This Halloween, I went as Carmen Sandiego. As a young girl, there were so few shows that featured female leads kicking butt, and that’s likely why I loved Sailor Moon, Power Rangers and Carmen Sandiego so much. I’m jealous of girls growing up with Moana today! Anyways my Carmen Sandiego Halloween costume was easy to create, and wearable for daily life too!
I had a bit of difficulty finding a red trench coat, but luckily, Amazon had the perfect red trench coat for under $75. I already had a red hat, but this felt fedora would be an even better match. For my yellow scarf, I picked it up at Obsessions Fashion in the PATH, but this yellow scarf is a similar option.
Daniel dressed up as Inspector Gadget! In my mind, I like to think Carmen Sandiego ran off with the goofy, loveable Inspector Gadget. For this Inspector Gadget costume you need:
- A grey trenchcoat
- A grey fedora hat
- A white dress shirt
- A Blue tie
- Leather gloves
- Four wooden dowels about 3/4″ thick
- Styrofoam balls
- Silver Paint
- Metal joints
- Cable ties
- Rubber kitchen gloves
- Magnifying glass
I wish I could give full DIY instructions for this Inspector Gadget costume, but Daniel created it over the course of a couple days while I was at work. Essentially, he joined two dowels with a joint piece, and affixed those angled dowel arms to the hat with a metal plate screwed through the top of the hat. I would advise to add a counterweight, as he had to add a lanyard to the back (ran underneath his trench) to keep the hat from swinging forward. Stuff the rubber gloves, and use cable ties to keep them together.
It was such a fun costume and I’ve dreamed of doing Carmen Sandiego and Inspector Gadget for Halloween for YEARS! This week was a realization of that dream, and I already am brainstorming for next year.
Previous Halloween costumes:
Moonrise Kingdom: Sam and Suzy