This Halloween, some friends of mine and I are being the Seven Deadly Sins. We have some good ideas already, but I’d love some more input.
Male: Envy, Sloth, and Gluttony.
Female: Pride, Anger, Lust, and Greed.
I’m Anger. I have a pair of black angel wings from a costume from a couple of years ago, and I’m thinking of wearing all red, drawing on some angry eyebrows, and carrying a sword for smiting.
I’m sure you dopers can come up with some really excellent ideas.
Well, if any of your friends are anime friends, have them do some cosplay from Full Metal Alchemist - that show had 7 villians, which were named after the seven deadly sins.
I mean anime fans. :smack: :smack: :smack:
Hmm. Is the intent to have the costume represent the sin itself, or someone who is guilty of the sin?
By your wording, I’m guessing that you wish to represent the actual sins themselves, which is inherently more difficult.
Here are the 7 as represented by some Australians in '02. Might be good for a few ideas.
To represent the sins themselves, I think color is definitely a major consideration. Red with anger (as you’ve deduced), green with envy, etc. Harder for the rest. Maybe black for Greed?
Some random thoughts:
-Pride should carry a mirror. Or a bullhorn. Depends on the party I guess. Something that demonstrates their self-importance.
-Gluttony should have a food item (plastic turkey leg? ham hock? half a banana stuck to their shirt?)
-Perhaps Greed could be bedecked with jewelry and fine linen, and Envy be a crude mock-up.
-Sloth always makes me think of the animal.
An amusing option: The cast of Gilligan’s Island
I recall a while back a humorous article making the rounds of everyone’s inboxes detailing how the residents of GI were physical manifestations of the seven deadly sins.
Paraphrasing from memory:
Pride = The Professor. You’d be overly proud too if you could make a radio out of coconuts.
Lust = Ginger. She oozed sex appeal, and always dressed the part… even while stranded on a desert island for years.
Envy = Maryanne. She was envious of Ginger’s beauty, and ability to look beautiful all the time.
Greed = Mr. Howell. He took a suitcase full of money with him on a 3 hour cruise. 'Nuff said.
Sloth = Mrs. Howell. No explanation required.
Anger & Gluttony = The Skipper. Even after years on a desert island with no meat, he manages to remain overweight. And he was always very quick to strike at Gilligan with his hat.
Which leaves Gilligan, who was, of course, the Devil. It was always his fault that the rest of the “sins” were forced to remain on the island.
well for pride you could have someone following them dressed as an autumn tree… cause Pride goeth before a fall.
Could you do green contact lenses for “Envy”?
I’m guessing a lot of gold/silver for Greed…maybe you could reference Dickens and have the costume fetted with golden chains and cashboxes?
Bacchus/Dionysus could be good for “Gluttony.” (Remember “Hedonism Bot” from Futurama?)
Envy’s going to be the toughest one. It’s a hard sin to express visually.
Lust will, of course, be the most popular one. Post pictures.
Sloth should be nothing more than a cardboard sign with the word “SLOTH” written on it hung around the neck.
Because Sloth would be too damn lazy to put any more effort than that into it.
I can tell you that the show “American’s Top Model” did a photo shoot around the seven deadly sins.
Here is the portfolio from that shoot - maybe you can get some ideas -
You can see close ups in the individual girls’ files
For “Pride,” something completely egomaniacal would do…maybe you could base it off one of any number of dictators (Brezhnev comes to mind, but I think I’ve seen worse, even among Soviet officials—this poster comes close.) festooned with a garish amount of medals, ribbons, etc. A crown of laurels’d work, too.
Anger? C’mon dude, you are Wrath, or Wroth, whichever you prefer. Here’s a quote that may help.
Lion skins, matching rapiers, and lots of scars. Oooh, I want pictures.
Yeah, but even if he puts that much effort into it, how are they gonna get him to leave the house?
I’m thinking instead of Halloween costume types, go for characters. Otto’s suggestion for Sloth is perfect, a real Bill & Ted bonehead slacker dude type.
Similarly, Gluttony could be a Bluto (John Belushi in Animal House) type. Helps himself to the food off your plate while he’s talking to you.
I was thinking Anger could be a frightening wife-beater type, but you’ve got a female in that role, so … Mommie Dearest? Not sure.
Lust (female) - a sexy temptress type, easy enough
Pride (female) - an aggressive, Type A personality yuppie, maybe? Talks on her cell phone a lot, talks incessantly about herself and her accomplishments. I like Ranchoth’s suggestions, too.
Greed (female) - similar to Pride, very materialistic, status conscious. Obnoxious Wall Street type? Very selfish, won’t share or cooperate. Money sticking out of suit pockets?
Envy (male) - whiny, clingy, needy, creepy ex-boyfriend type. Think Crispin Glover. Never happy; wants what you have, but can’t be bothered to actually do something to get his own. An emotional leech. Ugh!
Yeah, want pictures afterwards! 
-Male: Envy, Sloth, and Gluttony.
Envy? The green-eyed monster? Obvious enough.
Sloth? Wrinkled clothes, unkept hair, untied sneakers.
Gluttony? Fat suit, food stains. Thnk Mr. Kreosote.
Female: Pride, Anger, Lust, and Greed.
Pride? I like the mirror idea myself.
Anger? Make that wrath. Red face, arched eyebrows, bowl of grapes which she can angrily offer to people.
Lust? You just leave that in the hands of your ol’ uncle tdn. I’ve got her costume well in hand.
Greed? Dressed up like Chuck Woolery might be a bit too much. Dunno.
Re: the “Sloth” sign.
It should just say “SLO”.
Pride could be an obnoxious soccer mom or grandmother with streams of kids’ photos falling out of the pockets of a track suit.
Envy should wear a lot of pockets and go around stealing things all night: ashtrays, bits of other people’s costumes, the hostess’s earrings, etc.
Greed: a two-year old. Or those seagulls from Finding Nemo that say “Mine! Mine!” all the time.
Refining the Sloth sign: Stenciled *outlines *of all five letters, but only the “S” and “l” colored in. The “o” should be only halfway colored in.
He’s roommates with Gluttony and Envy, they can haul him out of bed.
Anyway, these are all excellent ideas, and I appreciate them a lot. Here’s what my friends and I are thinking of right now:
Lust–80’s hooker. I want to go to the adult superstore and buy her some vulgar accessories, too.
Anger–Red clothes, angry eyebrows, black angel wings, sword for smiting.
Greed–Fake cash, plenty of bling bling.
Pride–“Princess” t-shirt, high heels, autographed pictures of herself.
Gluttony–Big fat belly, trailing food wrappers, maybe food stains all over.
Envy–probably the hardest. I’m not sure what we’re doing for this one yet, maybe all green.
Sloth–unshaven, wrinkled clothes, probably the “SLOTH” sign.
Don’t forget costume is only part of being the character; acting helps too. For Envy this may be the only way to get the idea across; Envy should constantly cut down everyone in sight with spiteful and malicious remarks. Anger, of course, should threaten and browbeat everyone within range; think stereotypical New Yorker on a bad day (“Whadda you lookin’ at?”), or stereotypical fire and brimstone preacher if more fitting to the costume (“You WILL burn for that!”). Sloth should mumble about how tired and stressed he is, and seize every opportunity to sit down or lie down. Lust–whatever won’t get her arrested. Pride should swank like an obnoxious reality show contestant, Gluttony grab everything consumable, and Greed grab everything, period. Think of it as an opportunity to let your bad sides out to play. Have fun!
Another idea for “wrath.” (The geeks will get it. ) There have also been a few other “Lady Punishers” over the years, which might serve for inspiration.
