Penguin Wearing a Tuxedo Costume

This is me, wearing the costume!

I came up with the idea at the end of 2019, however, (for obvious reasons) did not dress up in 2020 or have the opportunity in 2021. I have been eagerly anticipating the chance to be a penguin that is wearing a tuxedo!

I love the idea because it’s a funny and cute anthropomorphism we somehow learn as kids (eg: the penguins in Mary Poppins). I researched SO many penguins, and had to decide which one would be best in a tuxedo, recognizable to people, and match how I wanted to feel. I eventually landed on inspiration from emperor and king penguins. Penguins may be black and white, but I love COLOR and was excited to have the orange and yellow.

Step I: How to make the face/penguin head? At first I thought I would buy a baseball hat and paper mache a penguin face; while researching “bird hats” I found a huge selection of latex bird masks, and then I realized I could not only save time, but create something more “realistic” if I built upon one of these masks. I found the cutest bird with a beak long enough to still pass as a penguin! I loved that the eyes were three dimensional and shiny. The cherry on top was the orange color that I was able to cut out and reserve for my emperor orange feathers later on in the process.

Step II: Making the head. My sister helped me to model the mask while I cut apart pieces to turn it more into a hat, than a mask. I used paper mache inside of the beak to make it flatter/pointier. I then spray painted it black (using washi tape to protect the eyes), and shaped/trimmed it further, using double sided Super Glue tape to adhere in spots where it needed to be “tighter”.

Step III: Becoming an emperor. Cutting and adding the orange pieces; voila! I am now an emperor penguin. The orange on the head/neck is leftover from the original mask, the orange on the beak is foam I hand painted orange and then taped. My mom had the idea to add white around the eyes; it’s not a characteristic of emperor penguins (although it is of others) but I LOVED how it made the eyes pop and gave it a cartoon-like quality. The white is made of thin foam slivers that are glued down. To create a tighter silhouette on the head I added a chin strap (made of bobby pins & an old hair tie).

Step IV: What to wear? I needed to create a tuxedo, or at least the illusion of a tuxedo. I was extremely surprised to find that collecting the pieces for the body part of this costume was much harder than pieces for the head. I also began purchasing pieces as early as Labor Day, and good thing I did, because there was a lot of trial and error and returning items. It was incredibly hard to find a tailcoat that worked for a woman’s body, and I was steadfast that tails needed to be part of the silhouette. I browsed several vintage and thrift shops with no luck. I purchased two men’s tuxedo jackets, both of which were far too large and wide for my 5’2” frame. I bought a female magician costume that was the right look, but poorly made and likely going to fall apart upon first wear. I resorted to “sexy” costumes that had tails. I tried a bunny one that was terrible, but I also found something that worked: a ringleader leotard, in black, with tails attached to the body.

Step V: Making it a tux. I had found my tails, now I needed to make the whole thing look like a tuxedo. I removed the epaulettes and buttons on the chest, then used spray paint to make the gold buttons on the tails, and stripes on the stomach, black, and clear nail polish to make the buttons really shiny. I still needed to make the whole thing look more like I was wearing an actual jacket. I tried one vest from Goodwill, but it didn’t have the right buttons or lapel. I found a great double breasted vest online, with a lapel. It fit perfectly with the leotard and blended seamlessly above the tail pieces---it really looked like I was wearing a jacket! I painted the buttons on the vest black as well. I looked online for a collar and cuff set, but they all looked very cheap and flimsy. My mother ended up giving me an old white dress shirt of hers. We cut off the cuffs and used iron on seam tape to finish the edges. For the collar, we basically made a dickey, by removing the sleeves and back of the shirt, and even most of the front; it was the collar, and enough of the chest to show a few buttons and tuck into the vest. I still wanted my costume to have a little bit of flirtiness to it, so I chose to wear black shorts and black mesh tights (which worked well with the black mesh sleeves). We joked about making it a “Playboy Penguin” lol. For shoes (not pictured) I wore orange shiny flats with bows.

Step VI: Accents. Wearing a tux, I of course needed a bow tie, and my mother suggested cufflinks. I had originally thought I would wear red, but my sister suggested that orange or yellow would be better since emperor penguins already have a patch of those colors on their chest/neck. I found a yellow bow tie and cufflink set online and absolutely loved them! Putting on the bow tie really was the moment that gave it the feeling of being a complete tuxedo. I also chose to wear a top hat, and luckily found an ideally sized hat online; it came with a headband, which as first I removed. I was planning to use superglue double sided tape to affix the top hat to the head piece, but I knew once I did it would be permanent. I was hesitant because I was really happy with how the headpiece turned out and thought maybe I would want to not have the top hat on all the time. I am glad I found an alternative: I cut two small slits on top of the head piece that the headband could slip through, so under the headpiece I was also wearing the headband, which kept the tophat on!

Step VII: Finishing touches. While rifling through old art supplies, I found some old Christmas ornaments, including snowflakes, and decided to tape one to the top hat. If there was any doubt someone would know what kind of bird I was, I hoped having a snowy accent would help indicate that I was a penguin. I also had a lot of fun making my eyeshadow a bright yellow to match my costume.

I had an absolute blast making this costume! It was also at times frustrating and near the end I was feeling burnt out, but I had come far enough that I had to finish it!

My materials & costs: Total - $185
- Bird Mask - $18
- Ringleader Leotard - $80
- Vest - $24
- Tights - $15
- Bow Tie & Cufflinks - $10
- White Shirt - Free
- Top Hat - $20
- Spray Paint - $8
- Nail Polish - Free
- Snowflake - Free
- Super Glue Tape - $10
- Acrylic Paint - Free
- Washi Tape - Free

Tips for Making a Halloween Costume:
- Start far in advance! Begin brainstorming and collecting your pieces as early as you can and want to. Once we hit mid September websites and stores begin to run out of things pretty quickly, or go on backorder.
- Do lots of research and have fun with it. I researched all types of penguins, illustrations of penguins wearing tuxedos, the history of tuxedos and tailcoats, and other penguin costumes that have been done.
- Go with your gut. There were so many decisions I had to make with this costume---How did I want the jacket to fit, did I want pants or shorts, did I want a full head piece or just a hat? It took consideration, but each decision was based on how I wanted to feel in the costume. For example, I chose the leotard tails over a men’s jacket with tails because I knew I still wanted to feel cute and feminine while in my costume. Same goes for the top hat---I knew in my gut I wanted it to be removable, I am so glad I found a solution for that instead of just permanently affixing it right away.
- Be flexible and open to changes and new ideas as they come along. At first I was certain I wanted to only have cuffs and a collar, no white chest or buttons. But both of my parents had asked me if the penguin would have a white stomach, so I tried the costume on with the white chest piece and immediately knew it really was the better look for the effect I was going for. Also, the snowflake, for example, was something I discovered the day I was going to wear the costume. It was never in the original design, but a happy discovery once I found it.
- Ask for and accept help! My mom, sister and boyfriend had a big hand in the creative process and helped me figure out what would read well to other people. They also had ideas I did not think of myself (eg: the white around the eyes).
- Go with your strengths. I do not know how to sew, but I do know how to use a hot glue gun and tape! Even glue was problematic, for the headpiece, because I needed to try several shapes, on my own head, before I settled on the final one. I used tape to do temporary holds and was so happy to discover double sided superglue tape because it was easy to apply and essentially immediate (no dry time).
- Remember, sometimes the simplest solution is the best one. While trying to figure out how to sculpt a penguin head, I found the bird mask. It seemed a great solution that saved me time and would give an even better effect than I had ever planned. If you find yourself with a problem you don't know how to solve, I suggest going to a local craft or hardware store; walk down various aisles and see if a specific material sparks an idea you hadn't thought of, or ask someone who works there if they have any ideas.
- Take breaks, give yourself time to digest the process and come back to the drawing board renewed and inspired.
- Have fun! Why else are we doing this?!

Thanks for having a platform for people to share their costumes! I am already excited for Halloween 2023 =D.