MY SUIT (PANTS)

With my first costume, I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to invest. I needed to piece it together with what I could find in costume shops and from online shopping. Figuring out the pants was a challenge.

My first pair of pants were some synthetic goat leg costume pants from Amazon. They were, pretty much, one size fits all and were an inexpensive start. Paired with my robe, they looked pretty decent and I was able to blend in the look, disguising them under the robe, so they didn’t appear like they were from Amazon.

In my second year, when I upgraded the mask, I decided to buy some fur scraps from the Austrian shop where I bought the mask. They sold the scraps they couldn’t use for custom tailored, full suits. I received a huge box and the scraps were used as the packing material for the mask. There were so many scraps of varying sizes, but none large enough to make a full suit.

I went to the Goodwill and purchased some old denim jeans. I chose denim that didn’t stretch so that the pants would retain their form with the weight of the fur. I don’t sew, so I grabbed the glue gun and a large pile of glue sticks. I started at the bottom of the pant legs and worked my way up to the waist, gluing on dozens of fur scraps. I even made sure to leave the pockets accessible for carrying my phone, keys and wallet.

The pants were super heavy. To keep them from falling down, I bought some industrial work suspenders with no stretch and padding on the shoulders. I hand stitched the suspenders to the jeans to make sure they didn’t accidentally pop off while I was in costume, at an event.

Under the fur pants, I’ve learned that it’s great to wear compression pants. They wick away any sweat. They also allow me to get into costume in public and change out of my street clothes when I don’t have a more private place for dressing.

Unfortunately, the pants can’t be laundered. I spray them down with febreeze and some diluted rubbing alcohol to disinfect them after an event.

Now that I’ve decided I want to do this long term, I’ve decided to invest in a custom fur suit from Austria. It’s one I had to order early, so I purchased it in July and should have it in time for this year’s Krampusnacht.