We look back on a great solution to the problem of picking one costume: wear everyone’s old ones at once!
Everyone who’s anyone knows that Shibuya is the place to be on All Hallow’s Eve. As events came to a wild head last year, this year party-goers were encouraged to rave and rampage responsibly, since just because you’re dressing up like a clown that doesn’t mean Shibuya should turn into a circus!
The thing is that you don’t actually need copious amounts of alcohol, raucous partying, or even a costume to enjoy Halloween.
For a great example of good clean Halloween fun, look no further than this classic 2017 jape held at Shibuya Station by freelance writer Tsumami Gui (her pseudonym literally means “snack eater”).
▼ It may not seem like much of a costume at first, but…
…that’s because it’s only just begun.
Tsumami hit upon a brilliant idea: what if she literally wore whatever costumes worn-out partygoers were willing to give her?
So she drew up a hand-drawn placard stating “Collecting Your Unwanted Costumes: Accepting All Kinds” and set up camp wearing what she terms as her “default avatar” outfit: a plain white vest and some plain white shorts. No socks, no shoes. She did sport her usual headband and glasses, but otherwise was a completely blank slate for whatever clothing the people of Shibuya deigned to present her with.
▼ In ten minutes she had her first piece of apparel… a set of rabbit ears.
▼ The next item was awarded to her promptly afterwards,
a weird muddle of black material that’s supposed to be…
▼ …the outfit worn in T.M. Revolution’s hit music video for Hot Limit.
And that was only the beginning. The hits just kept on coming, because soon she was gifted with a real treasure of a costume. The secret desire of every child at Christmas, but here she was wearing it at Halloween.
▼ The left-hand JoyCon of a Nintendo Switch!
The bulkiness of this costume meant it would be nigh-on impossible to incorporate extra layers of other costumes on top. Regretfully, Miss Tsumami Gui was forced to disrobe her cardboard costume and wait for a more flexible option.
The participants of Shibuya’s 2017 Halloween party were more than happy to add to her pile of costumes, providing her with everything from masks to wigs to strange over-shirts. Some visitors even gave her money or food, apologizing that they couldn’t give her a costume.
One kind cosplayer gave her a handkerchief to stand on with her cold bare feet, and eventually as her pile grew higher, a caped crusader arrived to save her poor freezing toes.
▼ Thanks for the crocs, Batman!
Unsurprisingly, the number of people willing to part with their Halloween costumes increased as dawn broke and it officially stopped being Halloween. By 6:00 a.m. she had more foam heads, character scarves, and novelty stockings than she could feasibly put on her own body.
But that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to try!
Slowly, methodically, our heroine dressed herself in layer after layer of Halloween costumes.
▼ The face of a woman who is wearing far too many layers.
It took thirty entire minutes to reach her limit, by which time she was sweating and puffing as much as someone in a sauna suit.
But what a majestic figure she cut when she was finally finished! Almost quadruple her original diameter, and protected by a threatening circumference of plastic weapons, Tsumami Gui had become the official queen of Halloween Ghouls.
▼ “What are you cosplaying?”
“Oh, I’m Death Goddess Witchington Fairy Mt. Fuji the Third. You might not have heard of me.”
Though Tsumami Gui didn’t repeat her thrifty antics this Halloween, she did make the TV news for her “Jimi Halloween” costume: a stunningly accurate Ms. Akie Abe cosplay.
We hope our readers had some similarly great antics during their Halloween, and like Tsumami Gui, that you took care to clean up afterwards! Let’s hope Halloween 2020 brings even more costume delights.
Source, images: Twitter/@tsumami_gui_ (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
Related: Tsumami Gui’s Blog
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