Resident Housewife, Marge Simpson

Halloween has always been a big deal in my family. We go all out, we decorate, we watch movies together, but most importantly, we dress up. Even if I have absolutely nowhere to go on the night of, I put on a costume because it really gets me in the Halloween spirit. 2020 happened, and along with robbing me and everyone else of most of the joys in their life, it also took any chance of actually going out and doing something big for Halloween. However, that wasn't going to stop me from having the greatest, most unique, most over-the-top costume I could come up with.

My friend, Zach, introduced me to The Simpsons over the summer of 2020. I, of course, had heard of the show, but never really bothered to watch an episode. From the moment I began, I was hooked. I always compile a list of different costume ideas before Halloween, and for 2020, I had to include Marge. I sent the list to my brother and a handful of my friends, and Marge won by a landslide. I love Marge's design, but almost every costume I'd seen of someone dressed as her was not up to par. Not to name names, but a clown-like wig and a bodycon dress was not going to cut it in my mind. So, I took it upon myself to make my own costume from head to toe, including the wig, necklace, makeup, and dress.

Instead of trying to look exactly like the cartoon, I wanted to take more of a live-action approach like I have with my previous character interpretations. I am a film student, after all. If The Simpsons were turned into a live-action movie, what would Marge look like? She's a housewife, so maybe I could go with a more 1950s style silhouette. I could pass off the idea as taking artistic liberties and avoid the dreaded skin-tight number she wears on the show. Her giant puff of blue hair is actually supposed to be a beehive, so I could go with a more rounded shape. However, most beehives are traditionally straight, and Marge most certainly could not go without her curls.

I had never truly styled a full wig before: I had done a quick touch up on a set before, but that hardly constituted a true "styling." I bought a long blue wig secondhand, and even though I specifically bought it for the lace front, that didn't really matter in the end because I added rolled bangs that covered the lace. I stacked two massive hair donuts on top of one another and secured them to the net of the wig. I combed a thin layer of hair over the donuts to conceal their color before pincurling the entire beehive. Hundreds of bobby pins and almost a full can of hairspray later, it was finally complete.

For the dress, I used a vintage Butterick pattern that had a silhouette I loved. Funnily enough, it actually looks like a dress of Marge's that Bart pulls from her closet.

Bart and Milhouse dress up in Marge's clothes.

I had to specifically order lime green satin from Etsy because it was basically impossible to find in stores. I strung her necklace using solid red beads, bought a pair of lemon yellow tights on Amazon, and used a pair of red shoes I had from a previous Halloween costume.

Everyone asked me if I was going to paint myself yellow for the costume, and I was actually shocked that I was asked such a thing. Of course I was going to paint myself yellow. How could I be a Simpson if I didn't? I ordered yellow and white face paint from Amazon, but the minute I started using the paint, it began to crack. It clearly wasn't intended to be layered on so heavily, and if I tried to paint over an area I had already done, the layer underneath would be rubbed off. Painting my face took hours, but once I finally got somewhat of the consistency I needed, I contoured and highlighted my face and did my glam makeup as usually, painting a big eyeliner wing and coloring my eyebrows blue.

Harrison, a friend of mine from Chapman, took pictures of me in my apartment and I was able to edit them just in time for Halloween. The entire process of creating the costume was a nice break from college in the era of COVID, and it was actually quite relaxing if you can believe it. There is certainly nothing like pincurling a blue wig in your bathroom in between classes. I had such a fun time with this costume, even though I didn't go anywhere in it. Hey, at least I have some rad portfolio shots - and, if I ever need it, a portrait of myself dressed as Marge Simpson.

My Zoom profile was particularly spicy for the Halloween season.

"I just think they're neat"

xoxo, Meredith