Little Artists Costumes
Here are some quick costumes that could be pulled together last minute with an errand or two and from stuff you already have. We put together three classic artist costumes: Andy Warhol, Frida Kahlo, and Vincent Van Gogh for less than $15 each. These are usually the kind of costumes I end up doing when I’m super busy. I like them simple and classic. Click through here for more photos and all the details.
Andy Warhol // For Andy Warhol we dressed him all in black and added that crazy white wig. You can add some black Wayfarer sunglasses if you wanted too.
Materials Needed: Andy Warhol Wig, Black Turtleneck, Black Pants, Tomato Soup Cans.
Frida Kahlo // We based this costume off one of the beautiful Frida Kahlo’s self portraits. The key to a good Frida costume is the flowers in the hair and the unibrow and moustache.
Materials Needed: Clip on Flowers, Eyeliner Pencil, Earrings, Scarf, and Dress.
Vincent Van Gogh // For Van Gogh we kept it really simple. We bought a red wig and beard and then trimmed it to look like Van Gogh then wrapped some gauze over his poor ear. You could also frame a small picture of Starry Night and carry it around.
Materials Needed: Red Wig and Beard, Gauze, Blue Jacket.
Credits and our Talented Contributors:
Photography by Aubrey Trinnaman for Oh Happy Day
“Materials” photograph by Paul Ferney
Art Directed by Jordan Ferney
Produced by Ashley Rose Kirschling
Crafting and Calligraphy by Julie Manwaring at Flourish & Whim
“Homemade Halloween” Type by Angela Hardison
Thanks to little T and H and M for modeling.
Category: DIY projects, halloween, homemade halloween
123 Comments
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Oh Happy Day is a party and lifestyle blog based in San Francisco. We just moved back after spending a year in Paris, France. We love to throw parties and make things!
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This is absolutely adorable! I love Andy Warhol and the soup cans
How do you explain to a 5 year old Vincent Van Gogh cutting his ear off? Especially since that’s the biggest identifying factor of this costume, seems inappropriate for a kid’s costume.
haha! I see what you mean. I remember learning about Van gogh’s ear pretty young but maybe that is because my mom was an artist. If you were worried about it you could just not use the gauze, add a hat and a frame of Starry Night to carry around.
These are all hilarious. Thanks for sharing!
Jordan, these are fantastic! They made me laugh out loud at my desk! I’m absolutely loving this series.
Love this! LOL
xo
Maybe I’m just an art nerd, but the Warhol and Van Gogh costumes are AMAZING! So clever! Can you imagine what a little Dali would look like too?! I’m only 4 months pregnant, but when this kid can start wearing Halloween costumes, this will be such a fun way to dress them up AND introduce them to the great masters of modern art! Awe, I love the idea of my little one dressing up like this while all his/her friends are in their lame Dora costumes are whatever the ridiculous pop culture kid icon of the moment is. Oh Happy Day strikes gold once again…
Omigosh I love these!! Your little models are so perfect for their artists, too – I love that first photo of M peeking out sideways over his beard. Hehe! I think it’s great to have kid costumes be just a little “off the beaten path.” It’s Halloween, after all – a holiday about not-always-nice things like DEATH and GHOSTS. Keep these wonderful costume coming!
These are amazing and I especially love little Frida with her unibrow… but there is no way in my wildest dreams I could convince my kids to go for any of these. We have a little pink fairy and Max from Where the Wild Things Are this year. I also think Van Gogh’s self-mutililation might be a can of worms I wouldn’t want to open with my 4 year old…
these are hilarious! I love them all! Frida is precious!
oh my adorable. i can’t get over them!
As an art historian, I have never thought of this idea! Love them all, especially Frida. Salama Hayek has nothing on this girl!
cute and funny – and of course, super creative!
So awesome!! Each is so amazing. Well done!
While these are adorable, I agree with some commenters that these costumes aren’t for the run-of-the-mill kid. However, if you happen to have a budding artist that actually KNOWS who these people are? More power to you! Additionally, who’s to say that an adult can’t take cues from these simple costumes as well?
The Frida is exceptionally cute.
So fun! Our daugher, Wren, was Andy Warhol for her second Halloween because her natural hair seemed so perfect… http://besquirrely.com/2010/11/05/wren-as-andy-warhol/
SHANNON SAYS:
OCTOBER 3, 2012 AT 9:04 AM
How do you explain to a 5 year old Vincent Van Gogh cutting his ear off? Especially since that’s the biggest identifying factor of this costume, seems inappropriate for a kid’s costume.
@shannon the same way you explain what a vampire or zombie or mummy or ghost(or for that matter what the ‘sexy nurse’ costume their classmate’s wearing) is.
It would be much easier to explain a hugely-influential historically-documented troubled artist personified in such an iconic way thank it would be to have to explain most of the costumes on here:
http://www.buycostumes.com/browse/Horror-Gothic/Kids-Costumes/_/N-qZ3l/results1.aspx
these are genious, love them!
that Frida is super cute!
These are awesome! Though, I think I’d have a hard time convincing my sons that it’s cooler to be Andy Warhol or Van Gogh than a “clone trooper” or “Batman”. Ha!
The Frida Kahlo one made me laugh so hard! Love it!
-Lindsey
OMG – I love these. Esp Warhol. But my son (who use to wear hats) no longer likes things on his head, so he wouldn’t wear this. Bummer!
-Tara
http://madmaxandfamily.blogspot.com
http://blog.chron.com/madabouttown/
Clever! LOVE the models.
I am really, really loving ohhappyday this week! These costumes are great, all of them. I should point out you are now going to get even MORE visitors to the blog now that there is a Frida Kahlo costume here. I get hits every single day from people searching the web for Frida costume ideas. Your models are adorable!
Holy crap those are freaking cute!
SO CUTE.
cute:))
Too cute. lol!
These costumes are perfection. What a great opportunity to get kids interested and informed about famous artists. And the whole thing about the ear is hilarious. So what if the kid doesn’t really understand it…the (art-educated) people handing out the treats will get a laugh out of it.
Loved all of them. And this year I’m dressing as Frida, surely it won’t be as perfect as this little girl’s, but I will give it a go!! Thanks for such wonderful inspiration!
These are the *best* thing ever!
Omgosh…this is too amazing!!!
oh mercy! that little pumpkin is going to get y’all for the uni-brow one day. Too funny!
the little Frida is so adorable!
love it…Frida is probably my favourite!!!
I’ve been loving this costume series! My daughter doesn’t have a clue about what kids normally dress as for Halloween, and she also doesn’t understand why they just do it on Halloween. So Halloween for us is just the day that she gets a new costume for her everyday costume collection. She really loves art and has been asking questions about artists, so one of these might be appropriate for her….next year. This year she is dead set on a squirrel costume. If you have any ideas for shaping a giant, fluffy tail, let me know.
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@JRS I think the fun of those other costumes (zombie, ghost, mummy, etc) is that they are rooted in fantasy, and even though yes, mummies are real, they are largely associated with the horror genre, which is fiction. This is a making a cute caricature out of real mental illness – which is not really cute or festive. I like the other suggestion of carrying around Starry Night, it seems more appropriate and a stronger representation of Van Gogh, after all those famous paintings are why we are taking about him today, not because he cut off his ear.
I love unusual Halloween costumes, I just think that particular one is in poor taste and is a more complex concept to explain to a kid than zombies and ghosts.
As for the sexy nurse costume, that’s a whole other can of beans!
Very clever! I love frida’s little unibrow
Brillant! Really clever costumes. Thanks for sharing.
hahahaha! I love these! You are so so clever. I know your kids are having the best time with this. Thanks for sharing!
XO,
Dianna @ Virginia is for Lovers
These are darling! I also remember learning about van Gogh and his ear at an early age. I was fascinated.
Jose and I love dressing up in our Frida & Diego costumes each year – we would love to convince the kids to do these!
omg! amazing and adorable! very different form the gaudy costumes that we see at those halloween pop-up stores these days. i absolutely love it!
Jordan, what a great idea!!!! I am totally doing the one from Frida! My (very artistic) daughter loves her… This is so perfect for her. The only problem… She is blonde. I guess she will be the blonde Frida Khalo. Thanks for sharing!
You have totally saved me the drama of trying to get a hat on my very very blonde haired boy! Warhol?…check!!! thanks jordan (and look for him in the neighborhood on halloween)!
FREAKING ADORABLE!! love love love these.
so very cute! what great ideas. i love the serif font you are using on the first few photos, mind sharing the name?
wow. awesome. http://portlandsunshine.blogspot.com/2012/10/halloween-is-coming.html
Oh my goodness! These costumes are so adorable!! xx
bohoglow.wordpress.com
Oh, these are so cute! I especially love the pint-sized Frida!
Halloween and art! Two of my most favorite things! this post made me quite giddy…I don’t have kids but my future ones will definitely be sporting one of these looks!
haha Frida Kahlo is amazing! good job!!!!!!