DIY Cruella Halloween Costume

It’s that time of year again! If you follow me on social media you might recognise that this was last year’s Halloween costume. I went away for Halloween, and made both mine and James’ costumes pretty last minute, so although I took photos of the process, I never got to blog about it. Don’t fret, I’m re-living it for you just in case you’d like to be Cruella this Halloween. Although I’m a big fan of the spooky costume (I’ve never understood what’s scary about dressing up as household objects?!) I also don’t like to look gross. Part of the fun of Halloween is that you get to dress up and be glamorous. To quote Cady Heron, in girl world, Halloween is the one day a year when a girl can dress up like a total slut and no other girl can say anything about it. Cruella is 100% evil glamour slut, so she was an obvious choice to me. A couple of people commented on how funny it was that I, a vegan, was choosing Cruella as my costume but guys, she is the villain of that film. Halloween isn’t about dressing up as your idols! The really funny thing was when my friend’s dog wanted to cuddle in my lap for the entire evening. Little did he know…

The main DIY element of this costume is the coat. You can, of course, just buy a Dalmation-print coat. However, this DIY is cheaper and also gives you that satisfying, contented feeling that you can only get from a homemade costume. If you want to go down the shop-bought route, Depop and Ebay have some pretty affordable second hand spotty faux fur coats that will keep you warm through the rest of winter too.

You will need:

Jacket
2 metres dress lining, in white
2 metre faux Dalmation print fabric
1.5 metres black marabou fluff
White thread
Brown paper for pattern tracing

Makeup
Pritt Stick
White face paint and sponge
Red lipstick
Blue eyeshadow
Black eyeliner
Grey eyeshadow for contour

Other
Black and White Wig
Red Gloves
Cigarette holder
Little black dress
Black boots or stilettos

To Make The Jacket:

I used a brilliant pattern from See Kate Sew to make the jacket. She has a free printable pattern that you can download from this blog post! Her post also includes instructions, but I promise you it’s simple and if you’ve done some sewing in the past, you’ll complete it in a day.

To begin, I printed out the pattern on A4 paper, trimmed off the excess paper on the edges and stapled them together. I wanted my Cruella jacket to be longer than the original, so I traced it onto a roll of brown paper and added an extra half a meter.

This is the lining and the Dalmation fur, ready to be sewn together! To finish off, I added marabou fluff around the collar and the cuffs. There seems to be no way to use a machine on the fluff without flattening it, so I hand sewed it with some black thread, and pulled the fluff out from under the stitches.

Face Paint:

If you want truly Cruella-style high, arched eyebrows, you’re gunna need to get rid of your original ones. Start with a fresh face, and stick them down with pritt stick. Once the first layer is dry, apply another one, and repeat until all of your eyebrow hairs are smoothed down. I also backcombed my wig whilst it was on my head because it came with flat hair. The polyester hair is so naturally knottable, I didn’t even need hairspray.

The next step is to whiten your face! I like snazaroo face paint because – like a good foundation – it’s totally buildable. Start with a slightly damp sponge and dab the white paint on until there is no sign of your original face colour. It’s especially important to make sure your eyebrows are covered, and you’ll probably need two or three layers for that. Add some true red lipliner and lipstick, and you’ll be ready to move onto eyes.

Use a pencil eyeliner to draw on some new eyebrows. I have to admit that mine aren’t particularly even, but as long as they’re arched and look similar, you’ll get away with it. I drew mine so they started and ended just above where my natural eyebrows are. Next, use a brush to cover your eyelids in blue eyeshadow. Make sure you tap the brush to remove excess product before applying, else you’ll end up dusting blue shimmer all over your beautiful ghostly face. I just used one shade of blue eyeshadow, and patted it on – up until the top of my natural eyebrows. I then blended the shadow up into an arch, mirroring the arch of my new, fake eyebrows. I used a little bit of the green shadow on my lids to give it more depth. I finished off with a liquid eyeliner on my top and bottom lids, stopping in the middle of my eye and leaving the inner corner open. Finish with some mascara.

Contouring is the final step! To use product meant for contouring would probably look too orange with this white base, so I used some grey/silver eyeshadow instead. To be honest I’m not very good at contouring. I used my finger to add eyeshadow to my cheeks, just underneath where I would usually put blush, near to my ears. I then blended it towards the direction of my mouth with a big fluffy brush.

Once all of these steps have come together, I think it makes a pretty badass costume. The benefit of the Dalmation print coat is that it’s something you can totally wear again. It seems a shame sometimes to put all this effort into making an outfit that’s only worn for a single evening, but you can re-wear this one all season (probably without the face paint and crazy hair.) Do you know what you’re going to dress up as yet? I’d love to know!