Halloween Schmalloween.

I spent most of Saturday searching for the shortest, highest-waisted shorts, cheapest fishnet tights and retro-est top to complete my pin-up girl costume, all the while stressing about what I was going to do with my hair--pin curls, tedious, out of the question. I found the shorts at Forever 21 as well as the top and a two-pack of fishnets for under $4. Halloween schmalloween.

My most beloved purchase of the day was unexpected and arguably unnecessary, but nonetheless beloved. Standing in line at Sephora with false eyelashes in hand, I looked to my right to find a display of roll-on perfumes. Kenzo's Flower caught my eye first, only because I was immediately reminded of Kenzo's Tokyo worn by J, selected by me now two years ago. Tokyo is sweet, with strong pine undertones, and it's such a good scent for him, a mountain-man at heart. Flower was also sweet, a little musky, and quickly forgotten as I looked to the bottom row and spotted Fracas by Robert Piguet: gardenia, musk, rose. It's been my mother's scent for as long as I can remember, and she's even got a lovely little story about how she discovered it working at a cosmetics shop in Cambridge in the 70s. It's very clean and sharp, in the same way that black tights with black pumps are clean and sharp, in the same way that red lipstick, the right shade worn with the right complexion, can be clean and sharp, surprising and simple and just always fashionable. So there you have it, that's Fracas, and the velvet pocket the roll-on came in was almost too much.



So, yes, Halloween schmalloween: Plans were made with girlfriends to go to J's work party as a troop of pin-ups. Sadly, girlfriends were accosted by some malicious young residents of the Northside on Friday night--both were okay, amen, but too shaken to participate in Saturday's debauchery. I decided to stick with the pin-up plan. Moments before we were to leave for the party, with J on my couch as a last minute Waldo becoming too engrossed in MTV's My Super Psycho Sweet Sixteen, the zipper busted on my final-sale Forever 21 shorts (surpise, surprise!) so French Maid it was. I was able to put the fishnets to use, as well as the top-hat headband and chiffon and lace apron I bought a few weeks ago in the early stages of costume planning. Also put to use my American Apparel scoop-back dress in black, which so far has only made it out of my closet for costume parties oh and once for a show at the Brillobox this summer. The party was fun, but mostly I stood beside Waldo, sipped on Frozen Brains and munched on Peanut Butter Eyeballs while the Yankees-Phillies game was on in the background.