Monday, October 19, 2009

Graduation Robes in the Halloween Racks at Thrift Stores


A lot of odd clothing comes up in the racks of Halloween stuff in thrift stores alongside the used costumes with missing pieces.   The blue dress mentioned in my October 1 entry is one such item of clothing.  T-shirts and sweatshirts and men's shorts decorated with skulls and pumpkins are  placed in these racks, as well as shorts or sweatshirts with these designs.   Long black dresses that could easily be used for any gothic costume also turn up in these racks.

Another thing that seems to appear yearly in these racks is old graduation robes.  One year when I began noticing this, I wondered what these have to do with Halloween.  Does anyone ever go as a graduate on Halloween?  Then one year I decided to be the half devil/half angel, and it hit me that graduation robes would be perfect to make it myself. I got a red robe and white one and cut them in half.  Since the robes zip in front, I only had to sew the two robe halves down the back. I made a devil cape from the other half of the red robe.   

Pictured at right are two robes sighted today at the Goodwill in one of the Halloween clothing racks.  One is emerald green and another is navy blue.  Though it's not visible in the photo, the blue robe has the pinned-on white collar.    The navy blue and emerald green robes seem to turn up a lot in these stores each halloween season.  I'm wondering what you could make with robes of these colors.  Black ones are perfect for witches and other gothic characters, perhaps also for Judge Judy.  White  robes can be for angles and red ones for devils.   I even saw an orange robe in a thrift store one year.  What could that one be made into? 

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