I was sorting through photos a few weeks ago on a hot weekend when the weather precluded doing much outside the house. I was making my annual photo book for 2013 – I know – some time behind, but I came across this photo and it reminded me that getting a costume together doesn’t have to mean spending a lot of money.

This outfit was for a night at Barrio, part of the Adelaide Festival in 2013. The theme was phobias and lots of people are scared of clowns. I wasn’t the only clown that night. I joined in with about 25 friends who also dressed up and we ran amok at Barrio.

But I pulled the costume together myself from things I already had in my wardrobe, including items from the op-shop.

The denim overalls I’d bought for my son when he needed a performance outfit as part of Cirkidz. It had been languishing in the wardrobe just waiting for another outing and part of a clown outfit fit the bill. As it was too short for me to use the buttons to do up I roped in some suspenders to do up one side, and some fabric dress belts to do up the other. It must have been a bit annoying to go to the toilet, but I guess I managed.

The t-shirt I had already, and the bowler hat I got from an op-shop. As we all clowned up at a friend’s place, someone with more skill than me did my ‘clown phobia’ makeup.

I like dressing up and acting a part, and I like even more that it can be done with what’s on hand or for a few dollars and a wee bit of imagination at an op shop.

Here is a photo of the group of us (hopefully you can view it) before we got on the bus to head into Barrio.

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