I get Dorothy comparisons all the time, and it’s not hard to see why with my penchant for red sparkly shoes and gingham prints. That being said, the good news is that it’s therefore pretty easy to make a Dorothy costume, and since the film was made in 1939 Dorothy herself is already vintage, so we don’t really need to give her a pinup makeover.

For my outfit I layered the Lindy Bop Marlene dress in blue gingham over a Forever 21 peplum white shirt I got a few years ago. I used ribbon I happened to have lying around to tie my pincurls into loose pigtails, but you could get as elaborate as you want with your hair to channel a little more vintage style into this look while still giving off Dorothy vibes. I used a basket we already had in the shed and placed my little Toto in it. Toto wasn’t a Dalmatian, I know, but I went with what I had, and I doubt the average Halloween-celebrator will get that up in arms if your stuffed dog is the wrong breed. If you’re that concerned about dealing with nitpickers all night then feel free to leave your basket empty; people will still get the idea.

Finally, there’s the ruby slippers. I have a huge thing for red bedazzled shoes, having already made myself a pair of red sparkly heels in the past as well as I pair of matching ballet flats that I wore so often I had to replace with a second pair. If you want to make a pair of these red crystal shoes for yourself you can find my tutorial for how to bedazzle here. The summary of the cost for making my own worked out as £4 for the flats, approx £8 for the gemtac, maybe £4 for the crystals, £1 for a gem picker, and the time-cost of a few hours in front of the TV (I’d guestimate these took somewhere between 4-6 hours, but I enjoy it and have a collection of bedazzled shoes.) I wear my red bedazzled flats 80% of the time, and if you like the idea it’s worth the time investment. Otherwise you can buy glittery red heels or flats on eBay or with a bit of search engine researching. You could probably get away with non-sparkly red shoes even and people would still get the reference.

Any white shirt you have will make do, even a budget £5 cheap basic button down from Asda/Walmart will work. Now summer is over it might be a little harder to find a blue gingham dress if you don’t already have one, so I’ve expanded the search to any light blue dresses and these are the options I’ve found across budgets for you.

Toto and I are off to see the Wizard, now! Cheerio.