22 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY october 31-november 6, 2024 www.montereycountynow.com ostumes are quintessential to Halloween. Some pour into thrift stores searching out ideas, others make the perfect adornments by hand, while others may prefer to buy a prefabricated costume. Originality is the catalyst for making Halloween costumes look great. It’s part of what marks the holiday as a favorite for so many people. While there’s nothing wrong with purchasing a costume for the occasion, garden-variety brands are easily spotted and then ignored, and often thrown out after one wear. Trendy costumes like Barbie or Beetlejuice are likely to dominate the scene this year, in honor of the release of those movies. Many people make creative costumes, but a few All Hallows’ Eve aficionados take their costumes to the next level—both in personalization and in grandeur. These are the ones to look out for during the holiday festivities, that we can’t help but compliment. Carmel resident Jorge Andrade is one of these few who devotes months to his Halloween costume. “I get a passion about Halloween,” Andrade says. “You can express yourself in so many ways.” Before landing in Carmel, Andrade worked for the Honduras edition of the Miss Universe beauty pageant. Back at home, he worked with beauty queens and their elements, and then became inspired to make their costumes more expressive, darker, bloodier and scarier. In Carmel, Andrade began creating and then donning such costumes himself. They transform from fashionable inspiration to something more fitting for the spooky season. “It’s something that’s so simple and elegant at the same time. I always create something that’s beautiful and scary. But it’s also like an art piece,” Andrade says. “I consider my costumes pieces of art.” To Andrade, Halloween is the ultimate fashion show. Birthing such wearable art pieces requires some practicality along with inspiration and dedication to his craft. Time is an important factor—Andrade begins creating his costumes five to six months in advance of Halloween, sourcing materials and inspiration from all corners of his travels. But a costume isn’t enough for this designer. Another critical accoutrement of his costuming process is setting the stage, which is why Andrade throws a hotly anticipated invitation-only Halloween party each year. To him, it requires sartorially synchronizing to complement the theme of his costume. The theme of this year’s party was Kings and Queens. Andrade brandished a 50-pound ensemble that included a royal blue blanket worn around his back meticulously adorned with more than 6,000 crystals, along with crystal-clear high heels and a sparkle headdress complete with facial beads. A costume of such elegance requires a grand entrance down a flight of stairs, accompanied by cheers and deep minor-toned music, which Andrade commits to unapologetically. His entrance during the Halloween party is the pinnacle of his work, even though to him, it may not yet be complete. “When you are an artist, you’re never comfortable [with your work],” Andrade says. “I wish Halloween was all year long because then I would do costumes every single day.” The theme was inspired by his travels; traveling internationally each year is a personal love of his. The blanket he wore came from a market in Mexico City, and he sourced the adornments from various places around the internet, such as Amazon, Hobby Lobby and Michaels. He transformed his home into his own Halloween palace for the affair with shades of royal blue, cobwebs adorning faux-candelabras, floating faux-candles and a print of Rembrandtstyle images of angels and clouds. By throwing his party and making his entrance, Andrade hopes to shine as a beacon for others who put hours, or even months, into planning holiday outfits. Doing so can be surprisingly simple and rely on an idea as much as technical skill, Andrade says, illustrating his process with the blanket as an example. “This is just a blanket,” he says nonchalantly. The blue blanket is illustrated with an image of a dog and a wolf, but Andrade has cut off part of it to create a necklace. He glued the 6,000 crystals to his “cape” on his kitchen table, where the ensemble took on a new appearance. “It takes creation—you see something and say, ‘I can elevate that to a different level.’” As elegant as a blanket adorned with thousands of crystals is, sourcing material for a Halloween costume can come from anywhere and be inspired by just about anything that the prospective wearer finds interesting. This is Andrade’s thesis about costuming and self-expression. Andrade also adds that recycling material is another technique he employs, not only for his costumes but also for his decor. As tempting as it would be to simply purchase a pre-fabricated costume online or in a store, he does not recommend it. “Please don’t be Barbie this year,” he jokes about his party’s invitees. Rather, the trick is using those resources to find things to represent what you are inspired by. For Andrade, that is his travels throughout the year, but it could be different for others. Costuming doesn’t have to be complicated or as intricate as Andrade’s to be meaningful. Even if you find yourself wearing a purchased costume from a Halloween-themed store or an online retailer this year, the trick is discovering what about it inspires you. Andrade remembers that what he is creating and wearing on Halloween is an art piece, tailored to his personality. His advice remains universal for creating a good Halloween costume: It must come from inspiration, and then serve an expression of yourself. Fearless Fashion Halloween costumes come in different varieties, but the key is finding what inspires you. By Sloan Campi C Season of the Ghouls Clockwise from top: Jorge Andrade of Carmel reveals his costume during an invitationonly party. He says he creates his costumes months in advance of Halloween. Andrade prepares for his big reveal hours before the party. The costume, 50 pounds in total, is bespeckled with more than 6,000 crystals. Celia Jiménez Celia Jiménez
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