Dress Up, Dress Down - Everyday is Halloween

"Halloween is my favourite time of the year" says just about anyone I know, whether it be a close friend, or some random person I may or may not meet at one or the other of my past or present day jobs, who seemingly feels the need to share this piece of information about their lives with me. And they may be telling me this around Halloween time, or not. Point is, they see a goth girl, and they're more than willing to share their love for Halloween with me.

Which is fine. Awesome, actually. But also hilarious. See, to us goths and punks and rockabilly boys and belles, every day is Halloween, and every night, even more so. Same goes for any kind of stage performer who actually puts on a show by, like me, bringing along a suitcase with the wildest, most beautiful clothing, accessories and makeup to every venue, no matter how small it is. Putting on a face, and a costume, becomes a regular thing, and Halloween becomes this exquisite, utmost celebration of the Glamour, the Shadow-side, and the Living and the Dead.

However, for people who aren't into alternative culture and will tell me that Halloween is their favourite time of the year, it almost seems as though it becomes this occasion for this very special, hidden part of themselves to rise and show itself through the light of the candle in the carved pumpkin head. I always tend to be very delightfully surprised, as my first impression of them is that they seem more like the kind of people who'd get easily scared by Halloween, or anything "dark", really. And then I begin to Wonder Why.

Why is this person dressed in grey and beige and pale blue rejoicing so much in their opportunity once a year to dress up, and be something, or someone, they're not?
I wonder about their upbringing. I wonder about what they believe in. I wonder about the sacred kingdoms in their heads and in their hearts. I wonder about their sex lives. I wonder what they write in their journals, or what they would write, if they had one.
And I wonder about their relationship with fashion.

Clothes are, after all, something you put on every day. Why not make them a beautiful, fun expression of yourself -why not have this fabulous relationship with that which you'll be seen with over and over again? Why save this beautiful and fun experience with clothing for Halloween only?
I guess it comes down to how curious you are about ways to express yourself, and how deep your need to express yourself is. And how much effort you are willing to put everyday in looking your very best self. Then again, if you're a lover of DIY style like I am, it's never an effort, and always a party.

The other day, someone was telling me how much he enjoyed making himself look really sharp -fancy suit, ironed shirt and all, but how rare it seemed to him that occasions to dress up came about, in this day and age. I smiled and replied to him that you just have to make the occasion happen, and that any date, or dinner with friends, thus easily becomes an opportunity to be your classiest, sassiest, or sexiest self.

You don't have to wait for Halloween to have fun being yourself, you can do it every day.

And as for the tantalizing darkness and spookiness of this time of the year, well, if you can't spook yourself, how the Hell are you gonna spook somebody else?

The mysteries and celebrations of Mabon, Samhain, Devil's Night, All Hallows' Eve, and El Dia de los Muertos strike a chord in anyone who's got an older soul, who can see the shimmering lights in the darkness that envelops and embellishes the land 'round this time of the year. Seems like the glory of the Fall gets everyone in the mood to pop out and strut out their glamorous, darker selves.

Now, don't confuse your Shadow-self with your Evil self. The Evil self is really the Ego-self, that we should all make a point of learning how to tame, and wear more as adornment than as pride.
The Shadow-self is that aspect of yourself that is a reflection, and execution, of your own mysticism. Embrace the shadows, and yourself within them, for it is but another facet of your diamond-self, from which you can grasp and understand so many thing about yourself.

It is, after all, just you, still you, the beautiful, real you, with a dash of spooky, and a side of sexy.

Happy Halloween, everybody.
Kisses and cackling laughs from Montreal's Queen of Darkness.  

 

Posted in: alex robshaw,Column