Every year I try to come up with ideas for Halloween costumes for those of us that love vintage and want to incorporate it into our costumes in creative ways.
There are some more obvious ones like recreating a favorite movie character like Marion Crane from Psycho or Melanie Daniels from The Birds. A couple years ago I wrote about an Atomicpunk costume idea that incorporates science fiction from the Atomic Era of the late 1940s through the mid 1960s.
This year I was reminded in a Pinterest adventure of these great images of female mugshots. I thought this would make a great Halloween costume… vintage female mugshots.
Disclaimer: These women are innocent until proven guilty…
but I still make up backstories to how these ladies ended up in front of the police department’s notorious camera.
And you could make that part of your costume! Incorporate what you were arrested for into the costume! Add the symbols of the thing that got you arrested!
Table of Contents: (Click to Jump)
Vintage Crimes
Women back in the day were arrested for some pretty petty reasons. It kind of gives new meaning to “petty crimes”.
Morality statutes could see you arrested for using obscene language, loitering near dance halls or being out and about in public just because. You were only suppose to be on the street if you were going to your domestic worker job or grocery shopping.
Public indecency laws would be a fun mugshot to do if you spend Halloween in a warmer climate (Or wear a nude body suit like I did for my Psycho costume.) The public indecency laws really get me laughing, because this is one that changed over time. In the 19-teens, a bathing suit that showed your shoulders could get you ordered to leave the beach and ticketed, but by the 1960s, the bikini was the offending garment. That’s a lot of change in 50 years.
I am not purposely leaving out the boys here. For the several of you that read my blog, I am so glad to have you here. Some of your more petty vintage crimes were swimming at a beach shirtless, wearing clothing not assigned to your sex (yup, cross-dressing laws), or, in some contexts, facial hair violated regulations and men could be fined or jailed for disobedience in turn.
Suspected Ladies
Suspect #1 – Dealing in the Black Market
Whoever this woman is, I think she has been at this questionable lifestyle for a long time…arrested maybe for working in the black market selling illegal nylons in 1945?
Suspect #2 – I want to look this good in my mugshot
This young woman was arrested with her hair beautifully done and a full face of makeup. Her mugshot board is dated November 1942. She might be one of those women loitering outside of a dance hall.
You might also like: Hitchcock’s The Birds – Vintage Halloween Costume Idea
Suspect #3 – I was just the typist!
When I see this mugshot from 1962, I imagine she was the secretary for a boss that was up to no good and was arrested in a raid on the office.
Suspect #4 – A Fine Forger
Can we first celebrate her name… Iris FINE. Arrested in 1966, her mugshot board actually tells us what she was arrested for…Check Forgery. This is strangely almost a vintage crime. As fewer and fewer people use checks, credit card fraud has almost completely replaced this crime.
Suspect #5 – Arresting Beauty
Arrested at the beauty salon?! Bummer.
How to make the costume
Black and Grey Makeup, Greyscale Hair, Mugshot Board Prop, Colorless Clothes
Black and Grey Makeup
The greyscale makeup really gives you the old timey effect of the mugshot. I suggest a quality grey face paint combined with a no-color setting powder. Don’t cheap out on the grey paint if you don’t have to on this one. Cheap body makeup doesn’t have good coverage and can be a mess.
Finish the makeup using greyscale eyeshadows and longwear black lipstick.
There are quite a few greyscale black and white makeup tutorials on YouTube. Here’s a simple one from the very talented and adorable ahitsrosa.
Greyscale Hair
The greyscale hair can be accomplished a few different ways. If your natural hair is light to medium tone, a grey spray in haircolor will wash out in the shower. If your hair is very dark, but not black, try a black spray in color. Or you can just go for a black wig already styled in a vintage hairdo, which will make the whole process faster with less mess.
Mugshot Board Prop
I’m going to have extra fun with my mugshot board and, using dry erase tech, design it so that the crime can be changed through the night!
So using the same mugshot type board as Suspect #4, I’ll just get a small dry erase board with black dry erase marker and put category descriptors on it with letter stickers so that part of the writing stays the same, can’t wipe off.
Then I can change the name and crime through the night. Or let other people choose my name and crime!
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