DIY HALLOWEEN COSTUME- JOSEPHINE BAKER & THE BANANA SKIRT
Every year I do last minute Halloween costume DIYs and this year I was all Drake singing “Don’t sleep on me, I got big plans.” My goal was to share new costume inspo with you last week, giving you two full weeks to prepare but then life and work happened. While I didn’t quite hit my big Drake plans, I’m hoping with a little Amazon Prime, you’ll have time to recreate today’s Josephine Baker inspired costume in time for your weekend or next Monday’s festivities.
I planned on writing a little about Josephine but then I thought I’d share this excerpt from one of my fave books, Bad Girls Throughout History.
On Instagram I mentioned I was sharing a DIY inspired by Chiquita and bananas today and while many of you guessed Carmen Miranda, I was actually referring to Josephine in her banana skirt and the fact that her cheetah, yes she had a pet cheetah, was named Chiquita. Oh how tricky of me!
While I didn’t DIY a Chiquita in her diamond collar, I did make the iconic banana skirt and it’s the only part of this costume you’ll have to make so let’s jump right into that.
SUPPLIES:
- Faux Bananas
- Ribbon
- Beads with wide hole (optional)
- Wide-eye needle
- Finger wave wig
- Belly dancer top in gold or silver
- Sequin shorts
- Pearl earrings, necklace & bracelets
- Sheer Stockings (optional)
- Lipstick & Eyeshadow in a dark brown/maroon shade
To make the banana skirt, thread your needle with your ribbon and string a banana followed by a bead onto the ribbon.Repeat this until you have a banana skirt to cover at least the front of your body. I opted for a half skirt but you can take the bananas all the way around ensuring you have some ribbon left to tie in the back.
You’ll want to secure each side of your stringed up bananas with a bead then tie a knot close to the last bead on both ends to keep everything in place.
That’s it! Your DIY is complete and you’ll just need to put on the rest of your costume and secure the skirt to your waist/hips. I layered on my pearl necklace, drop hoop earrings and wore pearl bracelets as anklets. My heels are very old from Zara but I loved the fact that they have a 1920s look to them and worked perfectly for this costume.
