—–9/14/07—–

I had so much fun this year dressing up and having a party for Pirates of the Caribbean 3, I wish it would never have ended (that’s me hamming it up as Elizabeth Swann).

Fortunately, the movie nerd community (which I’m undoubtedly a part of) has Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to look forward to!

You know I’ve got to dress up for this one, folks! And I know I won’t be the only one!

I’m throwing around some ideas. We all know that Indy has 3 lovely ladies I can choose from, each with their respective wardrobes to select from.

Now, my natural inclination is toward Willie’s ‘Anything Goes’ dress from Temple of Doom. But wow, that’s a lot more ambitious than I’m willing to go! Especially since I’ve only ever “made” one other costume in my life. Of course Willie’s Indian sacrifice dress is also awesome, and perhaps a little less work than the Chinese dress.

But the thought of wearing a blonde curly wig activated my gag reflex. So I figured Marion Ravenwood from Raiders of the Lost Ark would be more my style and personality anyhow…

But let’s see what her clothing options are: white dress thing, Cairo marketplace, and Nepalese shirt and pants combo. Hardly inspiring. That white dress smacks of horrible big-sleeved 1980s prom dresses, the Cairo getup is really simple and the Nepalese wear is not terribly recognizable. With how short my brunette hair is nowadays, I’ll certainly need a wig for Marion too.

This leaves me thinking about Dr. Elsa Schneider from The Last Crusade. She is, and this is based purely on my own opinion here, the most glamorous and gorgeous of the Indy women (thus far). She’s sophisticated and foreign; she’s ambitious and catty. And most of all she is smart enough to fool the famous Dr. Henry Jones, Jr.

Today I quickly reviewed Elsa’s scenes in The Last Crusade, and she wears some really cute 1940s suits and dresses. But when I think ultimate-cool-badass Elsa, I think of the scene in the Canyon of the Crescent Moon:

I’ve always loved the hat, and the goggles would be equally fun. I’ve already found some cool replicas of WWII German Field Caps on eBay and I think the goggles wouldn’t be too difficult to track down either. There seems to be a camisole under her jacket, the pants don’t seem too difficult and I’m sure any old boots will do. The belt looks equally simple. Added bonus: no wig to buy! Weeee! All her hair is tucked into the cap!

It’s the jacket that has me somewhat concerned, with its different colored/shaped collars. I have not begun to search for patterns yet, so if anyone out there can offer advice on that front I’d appreciate it.

So that’s the plan for now. I have a ton of time to think about it and plan it. My fall back costume will probably be Marion’s Cairo marketplace getup or Willie’s Indian sacrifice dress.

My husband planted the idea in my brain … and we might be thinking about an Indiana Jones themed party also… we’ll see.

Stay tuned.

—–UPDATE 11/14/07—–

I bought a “Willie” wig at the local Spirit Halloween store for 50% after the holiday. It was only $6, so if I don’t use it, I won’t be too heart broken. It’s too bright and too long, but for $6 it’s close enough!

Anything Goes!

Hmm… maybe I could make it work for Elsa… (been throwing around the idea of going as Elsa in disguise at Brunvald Castle, so that I can wear the fedora!)

—–UPDATE 4/27/08—–

Yay! Progress!

I know it’s been a long time since I’ve updating my Indiana Jones Party planning progress and there are lots of reasons for that: school, work, and the uncertainty of it all. Without my best friends, Lace & Bean, I’d just been so depressed about things. An Indy party just wouldn’t be the same without them! So for a while I decided to forget the whole thing–didn’t want to dress up or have a party… but then I got excited about the movie again and I figured I’d hate myself forever if I didn’t celebrate! (I think it’s the new Indiana Jones M&Ms and Adventure Snicker bar that did the trick. Nothing like candy to get one hyper.)

SO NOW: Costumes are on and the party is a maybe. If the party ends up being “a go” it’ll be not as awesome as I’d originally intended, but still pretty cool. My blog planning wasn’t for naught though; I’ve noticed that a lot of people who come to read my party planning entries are looking for ideas to host their OWN parties. So at least I hope I gave people ideas and incentive!

Since being reinvigorated and rejuvenated I’ve acquired several pieces of my Elsa costume on eBay.

And here’s a picture of my goofy face and some of the items I got from eBay (hat, gloves, goggles):

I’m super-duper pleased with all of the items and can’t wait to complete the look. I already have pants, a belt, and some boots. Just waiting on a jacket I ordered and I need to find a camisole to go underneath it.

My husband has already bought a fedora from Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios and some pants. To complete the whole “Last Crusade” theme that we arbitrarily chose for our costume pairing, we decided to make a grail diary prop and a holy grail prop too! I hope those work out for us because it will REALLY complete the look! Indygear.com is a great site for grail diary and Indiana Jones costume references, if anyone is interested in creating their own props and clothes.

If we do end up having a party, I found some cool Temple of Doom monkey heads that I could use from Target:

Ok, so I know they aren’t like the ones in the movie…. but think about how much more appetizing they are! LOL!

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for results from our grail prop attempts and the finished/completed costumes!

We plan to wear the costumes to the midnight showing of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull at AMC Theatre Pleasure Island, Downtown Disney, Orlando, FL.

—–UPDATE 5/7/08—–

Hey! I received more of my eBay items and so forth. I’m planning on tea-staining my jacket because it’s ridiculously white. I’m not quite ready to show progress pictures of the costume at this point, but here are some teaser pictures of our props:

Grail, grail, grail! HUH!

So yeah… that’s my grail. I shined my flashlight inside so you can see the gold.
It’s a plastic cup from Publix that I painted with acrylics. The inside is a lovely shiny gold and the outside is “sable brown” with the gold dry-brushed over random parts of it.
Not terribly accurate, I know I know. But for how little I paid ($3 cup, $5 paints). It’ll do, donkey. It’ll do.

And here are a couple of pages of the grail diary I’m working on:

Stay tuned, yet again, for more costume progress! Woo-cha!

—–UPDATE 5/18/08—–

Almost finished now! I still need to apply trim to my camisole, tea stain my jacket, and paint the top collar black. Getting close to the day now! Stay tuned for pictures from the event!

—–UPDATE 5/23/08—–

Saw the movie! It was awesome! Here’s pics from the midnight showing!

Indy 4 Slideshow