We knew we wanted to get one more Halloween costume up this year, and originally we were thinking of going with Rosalind Franklin or the goddess Freya (assuming we could find a replacement source for one of the Freya costume items we were having trouble with). But a funny thing happened in the past few weeks. We started getting a bunch of email queries about people like Emma Goldman. We also started seeing a lot of searches for things like “women anarchists” and “women protesters in history” and “famous female radicals.” Is this part of the whole #OccupyWallStreet zeitgeist? We’re not sure, but it’s definitely a new trend. So we decided to move our Emma Goldman costume to the top of our To Do list (we have a long, long To Do list, with more names than you can shake a Leg Avenue bag at).

And now here she is: Emma Goldman. “Red Emma” herself. It’s a simple costume, with the most important ingredient being a pair of pince-nez spectacles. You can probably score those at any costume shop.

If you don’t already have a long black skirt or dress, you need to shop now. Ladies Emporium has an October 24th cutoff (yikes) for their Gibson Girl skirt and black blouse. We’re not sure if Wild West Mercantile has a shipping cutoff for their black full-length skirt or blouses. The black high-button boots are from the 1 Stop Costume Shop, which offers expedited shipping.

The hat is a soft corduroy thing, which we’ve dressed up with a red paisley scarf and a cockade. Hopefully you can find those items in your local stores, assuming they’re not already in your closet.

We also included some extra credit ideas: cigars (don’t smoke!), cherry blintzes, and revolutionary pamphlets. Check out the Emma Goldman costume page for the full story.

1 Comments