Beautiful Homemade Golden Grasshopper Costume Inspired by Cirque du Soleil

I was inspired after seeing Cirque du Soleil’s OVO to make this costume. I loved everything about those costumes, but I wanted to be fancier! Therefore: GOLD.

The legs are made of layered cardboard, paper mache, and PVC running down the center, like a hollow bone. They attach at the hips and ankles and through elastic cording inside the PVC, they walk! They kick back independently of one another as the wearer walks. At the hip they are connected to a boned corset through a belt-type system that lies flat underneath the unitard.

The wings are made of cardboard and wax paper. They allow light through and the paper makes a snapping sound as you walk. They are attached to the straps of the unitard by little ties, which allows them to be attached in two positions, or removed entirely.

The eyes are modeled after a fly’s eye. They are made to look multifaceted through the use of black rhinestones. Also, since I was strapped in there with tights, a corset, unitard, legs and wings, I was kind to myself and made the unitard button like an onesie so going to the bathroom wouldn’t be my worst enemy.

The best part of this costume was that nobody knew who I was at first. They’d hear my voice, really look at me, and affirm that it was indeed that girl Alana. Halloween is my favorite time of year, and so that weekend, I start putting on my makeup for the costume as soon as a wake up, and then I go about my day. The Golden Grasshopper year landed me in Walmart at 3pm with a friend grabbing a few last minute things. I got some looks, comments, and a few people just smiled and pointed and swacked their friend so they would look too. We ended up talking to two older fellows in the parking lot for about 10 minutes that just couldn’t get over it. That year started me on a mission to go as many places in every one of my costumes and act like I’m not even dressed up. Kids are the funniest. Most of the time they just blatantly gape.

So anyways… I was out on a Friday night and met this guy who had on an AMAZING cyborg-esque costume. We were instant friends because of our over-the-top costume enthusiasm. A night or two later, I again saw him and we were both dressed up again. There was a costume contest where we were, at the Honest Pint, and I was voted in the top ten, but didn’t win. He came in second. It really sounds like I’m telling you the beginning of nothing other than true love, but really the whole point of this is that when we met a third time, without our costumes on, we didn’t recognize each other until we started speaking!

Hope you like her!

detail of eyes

full view

how the legs bend and wings flatten

translucent wings

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