Sometimes, the consideration for costumes is less what you want to do and more what you need to do to make it work.
On any given day, Shoryl may or may not be able to walk without significant pain, due to both a permanent back injury and arthritis. This is exacerbated by traveling, both due to the flight required and sleeping on a possibly less-than-stellar bed. In order to manage this, we carry a cane with us when we travel. That means the costume needs to be able to accommodate using a cane.
We had an okay-ish purple sparkle cane, but the foam handle is starting to get a little stiff and hard, and Shoryl indicated it was now the Cane of Last Resort. A new cane was needed.
Thankfully, I managed to find a dashing – but still useful, and that’s important! – cane from Canes Galore. I’d never heard of the shop before, but the cane arrived mostly as described, and will fit in nicely with Shoryl’s black, purple, and grey costume:
Similarly, I may or may not be able to walk without pain on any given day due to bilateral plantar fasciitis. On top of that, there’s an extremely limited number of shoe brands I can wear for anything resembling a few hours on my feet – and since this is a ball and will include dancing, I had to account for that.
This does limit my ability to find shoes that, well, don’t look orthopedic. It also means I pay much more for shoes than I might like, and can’t do things like dye my shoes to match my overdress. Thankfully, The Walking Company had a pair of bronze pumps. I’ve never tried this brand before, but generally The Walking Company is “good enough” for my needs.
It was challenging to find a color that would work with both the teal gown and the orange underdress, but I eventually decided on bronze.
These aren’t necessarily the “fun” parts of costuming, though it can be fun finding the exact right accessory, but it’s still things that have to be accounted for. I’m glad I was able to find these two, and that they work so well for the needs they’re meeting.
A Twist of Metaphor 