Stuff and nonsense

As yall know, I love a good costume. And I dont like buying disposable crap. I dont think these things are incompatible.

I do tend to hoad weird and tacky clothes that come my way, and maybe that's consumerist, I dont know. DBF does a lot more of the buying of tacky clothes, I just left them fall in my lap, or land on the floor of my apartment....

(The sweater that became the peacock jacket was one of these windfalls, for ex. I didnt do any cutting, so if the original owner of this tired set of threads comes looking for it, they can resotore it to its original condition, but they may receive it in peacock form.)

I spent:
sequin fabric-11$- a little expensive, and turned out to be unecessary, though fun. I have more left over for another day- maybe mermaid, next year?
plastic hairband- 1.50$ from dollar store
broomstick skirt-4$ thrift store

(I bought some fabric dye but didnt use it and want it for another project, so not counting that)

makeup-had already (saved it from years ago)-0
halter- had already-0
feathers-found them-0
sweater-found it-0
teal fabric-eighties shirt in stash (sleeves were already cut off.)-0
purple fabric-in stash, no good for anything else (it stains stuff)-0

Total:$16.50. And it *could* have been less than 6$, with only the headband being a purchase of something not used or thrifted.

I never spend much money on a costume, and I try to spend nothing at all, when possible...but its not just about the money, though that is a factor given how often I do this kind of thing, but its also about the concept of landfills of plastic axes, horns, swords,and silly hats----those accessories can be fun, but they cant serve any other purpose than one night of waving around....

At the same time, is the fact that I hoard this stuff still deeply materialist?


(pic to come)

I don't pass it on right away to someone who could use it, even though I don't have plans for it the next year. My acquisition of it still requires that someone produced it and bought it at some point.... (which is a lot of folks objection to used fur and leather). Im still using space storing it, Ive used energy, gas, and shipping to transport some of this stuff cross country, and to and from Nevada a few times. Does my costume cultishness make me a bad environmentalist?

What do you think?