Elphaba! The Wicked Witch of the West

CAD-Elphaba
One of our friends wondered if I would be willing to put on “some makeup” for a costume set… green makeup, to play Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) for an Oz-based group for the Masquerade at Westercon 64 in San Jose, July 2011. I said sure!

Debbie already had her “Oz-girl” costume from a previous event, as did Mia. Kathe had her Glinda costume as well. We needed to add Elphaba, The Wizard, Dorothy and Prince Fiero, for our version of The Dating Game.

The musical Wicked used a lot of asymmetry in the costumes.  So I went to my Professor McGonnigall costume to see if it would work.  I thought that the black top was a bit too plain for this, so made the same top in a stretch lace and just put a black t-shirt under it.  This, of course, meant that not only did I need makeup on my face, but also on my hands and forearms.  I asked folks about brands of makeup that worked well.   I opted for the Ben Nye in part because it was easy to get, and used the CL-3 Green with some CL-2 Forest Green for contours/low-lights.  I also found a green eyeliner and a green glitter nail polish.CAD-Elphaba-Makeup

The hat needed a bit of work, as the brim in the show has a defined shape.  I added bias tape to the edge after finally attaching the millinery wire to the edge of the brim.  And then realized that since I was wearing a wig, the hat wouldn’t stay on without a pair of really big hat pins.
DatingGameInOz

 


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