Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume

Over the Rainbow Halloween Costumes & Your Own Twist Link Up #37

Your Own Twist, Jersey Girl, Texan Heart, Shelbee on the Edge, Halloween Costumes, Wizard of Oz costumes
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume

It is almost time for the spookiest day of the year as I am sure you know because your social media feeds are probably overflowing with all things Halloween. While many people may not celebrate Halloween, I am beginning to view it as one last easy holiday before the craze of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s celebrations is upon us.

I do have to credit my kids in part for helping me to become more enthusiastic about this seemingly pointless holiday. But I also have to credit sweet Monica as well. Because before Monica prompted me to join her with my Halloween costume, I had only ever shared two Halloween posts on my blog. The first one featured a black velour bat hoodie and the second one was about a Halloween party hosted by Torrid.

Then Monica and I decided to begin this Your Own Twist series in October of 2018 with a Halloween post where we both inadvertently styled fashion icon outfits for the prompt. The following October, we both styled our giant unicorn heads for the Halloween. And in October of 2020, we coincidentally both wore skeleton inspired outfits with colorful wigs.

Since Halloween is Monica’s very favorite holiday ever (she even had a Halloween wedding) and the first style prompt that kicked off this series four years ago, we are sticking with it again for the fourth consecutive year. Monica was expecting the arrival of her sweet baby Scarlett sometime around now, so she sent me her Halloween costume photo early enough so that I could coordinate mine. As you can see, Monica went for a (pregnant) Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. And then baby Scarlett decided to arrive early on October 7. Monica has shared her beautiful birth story in her post, Scarlett is Here! Congratulations to my dear friend and her gorgeous new baby girl!

Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume

Before I received Monica’s Halloween photo, I really had not even thought about what I was going to do for my costume this year. But when I saw it, I knew right away that I would stick with The Wizard of Oz theme in one way or another. I do like to shop my closet for Halloween costumes rather than spending unnecessary money on some junky costume that will fall apart after a few wears and end up in a landfill somewhere. Gross. I first considered creating some kind of witch costume, either good witch or bad witch, but honestly that idea just bored me to death. The next thing to pop into my brain was the Tin Man. I do have lots of silvery things in my closet that I could create some kind of tin-inspired outfit.

Or I thought I did.

Still not wanting to purchase something new for a costume post, I went back to brainstorming and took a trip to the Halloween store to see what kind of inspiration I could find that may translate to things in my closet.

That failed, too. Probably because I had now somehow gotten my heart set on the Tin Man. (Yes, that pun was intended.) Then, as if the universe were listening to my stubborn Halloween heart, I spotted this silver metallic scuba skater dress on the clearance rack as I was passing through Burlington Coat Factory to leave the mall in a state of defeat.

It was a bit too serendipitous to ignore so I had to try it on. Unfortunately, it was a junior’s size large which is just a bit too small across my non-junior’s sized chest and will only zip about half way up the back. But the dress was too perfect for what I was now imagining as the Tin Wife instead of the Tin Man. It was $16 which is actually much cheaper than a poorly made Halloween costume from any Halloween costume retailer. But I had to figure out what to do about the unzippable back.

Again the universe guided me…straight to the clearance sweaters where this silver cardigan was sitting there begging to be paired with my silver dress. The sweater was $7. With a little creative layering, I was able to put together a complete Tin Wife costume.

I picked up two different plastic funnels for a few dollars at the hardware store to make into my hat. Jeff spray painted the funnels with chrome paint and then we affixed the smaller one to a plain black headband with double sided tape. I decided to use the longer funnel to carry a bouquet of flowers as if it were the Tin Man and the Tin Wife’s wedding day. And then I added some metal washers to my earrings and necklace just for fun and used silver eyeliner on my lips. In total, I spent less than $30 to create this whole costume.

Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume

Little known fact about the Tin Man’s wife is that she was a very well respected midwife in the land of Oz and since Dorothy was expecting the arrival of her glittering little Scarlett, the most powerful and magical of all the good witches in Kansas and beyond, she really did need the assistance and protection of the Tin Wife and her advanced midwifery skills!

Of course, I am joking. Actually, the original Tin Man, aka Nick Chopper, never did get married. Later Oz books show the Tin Man seeking his lost love, Nimmie Amee, who was the munchkin maiden who captured Nick Chopper’s heart in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. However, she was not given a name until The Tin Woodman of Oz when he began his search for his lost love. The Tin Man’s munchkin love was a servant whose lady did not wish her to marry. The lady sought the help of the Wicked Witch of the West who placed a spell on the Tin Man to chop himself up during his work. In The Tin Woodman of Oz, Nick Chopper retells the story differently, stating the witch imprisoned and enslaved Nimmie Amee herself.

Despite the gradually advancing spell on the Tin Man, Nimmie Amee still wanted to marry him. However, once he lost his heart, he lost interest in marrying her. In one book, the Tin Man lost his heart after his head and in a subsequent book, he lost his heart first and his head last. Nick’s body parts along with the body parts of Captain Fyter who also wooed Nimmie Amee, were incorporated magically into a new character, Chopfyt. Because Chopfyt consisted of parts of both men that she loved, Nimmie Amee married him instead.

As morbidly bizarre as that story of the Tin Man is, I am very glad to report that the character of Chopfyt as well as his entire back story is absent from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. Watching The Wizard of Oz with my father is one of my very earliest memories, so like many others reading this, this book and film and all of its best known and most beloved characters holds a very special place in my heart. And my Tin Wife costume is one of my favorites that I have ever created!

Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume
Tin Woman/ Tin Man Costume, Silver dress, Halloween costume, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge, Wizard of Oz Costume

About Your Own Twist

Your Own Twist is a monthly link party hosted by Monica of Jersey Girl, Texan Heart and me on the third Thursday of every month with the goal of inspiring some of our friends to get creative with personal style.

The idea behind this collaboration is to take one common piece or theme and style it our own way with our own twist…Monica and I have both taken a lot of fashion inspiration from one another over the past few years even though we have totally different styles. It is always fun to see how we can interpret similar items in unique ways or what kind of twist we will each bring to the chosen theme.

We will let you know the themes well in advance in the event that you would like to use the theme for your own post and add it to the link party. However, any fashion posts are welcome regardless of whether you used the theme or not. Check out the graphic below which has some of our upcoming style prompts.

Featured Favorite from Inspired by Country Music

Carrie of Curly Crafty Mom shared her post, Warm Hues for a Fall Dress. While I know her outfit is not inspired by country music, I think it is the perfect outfit to wear to any country music venue. I love the combination of a short dress and booties. Add a hat and you are ready to two step!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Happy Halloween, my friends!

Keeping it on the edge,

Shelbee

Joining these Fabulous Link Parties.

I am a 40 something Army wife and stay-at-home mother of 2 boys and 2 cats named Dave and Frankie. I have a passion for helping other women feel fabulous in the midst of this crazy, beautiful life.

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