How I found my Gangnam Style Costume for Halloween. This year I'm going as Korean rapper PSY in his signature blue tuxedo and sunglasses. This is about how I convinced a friend to help me out and my journey as a PSY impersonator. Now, if I can only convince her to make and sell a Gangnam Style Yellow suit to another friend of mine. Then our Gangnam Style duo will be complete! So far I've mastered the poses and the Gangnam Style horse dance.
Showing posts with label Gangnam Style Costume. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gangnam Style Costume. Show all posts
Honestly, this is pretty awesome way to spend a night.
So the day after the Zombie Walk, I went to a Zom-B-Con to support a friend running the event for charity. It included events for the whole family, ranging from Cutest Little Zombie prizes to Best Survival Team.
Lots of brain shaped cupcakes with blood made by Boarder City Cakes. Yum!
To top it off, the all ages portion of the events were held at The Villains' Bistro. I have to say, the place is off the charts for all your fictional villain needs. I love the framed pictures of all the known villains of the fantasy world, ranging from The Grinch to the old lady in the Goonies. *I forget her name and I'm lazy with Google today. Thhhhhpppt! :P*
Captain Hindgrinder, the Zombie in Charge of the event got me kitted out with weapons and ammo. He called me a PSY-Vivor. *rimshot*
Aside from all that, my pictures have been slowly making their way to me. Each day I get a few more people tagging their Zombie PSY pics that they took of me. "Hey! I know that guy!" then blam! Another fan is tracked. I hope I get pics of me as PSY of the Dead from people soon. I'd love to see how they turned out.
Admit it. This is an epic shot. Bane was born in darkness, but PSY wears shades anyways.
What should you pay for a costume? Not much really. The average price at the costume store for any jacket is $50.00 minimum. Then there are the pre-packaged costumes. They'll range from $90.00 to $150.00. Yikes! These are for generic costumes. But that's for mass produced stuff where they have warehouses full of these things; like Sexy This-n-That Costumes by the Genre. What about the hot ticket costumes? Are those really expensive? What about Gangnam Style Costumes?!
If you already haven't had the chance yet, use a search engine and shop around. Don't just settle for the first thing you see. Make an informed purchase. Even Loki's Wardrobe refers people to other websites for their Gangnam Style apparel. Loki's availability to make hand made Gangnam Style Blue jackets went fast and sold out, but it doesn't mean that they need to string people along. Incidentally, check out www.gogangnam.com if you're still looking for a Gangnam Style costume. Their website is pretty original and and compared to other sites, won't charge you an arm and a leg for mass produced clothing. Also the color of the jacket looks close to what Loki uses at least. It's definitely not an overly-bright, neon blue, hidden by shadowy pictures.
It's like Miracle on 34th street. Santa takes the time to tell parents to go to 'other' stores to find the toys their children want. Santa doesn't shill out just because he's working at Macy's. So why should any other Gangnam Style costume maker? If you're out, you're out. Help people out and be a decent human being.
So if you search enough on Google, you'll find articles on how to make a Gangnam Style costume for $15.00, or put one together from the store for $30.00. That is simply awesome! Shop around and find what's best for you. Just don't get suckered by big claims. Honestly, it's common sense to think before you purchase.
Ever watch an infomercial? The kind where an obviously paid actor says something "honest" and "candid" with the viewing audience?
"But I know what I'm talking about. I visited Gangnam once."
Good for you. The song is a satire on pompous attitudes and ideals found in Gangnam. Hence, "Gangnam Style".
In all honesty, I believe that with cheap, no lining, one time wear Halloween costume, and the combination of being an awesome human being, that anyone can pull off the real Gangnam Style.
Wait... What's the real Gangnam Style? Here's two articles that explain it better than I do.
It's about appearances, right? It's not the clothes that make the man. The man makes the clothes. Does PSY look like your typical music industry robot? Then why should you? Add your own flair. Make it rock and call it your own!
Besides, do you really want to be suckered into buying a costume for an extra $60.00 on top of the regular price for $2.00 worth in lining? It's a costume! Wear it once or wear it until it wears down. Don't be constricted from enjoying a full on Gangnam Style good time because you're worried about staining a new overpriced jacket. That's the satirical message that PSY makes in Gangnam Style!
Charging extra and calling it "classy" is honestly a bit much considering it goes with cheap plastic sunglasses. Nice try though.
So get out there, get dirty. Get spilled on, get other people's make up on it. Get it ripped up dancing the night away.
So let's examine the choices of bow ties out there to go with the Gangnam Style Costume.
PSY wears two types of bow ties in his Gangnam Style music video.
Black Bow Tie
White Bow Tie
Whether the bow tie is black or white, it is obviously a classic bow tie. One that requires a bow tie knot to wear.
How can I tell? Well he's obviously wearing it down around his neck in sequences during the video.
Loose black bow tie while screaming at butts!
There's a variety of styles out there for the Gangnam Style costume, but at this point, I'm going to have to go with the class bow tie.
Why wouldn't I choose from other varieties?
Snap on metal clasp bow tie: It falls off and I'm not noticing, my costume is ruined until I find another one
Velcro bow tie: If I undo it and let it hang around my neck, it'll be unbalanced. Again it'll fall off. Remember: Gravity.
Elastic bow tie: Ever had a bow tie pulled on you really far and then let go of? Don't remember that as a child? Then lucky you! It hurts. Especially if it's one of those heavy crumpled pieces of fabric, shot at your throat like a sling shot. Oh, it'll hit it's mark and it... Will... Hurt!
Tuxedo T-Shirt bow tie: Up to you really. I prefer a little bit more authenticity.
Overall: If I want to transition from PSY in the Blue Tuxedo jacket to Screaming-Yet-Relaxed-Look PSY, I'm going to have to go with the classic bow tie and knot. Then I'll be able to let it hand and get that bit of authenticity I'm looking for.
So that means that I have to...
1) Get my hands on a classic cut bow tie
2) Learn how to tie a bow tie knot
3) Profit!
Learning how to tie a bow tie at first was frustrating. I expected instant results to go with my outfit to make it complete. Here's the image I learned it from.
This image drove me nuts. It was rather annoying because my neck it huuuuuge. *Incidentally, my cranium is massive.* The tie I got from the suit store wasn't the right size for me! Whaaaaaaaaat? I figured that out on the third try as I realized I was going to choke myself if I didn't cease.
So my friend at Loki's Wardobe (Found on Etsy) made me the correct sized tie. Really? A size 20? Yikes! I better stop going to Korean BBQ so often.
So I finally got the bow tie knot done proper. Awesome! Here's a video below to help you tie a classic bow tie knot. Learn from my mistakes!
Remember to fit the middle of your bow tie so it's not all messed up when you're done. It gives it that clean look.
So to everyone, find what's best for you and what you're comfortable with. As long as you enjoy yourself this Halloween and have fun the Gangnam Style way!
If it's not the dance moves or the video people are talking
about, it's about when they saw it first.
that's right. Hipsters everywhere
are arguing who was first to be exposed to the awesome rays of Gangnam Style
first, but what will that prove?
The world has fallen completely in love with Psy and his hit
single, Gangnam Style.
The South Korean rapper who's been in the business for a
decade has exploded onto the scene and is making up for some lost time.
This time, the whole world will hear his message, whether
they entirely understand it or not.
That's the beauty of Gangnam Style.
Psy is breaking down the language barrier that most musical artists
hit. Something that might be a hit in
the U.S. might do well in Canada, but might not translate well into another
language, say Russian.
Meanwhile, there's Psy.
He's created such a catchy beat, coupled with outlandish dance moves and
colorful imagery, that it translate well across the board. You don't need to understand the words to
know that it's high energy. You don't
have to get the meaning or the subtle satirical overtones in this musical
piece. You just got to bob your head and
grin.
Even in the behind the scenes footage of Psy, in making the
Gangnam Style video shows him having the time of his life. He did things because it was fun or plain
funny to him. He was living in the now
and it translated well.
The song has made it to No.1 in the US iTunes Top Songs
chart, andin 18 other countries including Canada, Argentina, Czech Republic,
the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Lithuania, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.
I first got into the Gangnam Style phenomenon during the first week of August. My cousins in South Korea sent it to me and despite my inability to speak the language; born and raised here as I am; I felt a connection.
It wasn't just the words. It was the colors, the outlandish style and the dancing movements. This goes totally against what current mainstream music videos show.
I was floored by the video. No matter what I did, I couldn't get the song out of my head. But why would I want to? It was just too good!
I kept watching the music video at least three times a day since I got exposed to it. I watched as it slowly made it's climb in YouTube views and was rooting it to hit the 100 million mark, and then the 200 million mark. Then as it exploded into the Western world it dawned on me what I must do.
Go as PSY for Halloween!
Only problem was that I wasn't about to shell out over a hundred dollars for a velvet tuxedo jacket. The more precise the jacket I found online, the more expensive.
Lets face it. The economy isn't doing so well, so I sought out other options.
Option 1: Search the local thrift shops for something that matches
I went to 3 stores in the local area, and 5 in nearby cities. Some of these places are massive and for some strange reason, nothing is as cheap as you'd think it would be. Why would I pay a lot of money for USED clothes? So what did I find? Nothing. Nada. Zilch.
Option 2: Search the local thrift shops for something that could be modified.
So not to waste an opportunity, I tried to find anything that I could modify into making a decent Gangnam Style costume. Again, this didn't produce anything. Even the bow ties I found were all clip on. That wasn't authentic enough for me. It had to be the proper style, tie it yourself bow tie.
Option 3: Find something at the costume store that can be augmented.
Alright. So this is where I've seen different types suggested online. There's the dumber and dumber blue tuxedo outfit, and another cheesy blue tuxedo with horrendous blue shiny material around the lapels. Granted, it's an option, but I've bought and worn store bought costumes before. It never fits right and it always makes me feel stupid for buying them. I wasn't about to buy something I "KNEW" I would not like.
There are even some instructional videos that show people purchasing this option and taping electrical tape around the edges. Hey, as long as you rock it and you enjoy it, you should follow this option. Total cost is like $40 to $50 for something I would personally be happy with.
Option 4: Find one online for a reasonable price
So I went to a few sites and there's one boasting about their "Made in Korea" authentic PSY jackets. Okay. It can't hurt to check out. After a few clicks I soon found out they were based out of San Francisco, CA. Okay, that's cool. A lot of sweet stuff comes out of there. They would even bundle the coat with sunglasses, ruffle shirt and bow tie. Awesome right!?!
Then it hit me. Not a single picture on the sight showed the actual product. It was all screen grabs of PSY either from the Gangnam Style video or from his numerous and recent public appearances. Uhm... What about the product? I know what PSY wears, but I don't know what they're selling exactly.
The package claims a Tuxedo, Ruffle Button Up Shirt, Psy Sunglasses, Bow Tie and all for about a hundred dollars. Hmmm... $100.00 may be worth considering. I might be desperate enough. Here's the problem though...
Official Thierry Lasry sunglasses are expensive. The actual PSY ones are worth $200.00 to $450.00. Some are even more expensive. http://www.net-a-porter.com/product/329354
Yeah, no. I'm not buying this unless I see some pictures that aren't ripped off from another website. Nice try! Kudos for your efforts really. Thank Goodness I put my credit card information away. I was *that* close to hitting enter.
Option 5 Make one from scratch
So I learned early on in life that I can not sew. I am like the Iron Born from George R.R. Martins' Game of Thones. Instead of their family words of, "We do not sow" for me it's more, "I do not sew."
Despite this well known fact, I made my attempt on my sister's sewing machine. I am now the proud owner of a Gangnam Style cloth lunch bag. Yes, that's how badly I mangled it. Apparently you're not suppose to sew the sleeves shut, nor while they're both stuck together in a desperate attempt to save time. I thought I knew what I was doing.
So where the Hades was I going to find a 70s style baby blue tuxedo?
Option 6 Get an adult to make you one!
So that's where my friends and family come in. One of the core Ferengi rules is that business exploitation begins at home. *Forgive my Star Trek references :)*
My friend Loki's been sewing for approximately 10 years. She has created Halloween costumes, medieval clothing and accessories and has recently ventured in to Victorian as well as more modern costume design. Hmmm... This is definitely resource that I could exploit that was also a friend. I think I found a winner!
She immediately found the project interesting and took to tackling it.
It's blue, it's true, it's the signature jacket that everyone will see and shout, "Gangnam Style!" Then bust out the dance moves as you walk down the street. Forget the party store jacket that barely fits, or the costume jacket that has electrical tape all over it. Don't overpay for something that looked ridiculous before you even get it modified. What you want is the cool, the smooth, properly sized signature blue tuxedo jacket.
Baby blue is the bold choice, but that's the Gangnam Style way. This tuxedo jacket is trimmed in a darker color around the lapel and faux flap packets. The outline lends to the comic-book appeal to this ensemble and it's perfect for all your action packed dancing needs.
I actually went out to a club and everyone I met went nuts over it. It's weird when everyone runs up to you and starts to do the Gangnam Style Dance. People bought me shots. I had my picture taken A LOT! And I have to say, some of this attention I got was not bad at all. I won't mind doing this again next weekend.
Yep. It's handmade and not a single person was giving slave wages to make it and at least it's made in North America. Loki's Wardrobe at Etsy is a friend of mine, I admit. But she does some sweet work and it won't cost you an arm and a leg. Some of the things online boasting about their jackets won't even show you the real thing. They'll just show you pictures of PSY and let you imagine what you'll get.
So if you go over to the Loki's Wardrobe shop, you won't be disappointed. She'll even throw in a proper bow tie. Yeah. I actually had to learn how to tie a proper bow tie knot.
For those that order early on, there are some sweet sunglasses that get tossed in there for free.
Like Dr. Who said, "Bow ties are cool!"
Winner: YOU!
It doesn't matter where you get Gangnam Style costume. It doesn't matter if you paid a lot or a little for it, or if it's made of cardboard. What matters is that YOU like it. YOU rock it. And that YOU live the Gangnam Style to the fullest.
Keep following me here in my blog and learn more about my Gangnam Style Adventures.
