Frodo 2.0
Notice the Elvish pattern on my undershirt. Photo by William Tran.

I’ve always been a fan of costume parties. They’re a window of oppurtunity for us escapists to step into the world under another guise. And one of my favourite guises is Frodo Baggins – or just about any old hobbit. 😉

On the night of the soirée, one of the Catwomen (there were at least 6) asked me a profound question along the lines of, “Why Frodo, Johnny why?”

To which I wanted to quip, “Idiot. Why not? No one would ever dress as Frodo. This is a Hero & Villian’s themed le partay. Who would ever think of dressing up as a poor, helpless little hobbit? Everyone would be dressing up as a generic hero, like Batman or Spiderman. And I think too highly of myself to think of such a literal interpretation of this party’s theme. Coming as someone as understated as a hobbit would be pure GENIUS.”

But in truth, I uttered, “Well, um. I look more like a hobbit than an elf.”

Frodo’s apparel was easy to put together. A dark green cape, a brown jacket and 3/4 pants are enough to fool the passerby into thinking you’re from Middle Earth. But what you need to escalate the essence of Frodo, or any hobbit for that matter, is the feet.  Hairy feet my friends, is the punch line.

Here were some possible ‘hairy feet’ options.

Option 1:  Shoes
C’mon. I’ve invested all this time putting my costume together. My cape was home made! (Read: mum made it). Wearing shoes would’ve just ruined the whole look and feel of the costume. It’s like watching a really good film that has a great lead up to the climax, only having it fall short of a bang at the end. This was not an option.

Option 2: Thongs (aka flip flops for you Americans)
Putting hair on your feet would be the most authentic, but it’s not practical. Why? Let’s think about this carefully.  The arena of play was a nightclub-esque venue packed full of people. People dancing. And all those people would be wearing shoes. Some in particular, like the females, would be wearing heels. Now imagine all those shoes stomping on your heavily-exposed-yet-really-authentic-to-middle-earth-feet. This also was not an option.

Solution: Skin-coloured shoes with feet detailing
This was a win-win. You get the rugged protection of foot apparel as well as the “natural” look of hobbit feet. It’s half-arsed, but hey, it worked. It worked so well that people actually started talking to me for once.

Frodo feet - before
Before

Frodo feet - after
After