Everyone loves to talk about the sudden dread of realizing that finals are just a couple weeks away. But even worse? The realization that Founder’s Day is even sooner and you haven’t bought your costume yet, or even thought about it. Despite having won the popular vote, this year’s theme of Clowns and Carnivals is quite a confining concept to try to plan a costume according to. For those like myself, who have fallen victim to this sudden realization, here is a list of potential costume ideas that embrace (or escape) this year’s theme.
- Ringleader
-
A staple of every circus, the ringleader calls the shots. Usually adorned with a black top hat and a sparkly red jacket (coattails optional but preferred), the shapes and colors of this costume make it easily recognizable, even if created from the barest of resources. And, for those wanting to veer away from the basic choice, Britney Spears’s circus costume is an iconic (because it’s Britney Spears) and more unique approach to this concept.
- Mime (or Magician)
-
Another basic but solid choice, a mime is easily created with yours or your friend’s black-and-white striped shirt, a little eyeliner, maybe some white gloves, and silence. For those who loathe pointless chatter at big social events, you can successfully method act your way through the weekend. If you’d rather be chatty this Founder’s Day, swap the striped shirt for a black one and add a wand, maybe a top hat for good measure, and you’re a magician.
- Balloon Animal
-
A boring way to do this is an outfit of one solid color and paper-cut animal ears. A fun, impressive, and still semi-easy way to do it is to purchase long and narrow balloons from Amazon, blow them up and duct-tape them to that outfit. The extent of coverage is up to you, but the more balloons you wear, the more impressed everyone will be.
- Animals and Tamers
-
I do envy couples this Founder’s Day, with the potential for a lion-and-lion-tamer couple’s costume. That being said, a way to semi-cheat the theme is to dress up as any circus animal (lions, tigers, white rabbits, bears, elephants, seals). There doesn’t have to be any difference between dressing as a tiger for Founder’s Day and dressing as one for Halloween. Animal ears (home-made or otherwise), eyeliner, and solid-colored clothes are all you need; a group of animals, or animals and tamers, gives great potential for a group costume.
- Clown (and Variations)
-
This might be the most obvious choice, but before shunning the idea of dressing as a clown, it’s important to take into consideration just how many approaches you can take to this costume. The classic clown can already come in several color combos and makeup designs. A sad clown, with a more muted color scheme and a big makeup frown, might be a great conversation starter. And, of course, killer clowns are always a good move. This can be generic, but a Terrifier or IT costume on Founder’s Day might turn a few heads. Finally, although I hate even suggesting it for the risk of increasing the number of non-costumed students this Founder’s Day, “retired” or “off-duty” clown is a solid cop-out answer to the question “where’s your costume?” But please don’t do that.
- Trapeze Artist
-
In the spirit of hoping and praying that this Founder’s Day is at least warm, a colorful tank top and matching shorts or a skirt could come together to create the illusion of an ultra-flexible aerial performer. A slightly more niche circus role, this also umbrellas the couple/friend costumes of Zendaya and Zac Efron in The Greatest Showman and Spink and Forcible in Coraline, depending on the creepiness level you’re going for this year.
- Harley Quinn, Joker
-
From the bottom of my heart, please don’t dress up as the Joker. It’s so tired. But, Harley Quinn is a great approach to the “clown” costume. It might seem like cheating, but from her jester hat and full-body black and red costume from the initial comics to her gold dress from the first Suicide Squad, it doesn’t really matter how you dress as Harley Quinn; you can’t really do it wrong.
- Political Figure
-
I don’t need to go too far into detail about this one, but I can think of a few political figures that fit well with the theme this year. But, at the same time, I don’t know if it’s worth Vassar students reducing themselves to that level.
- Fire
-
Sword-swallowers and fire-breathers have always been my favorite part of Circus troupes. But, unfortunately, Campus Safety might not like that. So, for those who prefer conceptual costumes (or maybe for those who voted for Shapes and Colors), flowy reds, yellows, and oranges could make you the fire. If there is a way to dress up as a sword, I’d love to see it, but it feels like fire is definitely the more achievable of the two.
- Mermaid (and Other Strange Creatures)
-
P.T. Barnum’s Feejee mermaid is not the most attractive thing to replicate in costume, but by taking some creative liberties (and some Euphoria-level sparkly teal eyeshadow), it can be brought to life in spirit. Anything green or blue, some water-crunched hair, and sparkles wherever make the vision come to life pretty easily. The old, creepier circuses did place a lot of emphasis on their “freaks,” so for history geeks or those wanting to lean more into the creepy side, creatures like lizard-man could also fall into this category.
At the end of the day, Founder’s Day is about feeling your best, so even if this year’s theme doesn’t coincide with your preferred aesthetic at first glance, hopefully one or two of these ideas will inspire something creative and unique to your style that you can rock this year. And, in all seriousness, just remember that the real clowns are the people that don’t dress up.