Jeannie or Samantha? Endora of course! There’s something about playing Jeannie and Samantha. I think it’s the idea that you have the power to do anything you can imagine. We lose sight of our own power sometimes. We can do anything we can imagine as long as we follow through and believe. As my mom always reminded me, “Anything’s possible.” I think that’s why I like dressing up in costumes…especially fantastical characters like Jeannie.

There are two officially licensed versions of this costume: the TV costume and the sexy costume. I tried the sexy one this time around. It shows more cleavage than the 60s TV censors would have approved (and the belly button!). This costume includes the pants, top, and hat. No panties or shorts are attached to the pants. You will need to wear something under them (I have flesh colored bloomers).

I hope you like glitter, because the costume is covered in it. The veil is attached to the hat. I cut the hat down a bit because the circumference was too big for my braid. My hair isn’t long enough for a full braid to circle the hat like Jeannie’s braid does. I’d recommend investing in a clip-in ponytail or braid hair. The fake hair will be easier on your head and look great. For shoes, I wore beaded slippers. They’re great all-purpose costume shoes. You should look into finding a pair to keep in your costume closet.

For the makeup I referenced publicity shots of Barbra Eden. She wore false eyelashes and used blue eyeshadow. I kept the rest of the makeup in the pink family to coordinate with the costume. First I used black eyeliner on my eyes. Then a sweep of blue shadow across the lid. I put shimmer pink below the brow to brighten up the eyes. Then I applied basic black eyelashes to the upper lid. The finishing touch is a bit of light pink gloss. It’s not perfect, but I’m pretty happy with the look.

The eyes are key to dressing as a genie or other exotic character. Sweeping eyeliner upwards a la Elizabeth Taylor is all you need to do. Long fake eyelashes will help, but if you don’t have any or are uncomfortable wearing them, don’t worry too much about it. Add a second coat of mascara to bring out your natural lashes. Shimmer and frosted colors can be nice too, but use them sparingly. A little glitter goes a long way. When you want to play up one feature, downplay your other features. When you emphasize your eyes go light on the blush. Do not confuse exotic with vamp. When you vamp up the makeup you want heavy eyes and dark lips not just heavy eyes.

I had a lot of fun playing in my Jeannie costume. I recommend getting a magical costume or two for those times you need to reaffirm your possibilities.

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Tags: Bewitched, costume, genie, I Dream of Jeannie, Jeannie

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under TV, costumes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.