The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Magenta

It has the word “horror” in the title, but is it a horror movie? I personally categorize it in my Musicals section. Regardless of the official classification, the costumes within the movie are so iconic and definitely a Halloween staple. This would be a great one to do within a group costume. I initially considered dressing as Dr. Frank N. Furter, but when you already have a maid’s costume, the choice is made for you to be Magenta.

This outfit consists of a maid’s costume that has no tag, has been one of my possessions for many, many years, and was a hand-me-down from my mother. I also wore a pair of fishnet tights and these Target black lace up booties with a chunky heel that I got from a secondhand store for $6.99. If you don’t have a maid’s costume, a black dress with white details or a black dress with a white apron would work too!

After seeing this shot from behind, I should’ve moved the white bit towards the back a little further. C’est la vie.

For my hair, I wasn’t going to a buy one wig to be Magenta when it wouldn’t overlap with any other purpose for me. I have a red wig, but it didn’t work for this character. I ultimately decided to just use my current mostly blue hair. Even though I knew it would never end up as fluffy as I needed it, I put it into tiny braids, slept on them, and then undid them for this crimpy result. I think the blue still looks fun enough to not be confused as “just a maid”. But, I also think that anyone dressed up as a maid should always claim they are a visitor from the planet Transylvania. Plus, hair color is irrelevant if you’re using a black & white filter.

Because I have owned this maid outfit for so very long, the headpiece got separated from it ages ago. To stand in for it, I took a piece of white lace that I had in my scraps.

I just folded it up into a shape that resembled the look I was trying to achieve and put some safety pins through it to hold it in place. If I were wearing this out somewhere and not just for a photo shoot at home, I would have put a few stitches of thread into it instead. I then held this pinned piece of lace on the top of my head with a couple of snap barrettes.

For my makeup, I used some Manic Panic Dreamtone Flawless Foundation in Virgin (whitest white) and some Manic Panic Goth White cream powder foundation to achieve the white face. I also used my blackest black glimmerstick from Avon, NYX Super Fat Eye Marker, and black mascara on my eyes. On my lips, I used NYX Liquid Suede Cream Lipstick in Kitten Heels.

For my accessory, I chose a white face mask. This is the only costume I have showcased so far that has a mask built into the outfit. (Both Magenta and Columbia wear white masks in the movie.)

At first I was going to cut off the sleeve of one of my white tees to make a white mask, but then my brother had the great idea to flip my one and only almost white mask inside out to wear the white part on the outside. I didn’t want to get my lipstick all over the pretty printed side, so I slid some tissues in there to act as a buffer. #ProTip

For my prop, I was just going to use a mop or broom, but then, I re-watched the movie and settled on a hair dryer. If you’re going to a showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in this costume though, bring a water squirt gun. Or if I had a gong, I would have probably used that!