OCTOBER 2 0 1 9 I BOROMAG.COM 41
Marilyn Monroe in Space
If you work in fashion like Astorian
Mitch Fehrle, then you might enjoy making
your friends’ fierce Halloween outfits
just as much as you like creating yours.
Fehrle’s friend told him she wanted to
be “Marilyn Monroe in space,” and he
designed a costume that would suit her
and her imagination.
“Marilyn was a bad-ass curvy icon of
her time and so is my friend, so the costume
worked perfectly. I saw a fashion
designer (Rie Hosokai) that used animal
balloons in her work. Once I saw her
dresses, I knew that technique would be
perfect for the costume,” Fehrle said.
According to Fehrle, the materials
were pretty much just the animal balloons
and an air pump. The designer
spent two hours on Halloween night tying
the balloons together (the balloons
only have about 48 hours of life in them
after inflating).
“It’s a good idea to do a little practicing
with the balloons before the big night.
I did some prototypes figuring out how
to tie the dress since I was going for a
specific character. If you're not super
experienced with animal balloons, don't
fret. Just the novelty of an animal balloon
costume was interesting enough
for people,” Fehrle said.
Because of the nature of the floating balloons,
it looks like the dress is flaring up
similar to Monroe’s famous steam vent picture.
Once people were told it was “Marilyn
in space,” they got it right away.
“The dress was huge to walk around with
at parties, and we popped a few balloons
as the night went on to make it into a mini
skirt. My friend made some ‘50s housewife
giggles like some of Marilyn’s characters
during the ‘wardrobe change.’ It was a
great bit,” Fehrle said.
Photos courtesy of Mitch Fehrle
/BOROMAG.COM
