just buy a cheap plastic jumpsuit that will most likely be next seen in the trash.
Even if we are to make use of what we own, the idea is that the costume should still be fun and whimsical and not just be about defaulting. The goal is to at least be Indiana Jones (who has a lot of interesting choices) and not Don Draper or James Bond (would people even know who you are?). Or I guess for 2023, the push would be for more Kens and less “Carmy from the Bear” (which I’ve heard is the most common costume out in NYC).
I’d like to think I have fun with my Halloween Costumes even if they are very menswear. The everyday challenge of making a fun, expressive outfit increases tenfold on for the days surrounding October 31. Halloween is a chance to be bold and make some wild choices! I am aware that I get away with a lot of things on a daily basis thanks to my inherent ability to Stand Out, which is why I look forward to this “holiday”. In fact, I was so excited for this year that I decided to do two outfits and wear them throughout the entire Hallo-weekend.
The first costume was something I’ve always properly wanted to do: The Phantom from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom Of The Opera. I’ve been obsessed with this musical ever since my high school chorale braved fundamentalist parents and performed selections from it at a benefit concert. I reblogged POTO content on tumblr and even dressed up as the Phantom during my freshman year. The fact that I’m able to bring it back means a lot to me and even coincides with the current theme of the blog: the past always comes back.
It was also quite pertinent because I was able to show Isabel the musical for the first time. We weren’t able to see it live but that was okay because my definitive Phantom is Ramin Karimloo in the 25th Anniversary performance at the Royal Albert Hall; I won’t lie that my own singing voice is modeled after him. Anyway, Isabel loved it and suggested we try it for Halloween. She even said that she wanted to try her hand at making Christine’s white dress from the titular song.
My lift was quite easy because the Phantom basically only has one outfit, which is a White Tie rig and the iconic mask. I wasn’t about to buy a tailcoat just for Halloween, so I simply wore my Fugue Tuxedo open, as to approximate the unclosable look white tie.. To further express The Phantom, I wore a wing collar tuxedo shirt and cream bowtie. Of course the mask was important, which I bought from an Etsy seller who specializes in making specific Phantom masks; I obviously got the one from the 25th Anniversary show. I think it all looked very good together!
I wore this costume twice during Hallo-weekend. The first was at a party hosted by Thanassis, my stepbrother Ty’s high school friend, who we met in Italy. It was the first time Isabel and I had seen him, Ty, and Adri (Ty’s girlfriend) since that trip so it was a really great time. What was really wholesome is that many of the friends at that party were their high school friends, all of whom were really friendly and talkative! It was quite touching to see how people are able to keep in touch over a long period of time and still grow to be cool, independent people; it reminds me a lot of my own friend group who continue to show me the power of accepting and celebrating each other.
The second outing for Erik was for karaoke on a Saturday night. Those of you who follow me on instagram know that I love karaoke and this particular spot, a boba place that has private rooms and a youtube app, is my go-to place. In fact, I did karaoke during my first Halloween with Isabel, which was one of the first times I met her close friends. They have since become my close friends as well and karaoke is something we do quite often. It just made sense to have the Opera Ghost there for that.
And yes, I sang a few selections from Phantom during that evening. I had to do it!
You guys may remember that last year, I dressed up as Fozzie the Bear by wearing brown tailoring, a fedora, a jaunty scarf, and painting a cute pink nose. Well the theme of Ethan being a bit of a Furry continues, because I decided to be Slick Joe McWolf, or Tex Avery’s horny black tie wearing Big Bad Wolf. I believe it was one of my discord members who shared a clip of that iconic cartoon in our channels and I thought to myself “Damn, this would be a funny costume”. And after wearing a proper tuxedo rig (not evening separates or creative black tie) to the Opera a few weeks ago, I felt like I just had to get even more wear out of it. So the tux was worn again. Two more times in fact.
The Wolf didn’t really require any crazy choices. In order to separate it from the Phantom, I wore my DB tuxedo closed, had white gloves, and added a red boutonniere to my lapel, which Isabel made from scrap fabric and affixed to an enamel pin. I also made sure to wear white socks with my slippers as my expert analysis showed that the Wolf apparently does that. I guess he is a sleazeball after all. In order to make myself more Wolf like, Isabel used eyeshadow to add on a nose, done more oval instead of a circle (which we did for Fozzie); I also bought grey wolf ears, only adding fodder to the “Ethan is a Furry” gag. An inflatable hammer was used as an accessory to hit myself on the head because I can’t control my horniness.
I was the Wolf for yet another party, hosted by one of James’s friends.. Since James is friends with artsy nerds (he went to an art school), there were a lot of cool costumes like a lamp and moth (both handmade costumes), a few 1920’s-style sad clowns (I doubt they bought the Bode ones), and a handful of video game and anime characters. The latter was good for MJ as he went as a character from the Five Nights at Freddy’s lore. Spencer however was out of luck as no one but me knew that he was dressed as Augie Steenbeck from Asteroid City. It was a rather lowkey fun house party that to my delight enough, included karaoke.
The Wolf made his final appearance on Halloween Day, which also happened to be the same day as trivia night. It was a bit fun to wear the tuxedo (and ears of course) to my local bar, though the bartenders have definitely seen me in outfits that are at least close on the bold spectrum. Everyone else was dressed up too, such as Joseph’s return as Mr. Clean, Quinn and Justin as a moth and lamp, Epiphany reprising the Princess Diaries, and James wearing what he wore to the Ren Faire (without the elf ears oddly enough).
I really loved this costume and like the Phantom, I have every intention of wearing it again in the future. As I’ve said before, it would take a really special occasion for me to repeat something and I guess Halloween fits the bill! But who knows, maybe some other sartorially friendly idea will pop into my head for next year.
Until my next idea, you can enjoy a few fun photos of the various wholesome Halloween shenanigans I got up to with my friends!
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a little bit of rest 
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