COSTUME: Miss Argentina from "Beetlejuice"

One of my all time favorite movies is "Beetlejuice". It came out when I was a kid, and too young to watch it. However, when I was a teenager, I watched it and finally understood why I was called Lydia for many years. "I, myself am strange and unusual." Really it's because I look a bit like Winona Ryder, since I was a kid. However, being strange and unusual didn't help either...or maybe it does in other ways. Though Lydia is one my favorite characters in the movie, Miss Argentina is another. While I don't like how she became a servant in the afterlife, I love her unexpected costume and makeup, and wit.


This is the scene from "Beetlejuice" explains how Miss Argentina died. This was the only clip I could find of her.

COSTUME
Miss Argentina's costume has a few different elements. Her dress technically is a paisley print, but I couldn't find one to add for the collage below. You could make one for an accurate costume. I suggest buying a pattern for that (if you don't know how to make your own), since the bodice is fitted. Otherwise, you could use a red semi fitted dress with a sweetheart neckline. I didn't see any images of the length. Most pageant gowns are full length. If you go with a full length gown with shoulder straps, then your cape should be full length too. Otherwise, a knee length dress with shoulder straps and cape combo will do. Either way, make sure you wear blue-green tights with your costume, to match the rest of Miss Argentina's skin. The next big element her cape and wing like piece. This is something you won't be able to find in stores, so you will need to make it. I've shared two good tutorials below that you'll have to combine to make this piece. My recreation in the collage is rough, but the photos above should help you figure out the wing collar shape better. For this, the more glittery, the better. We'll get to that with the related tutorials. The last big piece is her "MISS ARGENTINA" pageant sash. eHow has a great tutorial for making a Prom Queen Sash. Any red heels that match the fabrics will be good for shoes. Everything else is hair, and makeup, which I've put at after the costume.



To make Miss Argentina's wing collared cape you will need to combine two tutorials. The 1st the the easiest, it's a Super Hero Cape Tutorial from ZedesSewingStudio. For the neck measurement, you want to measure the back of the neck going slightly over the shoulders. A neck tie is optional, even though Miss Argentina doesn't have one. Alternatively, you could clip or safety pin the front sides of the collared cape to your dress straps. If you don't want to use the adhesive tape like she does, you can just carefully pin the top before sewing it. I do recommend sewing the top hem, so you have thicker fabric to stitch the wings to. For fabric, something very red sparkly is good. She shows a foil sequin fabric. This is a good selection, but in red of course. Because it's a knit, the edges don't need to be hemmed, though you are welcome to do that of course.


Corinne from Threadbanger shows us How-to Make Recycled Fairy Wings. For this costume, you will only need to make a top set. You want the bottom edges of them to curve slightly around to the front of your neck. like Miss Argentina's do. Instead of adding ribbon ties, you will be sewing the bottom edges to the top edge of the cape. You'll need a pair of red stockings, which you can find cheaply on Ebay. You will also need a lot of glittery dots. Tulip Beads in a Bottle in red would be great for this project. It adds texture, and you could sprinkle red glitter over the top before the beads dry.

MAKEUP
In the video clip, Miss Argentina's skin looks blue. In photos it looks green. The two makeup tutorial I'm sharing are a blue version, and a green version. You could always combine the two colors and go with blue-green...or teal.

Pixiwoo did a blue Miss Argentina Makeup Tutorial. I love her blue and purple eyes, and contouring. I don't recommend spraying the wig with red paint that will come off on your hands. However, the styling of the wig is great. If you can find a nice or semi-cheap red wig to put in a messy curly bun, that would be ideal. If you use a nice red lace front wig with bangs, then you should be able to easily style the wig into the bun by using bobby pins.

Lilpumpkinpie05 showed us a great version of Miss Argentina in green. She also shows how to wear this look if you have darker skin. Adding the white and black underpainting helps the green stand out better on a darker or tanned skin tone. I'm very pale, but this would still be helpful for me, to make my skin tone even. You do need to make sure the green skin color is completely even and concealing your natural skin color. Otherwise, the eyes and contouring is spot on.

WRIST SCARS
As we already know, Miss Argentina committed suicide by slitting her wrists. It's up to you if you are comfortable including this part. I know this part can be controversial. Personally, it's something I wouldn't include.

I'm allergic to latex, so when that comes to costumes that would normally use latex, I either can't do the costume, or I recreate the look using other things. For fabric, I use PVC. For the skin, I have to use makeup and do special effects with it. Makeup is easier to remove from the skin than latex, so keep that in mind too.

MrHaiduciin showed a great way to create Wound and Scar Makeup using eyelash glue instead of latex. I might have to try this method should I ever do a zombie makeup

If you are not allergic to latex, you should try to create the wrist scars using either a existing latex prosthetics for cut scars, or create your own. SmoothOnInc shared with us How to Make Fake Scars Directly on You Skin, using Skin Tite. One tip I recommend is to gently shave your wrists before adding the latex. Even if you are female, you could have fine hairs on your wrists. If you do this, then when you are removing the latex, it won't grip to your hairs and pull them out. Think of the pain of a band-aid, but worse.

Per my daughter's suggestion, I leave you with our favorite song and the last scene of "Beetlejuice", the song "Jump in the Line. Shake Senora." This should get you into the makeup mood.

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