Morality in Costume Design

Next week, my son and daughter have a special day at school. They are encouraged to go to school dressed as a favourite literary character. My son wanted to go as King Arthur, or at least a knight. To accomplish this, we went to a costume shop and rented a knight costume (which is something that I would never have considered when I was a kid). The rental cost $30 plus tax.

My daughter wanted to go as Oliver Twist from the Dickens book. That took a bit more thought, trying to figure out how to dress her as a 19th-century English orphan boy. What we did was go to a thrift shop and bought the following items in grey or tan:

• A pair of pants for $2.
  
• A scarf, overpriced at $2.
  
• Some used shoes that really aren't that bad for $1.
• A slightly small button-down sweater for $2.
• A t-shirt for $1.

So, the total was like $8. The plan is to cut off the pants below the knees, perhaps with a raggedy edge. We also might sew a few patches on the pants and/or sweater. Plus, she also had the idea to put some black smudges on the shirt and pants.

Thinking about it, we still need to get her one of those caps...

Anyway, the point I wanted to make with this post is that, even though I tried to get cruddy-looking thrift-store clothes to start with, the clothes didn't really look that bad. We haven't done it yet, but it's like I'll feel guilty ruining a pair of nice pants to create a costume that she'll wear only once. I didn't feel particularly bad paying $32 for my son's costume (though I know it's not cheap). But sacrificing wearable clothing to make a $9 costume makes me feel kind of bad. I'm sure there's a reason for that, that someone can explain to me.

Maybe I'll post a photo later of them in their costumes.

Oh, also, we may be doing a bit more thrift store shopping in the future.