How To Make A Superhero Outfit

even if all you have is a slim lady mannequin

If all you have is a lady mannequin lying around the house, add some foam muscle structure to her body to make her into a man. I temporarily added some of my Cyberpunk Melrose fashion items to the mannequin head to keep myself inspired through this 2 week project.
	You might get lucky and find a unitard at a thriftshop. I sure did and simply added a closed-faced spandex hood from my Exotica line and stitched around the neck area. I got the red opera gloves at Playmates Boutique Store in Hollywood for around 18.00. It would have normally taken me 4 1/2 to 5 hours to sew up some gloves and I saved a lot of time here.
I used one of several techniques to paint the flowing red and white lines that define our super hero. If you have kids, a dog, and a need to breathe clean air, then simply airbrush non-toxic opaque white acrylic fabric paint from Createx, as prep to build a brite white base on the body suit to pop off the red sections. Then airbrush an opaque red (also from Createx) to guarantee opacity. For the skull faces and leg and arm bracelets, you could use either Foam Core or cut out thick dense foam pieces (available at Foam Mart in Burbank) depending upon how rough you plan to act in your new costume. The chrome spikes are even spaced extensions of rolled and glued chrome vinyl material from a fabric store downtown. The greenish yellow eye slits are sanded cut geometric pieces from an old pair of New Wave sunglasses (which one can still buy inside tourist shops along Hollywood Blvd.), mounted and glued to the spandex hood allowing me to cut away the black fabric from the inside to let one see through.
	The only super major item I had to make from scratch was a big red cape with a massive collar (that only this dude uses) that would stay up. A big challenge yes, but easily handled by the use of plastic boning inserted vertically, throughout the high standing collar. The plastic black chain is available at Orchard Hardware.
And oh, there he is! This is how my super costume looked on display in the window of Meltdown Comics (now located a couple of blocks west on the same side of the street) on Sunset Blvd.. Ample proof that a decent looking costume can be built on a shoestring budget. In Hollywood, anything is possible and it's all good. Wanna see a close-up window shot?

To Top of Page	Back To Fashion	Back To Special FX Costume	Return Home

Webslinger: Tuck John Porter available at tjp@aceweb.com

To Top of Page	Back To Fashion	Back To Special FX Costume	Return Home

Webslinger: Tuck John Porter available at tjp@aceweb.com