What do you wear? Do you have costumes?

Whats the big fascination with tie-dye.... must be something I am missing

I usually wear a colourful skirt with black tights underneath and a black t-shirt. Still meaning to get a black t-shirt printed (we have it all ready to go we just have to actually give it to our friends so they can do it with their own printing business.)

I also have a fairy costume, although I have only worn it once... hopefully when work picks up I will get a chance to wear it more (and hopefully the weather gets warmer too!!)

I think the thing with tie dye is that it's colorful.

I wear normal clothes (usually jeans and a pretty shirt that is short sleeve) plus a black apron and a hat that I decorated with swirls of different colored glitter. I do get a lot of compliments on the hat. If I have time before I try to paint my own face but I'd rather be on time than painted.

Tye dye is colourful and popular in thr tropics here.

I have been tie dying for years. I have way more tie dye stuff than face paint stuff. We tie dye everything that was once white (or yellow or pink or khaki) that has gotten stained. I love doing different patterns, hearts, starts, flags, camo, stripes, it's so much more than just rainbow spirals. It's definitely the fact that it's colorful that appeals to me (and to the children I paint). Speaking of which, I have a whole trash bag full of whites that need some attention. Anyone wanna come over for a tie-dye party?

I have costumes but only idf they ask, and I have them only because I am a cosplayer! LOL
I did create the fairy godmother from cinderella, shes the most popular, then my pirate and gypsy costume, mother earth and I am working on a more 'clownish' figure as well as a fairy. I doubt Ill pull off the fairy unless I go with Queen Fairy because I am a plushie size to and dont rock the gauzy droppings I imagine fairies wearing. Plus I believe Id knock everyone out with my wings, LOL
I have been Mrs Claus before, that was terrfiic fun! I love the idea of a christmas lady though...hmmm
thanks for sharing!!

To those of you who are just starting out and want to play it safe with just one FP outfit, I don't think I've ever had a gig where black pants and a 3/4 length sleeve black knit shirt wouldn't have been appropriate, style-wise. It goes from festivals to country clubs. Black closed shoes and socks keep the look tidy.

An array of hats or headbands can add whimsy if you need it- bunny ears for Easter, heart antennae for Valentine's, etc. A lot of Texas face painters wear black artist's berets. I love the glittery baseball caps!

Outdoor events require weather-appropriate gear, of course.

I made one sad mistake in costume. I bought a cute white cotton kimono top with a colorful print I thought would be great for the hottest outdoor temps. But the big bell sleeves didn't work out well. Kids could look right down my sleeves on my raised painting arm. Not a catastrophe- just a great view of my bra and armpit and kinda sloppy.

I think it would be wonderful to have an apron with big pockets- maybe big ol' zippered pockets for ID, cell phone, keys and tips, huh!?

I do love the pockets in my apron! I usually keep my phone and sometimes other things like money or my wallet in there.

I just pick up a hostess apron today at Bed Bath and beyond. $20 and it has adorable polk a dots! I am very excited.

Five Below has really cute vinyl aprons with all kinds of cool prints, damask, paisley, polka dots, rainbow... i picked up a couple of them. At $5 a pop, you can't beat it!

I have been wearing black or black top and denim bottom. I have a couple of aprons, one is a colourful frangipani print and the other is black with beaded tassles on the pocket. The pocket becomes my purse and catch all. I have been thinking of sewing in dividers or another pocket over the top, if that's possible. My sewing skills are average so we'll see how that goes!
I am constantly on the look out for a colourful and fun print, and am surprised they seem to be a little hard to find, so Five Below sounds good. I wonder if they sell stuff online? I may have to resort to making my own if not.

I'm thinking about having a T-shirt and Apron made. Lately I've been wearing a black top and jeans with sneakers but I think a black t-shirt with my info on the back and a black apron with colorful paint splatters all over it would be neat:)
Now back in the day when I wasn't wearing that god-awful polyester jungle print crap for Bush Gardens I had a teenie-bopper clown costume I used for community event and birthday parties. I am soooooo past both of those now, lol...

I usually (basically unless i am working for someone and have to wear their shirt etc or a specific costume is asked for or appropriate) a 50's style dress with the big skirts though I dont always wear the petticoats that come with them. Depends on how hot it is. Ill also wear over the knee opaque stockings that match and sometimes a shawl or something like that. My skin is so pale that if i dont I burn faster than you can imagine( the fun of living in the tropics of Australia i suppose.) I also often wear cyberlox that match my outfit. I also give my outfits names. Pink Lady, Queen of Hearts, Green Fairy etc. Pic of the 'Pink Lady' costume below.

I wear a black t-shirt & black jeans. I blinged the t-shirt myself, this is the first shirt I blinged I have since made another with Mandi's Face Painting. people always comment on my shirt cause it's sooooo sparklie.

Those are so cute!
I KNEW we'd have some creative ideas here!

While I loved the professional look of my original outfit, I felt I looked sloppy fairly quickly because I have a bad habit of wiping my hands on my pants. I do always have a towel with a damp end that I wipe my hands with regularly but I can't seem to stop wiping my fingertips on my pants. And with black slacks, light coloured paint smears look yucky.

So I designed the perfect apron for myself. It has a wraparound paisley skirt so no matter where I wipe, I'm covered all the way around. It has four pockets in the front (two layers of pockets, you can see I have my hand in the front one on one side and the back one on the other side and it is stitched down the centre to make four). It closes with velcro so it is adjustable to be bigger if I wear a heavy sweater under it. I figure in the summer I will wear shorts under it and it will look like a cute little dress. I haven't done my logo yet, but I am going to make one on a white background and attach it to the chest area but make it removeable so that I can take it off before I wash it. That way it won't crack and peel the way my shirts did.

The pattern and fabric together cost me $28, but if I make another one it will cost me way less since I have the pattern already. Although I altered it so much it is hardly the same pattern, LOL!! And I can probably go with cheaper fabric next time, I used twill and ducking for this one. With those fabrics it is nice and sturdy and should last me a long time. I splurged a bit on this because I wanted it to be my dream apron. I'm so happy with it!!! Can't wait for the weekend to show it off!




I may make another one and leave the bib section off completely, and just make more tshirts to wear with it. What I really wanted it for was to wipe my hands on and to have pockets for money.

My buisness name is Princesses & Pirates, so I dress up as either for bday parties, I'm also a singer so I sing princess/pirates songs as I paint, here are a few of my costumes- the pirate one I bought at Kmart after halloween for $10, normally $40, I added some black stretch pants! I have another pirate costume I just got after halloween that is not as heavy as this one, cause on a hot day, black velvet is miserable! Haven't worn it yet, but will post a pic when I wear it next!




My princess dress is my least fav one now, I am looking for a new one. I made the skirt out of elastic and long peices of tulle, it is fun! I found a string of battery powered lights and made some fabric flowers that I glued to the strand, so my dress lights up! I have several tops, one a corset, which I always wear a shirt under or it would not be appropriate. I just buy alot of different tube tops that are washable, and wear shirts underneath them to cover my cleavage issue! I don't wear the tank top that is in the pic, I think it would still be inappropriate. I have a lace tshirt that I wear under the corset alot, I have a short sleeved one for summer and long sleeved lace shirt for colder months. I found some silver stretch pants at DEB that I wear underneath this skirt.

My Daughter and I clown so have 4 costumes for that but when we're not clowning bright polo's with either dark pants or dark jeans. I always wear flowers and feather's in my hair and when I'm clowning and sometimes when I'm not I have neon nail polish in 5 colors one color for each finger. If your wondering why 4 clown costumes I have a painters costume for my character Glitter the Clown made by Priscilla Moosburger, A patched up jumper dress I wear as Dipsey Dohicky , A fuchsia moo-moo for Aunt Fannie and full hillbilly gear for Effie Mae Sluice.

FlashM wrote:To those of you who are just starting out and want to play it safe with just one FP outfit, I don't think I've ever had a gig where black pants and a 3/4 length sleeve black knit shirt wouldn't have been appropriate, style-wise. It goes from festivals to country clubs. Black closed shoes and socks keep the look tidy.

An array of hats or headbands can add whimsy if you need it- bunny ears for Easter, heart antennae for Valentine's, etc. A lot of Texas face painters wear black artist's berets. I love the glittery baseball caps!

Outdoor events require weather-appropriate gear, of course.

I made one sad mistake in costume. I bought a cute white cotton kimono top with a colorful print I thought would be great for the hottest outdoor temps. But the big bell sleeves didn't work out well. Kids could look right down my sleeves on my raised painting arm. Not a catastrophe- just a great view of my bra and armpit and kinda sloppy.

I completely agree! Mostly I wear black Dickies, either capri or pants, and a black polo with fun accessories. Although, sometimes depending on the gig/client I wear a modest black dress with black tights and boots along with the colorful accessories.
Oooh, yea. I can see were the sleeves would be a problem!

After my 1st year I ALWAYS dressed up - it started as a sort of safety camouflage as local kids recognised me and having a bunch of unknown under 15s turn up on my doorstep 9 am in the holidays asking if I 'needed to practice face paints' on them wasn't welcomed by us or their parents!

Also it tends to get you remembered/ noticed more at gigs AND more pics taken. All of my outfits have mu www etc on them aside from a few blanked for corporate bookings/ gigs for other painters.
PLUS its FUN. Kids love it, it alays raises a smile from adults and its a good excuse to get out of what I usually wear. We are classed as entertainers after all!

Here are some of my early ones: my wings I made to sell originally then realised they make people back off and give me painting space too!


I tweak it for various gigs/ seasons




I find it easier to adapt 'normal (if mad colour) dresses etc (always bought 2nd hand or on sale - never cost me much!) as all the stuff sold as fairy etc costumes is wayyyy to short or low-cut to wear around kids, let alone work in! I have a couple of goth net skirts that go under just about every outfit. I stick to bright or dark stuff that can be chucked in the washing machine if I get paint on it. I also have 2 funky bumbags which can be tweaked to match whatever I'm in to hold money/ camera etc.

I mainly work at a woodland park so it tends to be about warmth: there I'm all greens/ browns/ leafy as a 'Twiggle' and only get away with wings at Halloween! (when I also have so many layers on I can hardly bend my arms/ knees).


my latest rainbow set is this (now with my old purple underskirt, looks better) and I now have an awesome rainbow wig - this feather boa as a head dress was a pain thats the only time I wore it! I'm more often a far calmer dark pink flowered fairy in a dress i added lots of ribbon flowers to but I haven't pics of that I think...

Corporate/ adult stuff I am in smart logo'd black or my 'grown up' fairy costume which is my green wedding dress....
Smart is small logo front, big on back, like this...

On;y problem I find is at clubs etc you often get mistaken for bar staff if you are dressed 'normally' in a shirt!
Cat x

I usually wear a pair of black yoga pants and a colourful t shirt then paint my face to match my shirt so if I wear pink then I have pink swirly eye designs etc. For Halloween I was asked to wear a costume which I hate because it interferes with what I am hired for in my opinion. I dont sell myself as a character I sell my image as an artist and comfortable makes me a better painter. So this year I bought a puppy dog head band wore a brown shirt and my usual pants painted my patches on my face and a dog collar with the name boo... was I a typical witch... hmmm no and I love to dress up for halloween but I am more of a blood dripping flesh hanging kinda girl not so kid friendly.
For christmas I will wear a hat or a snowflake headband and then paint myself with a festive design. I am also plus sized and I find costumes either too hoochy or too much like a pricey paper bag and both of which I would be embarressed to wear I dont think I will ever make a good clown by any means so I just let them know I strictly facepaint and they should hire a magician or a clown if they want a costume. Dont some people charge more for costumes? Maybe I should say $100 extra per costume appearance and then I wont be asked anymore