Cruella's Karma

As a HUGE Disney fan, and lover of the villains as much as the heroes, Cruella has always been one of my favorites. While I was in college in New York City, I finally had the opportunity to be my own version of Cruella. She showed up to the party with blood still on her hands. Fresh from having made a new coat, she fit right in with the rest of the killers at the party.

It was an exciting night and filled with many photo-ops and recounting of stories from our characters' pasts. (We were all in the Theatre department at The City College of New York...thesbians). We turned our Halloweens into an entire show and it was absolutely phenomenal! Cruella spoke of the recent coat she was making and how she had recently switched to vape cigs (mostly for costume ease), and had absolutely ZERO regret for showing up still a little dirty from the day.

...

Many years went by and Cruella made more and more beautiful coats for herself. But inside, her soul was becoming dirtier and dirtier.

Then, the darkness started to show itself on her face. Turning her clean visage into one of a mutt. Her most prized white coat turned ash gray leaving only white spots behind making her appear as a dirty dog.

Her face contorted as her discomfort became more and more apparent as it was clear she was turning into the animal she most revered for its coat: the Dalmatian. In this case, a dirty, backwards Dalmatian. Her worst nightmare...

This is the backstory I have made for my version of Cruella. I had always imagined her a little more sadistic (okay, maybe a LOT more) than the Disney version.

My Cruella did it all. It was her who found and killed and skinned the animals she needed for her precious coats. Not some henchman.

The smell of warm, fresh blood was irresistible. Feeling the smooth fibers of fur being pulled and torn away from muscle and bone sent chills down her spine in a way that made her feel invincible. Sadistic and cruel, with a vengeance for power.

That is the Cruella I wanted to embody and show. I think I pulled it off fairly well. And even if I didn’t, I sure enjoyed every second of putting my costumes together and getting to strut around different cities as my favorite Disney villain. Halloween is such a fantastic time for imaginations to soar, and I let mine shoot "to infinity and beyond!"

Both costumes were self-made. Always the best (in my opinion). My entire second costume actually came from a multitude of pieces I found at my local thrift store. The gray coat was perfect and I bought a white shirt I was able to cut into tiny circles and hot glue them directly on my coat. I found the white hat there, the gloves, the dress AND the red shoes! One of my more successful trips, and it sure paid off! I spent about a day or so completing the coat and a few more days hand sewing the red lining over the interior to give it a more pronounced look. (The first costume was an array of things I had laying around my New York City apartment at the time).

It is always so fun when you can gather knick knacks around your own house and make them into something you can actually be proud of!

I think I did a pretty good job, and I definitely walked around like I was owning every aspect of my outfit. It was a great year to be in L.A. the second time around and get to go around to different bars Halloween night to show myself off.

*As a side note: if you would like to see Disney’s take on Cruella’s background, watch her episode in the villains season of Once Upon A Time. It is quite the spin. It is the 11th episode of the 4th season titled, Cruella De Vil. Very fitting*