Creative Expression through Clothing at Escape: Psycho Circus

Every year, Americans participate in one of their largest holiday traditions, Halloween. This past weekend, Insomniac held their sixth annual Escape Halloween event in San Bernardino, California.. Escape: Psycho Circus. Thousands packed into the NOS Event Center for two days of Halloween horrors.

During the event, I noticed this event was the full of freedom and creative expression. One can truly recognize how much heart and soul was put into homemade clothing and accessories. Some people stuck to your standard festival attire with an addition in characterization, and others took full advantage of the Halloween tradition and dressed in some of the funniest, creepiest costumes I have yet to see.

Wigs, face paint, and masks were just some of the favored accessories. Tons of group and couple costumes were present, allowing friends to bond in preparation for the event. Walking into the festival on day two, I ran into two ladies that did just that. Tyler and Frances decided to be two different queens to represent their contrasting personalities.

“We both love to dress up and stand out from the crowd a bit. When we were planning on going to Escape, we knew we had to do something rad because it wasn’t just a regular rave. I had mentioned that I thought it would be fun to be the queen of the dead or queen of darkness or something among those lines. Her being the polar opposite of me, she knew that being an ice queen would be the perfect fit, something very true to us, and super fun!”

Agreeing on the idea, they decided to go shopping to find the perfect materials to make the costumes.

“It took us about a month to make them. My costume wasn’t too difficult to make, the top and the crown were super simple. Her skirt on the other hand was a pain in the ass! We spent 2 weeks making that skirt and multiple beers to get the creative juices flowing.”

Putting together your costume is one element that makes these events as special as they are. Throughout the festival, I recognized many creative minds that put their heads together to come up with what they thought to be the best costume idea. This crowd favorite has been carried on from the underground techno influenced events that began in the early 90’s. At Escape, it being Halloween also contributed to this idea.

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