Fancy looking stupid?
Last week I was invited to a fancy dress party. A Halloween fancy dress party. Obviously under normal circumstances this would be no problem. I would have lied and said I was busy, lied and said I was going and not shown up or gone but steadfastly refused to dress up. However, these were not normal circumstances. This involved my girlfriend's mates. And their fellas. No escape. I have no go.
So, I tried the option of not dressing up. Why is it whenever you try this you end up being faced with the weakest argument in existence? Something along the lines of 'well, everyone else will be dressing up so you will be the one who looks stupid'.
No. The fat guy dressed in a ripped t-shirt and painted green will look stupid. The office-joker on his day off, dressed as a woman and telling anyone who will listen that, hilariously, he has come as 'A Mummy' will look stupid. I will not.
Still, even faced with an argument of such weakness I still failed, got called a miserable bastard and was told I have to go and have to dress up.
So basically I have a week to find a Halloween costume. No ideas yet. But this did get me thinking. In terms of fancy dress parties (a crime in themselves) what is the bigger crime? A really shit costume or a really good one? Is it better to make an effort or to make it clear you have made no effort at all?
In my mind it is undoubtedly the latter. Going to these things is bad enough, but making too much of an effort is merely encouraging it to happen, it gives acceptance to something that should never be accepted. And especially with a format as tired as Halloween, where all the girls will just go as so-called 'Sexy Witches', and compete to look good, whereas the men will try to look as hideous as possible. Where's the fun there? Surely better to go along with the idea of fancy dress in the loosest possible sense (very obviously sellotape two bolts to each side of your neck for example, or wrap some Andrex around your normal everyday clothes). Then you have fulfilled all 'obligations' and can enjoy the party for what it ultimately is. A chance to get drunk with a load of people on the cheap on a Saturday night that coincides (loosely) with a Pagan festival that noone really knows much about.
So, I tried the option of not dressing up. Why is it whenever you try this you end up being faced with the weakest argument in existence? Something along the lines of 'well, everyone else will be dressing up so you will be the one who looks stupid'.
No. The fat guy dressed in a ripped t-shirt and painted green will look stupid. The office-joker on his day off, dressed as a woman and telling anyone who will listen that, hilariously, he has come as 'A Mummy' will look stupid. I will not.
Still, even faced with an argument of such weakness I still failed, got called a miserable bastard and was told I have to go and have to dress up.
So basically I have a week to find a Halloween costume. No ideas yet. But this did get me thinking. In terms of fancy dress parties (a crime in themselves) what is the bigger crime? A really shit costume or a really good one? Is it better to make an effort or to make it clear you have made no effort at all?
In my mind it is undoubtedly the latter. Going to these things is bad enough, but making too much of an effort is merely encouraging it to happen, it gives acceptance to something that should never be accepted. And especially with a format as tired as Halloween, where all the girls will just go as so-called 'Sexy Witches', and compete to look good, whereas the men will try to look as hideous as possible. Where's the fun there? Surely better to go along with the idea of fancy dress in the loosest possible sense (very obviously sellotape two bolts to each side of your neck for example, or wrap some Andrex around your normal everyday clothes). Then you have fulfilled all 'obligations' and can enjoy the party for what it ultimately is. A chance to get drunk with a load of people on the cheap on a Saturday night that coincides (loosely) with a Pagan festival that noone really knows much about.
posted by ChiefMoaner at 11:33 AM
2 Comments:
Excellent 'blog thus far... a cheap, yet decent-looking costume should be achievable if you trawl round charity shops etc. The best advice I ever had was to go in drag to any fancy-dress bash - women won't leave you alone all night. For further tips, you could ask the master of fancy dress, Chez Guevara
(http://smellslikewhitespirit.blogspot.com)
Thanks for feedback and advice Shit. Will check that out.
Just three days to go now. Still no progress, except that the missus has been making noises about not wanting to go. A glimmer of hope!
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