OWL WINGS & HEADDRESSES 2014

MATERIALS: Cardboard, Felt Fabric, Silk Flowers, Beads, Hot Glue

I created these wings and owl headdresses for my husband Chelo and I to wear to an annual Halloween Ball in Philadelphia, PA in 2014. The theme for the ball was the movie “Labyrinth” with David Bowie. My husband and I had watched the movie before and were familiar with it, but we decided to rewatch it so that I could get some inspiration for our costumes. That evening we sat down, put the movie on and started watching. The opening credits came on… The screen is black and all of a sudden a beautiful barn owl starts to fly around. The entire opening credits is just a barn owl flying around with a black backdrop. In the movie, David Bowie’s character would turn into this barn owl much like a vampire turns to bats when they flee. After seeing only the opening credits I immediately got up, looked at my husband and said “We’re gonna be owls”. He looked at me in disbelief and said “Are you sure? Don’t you want to watch the rest of the movie? It hasn’t even started yet!” I told him “I don’t need to keep watching, I already know what I’m going to do.” It took me two weeks to complete all the pieces. At the Ball nobody was dressed as owls, we were the only ones and everyone appreciated the unique take on the theme. Later we wore them again to go to the Snow Ball in Jersey City, NJ in 2016 and won the best dressed couple award. To this day, these are my favorite creations. We had fun seeing how the wings looked so realistic when we danced. People would part the dance floor for us and stand in awe to watch us dance. For many years in some social circles we were known as “The Owls” it gave me so much joy to see just how memorable these outfits were!