Shannan Costume – Wig and Winter Shoot

I knew I wanted a wig for my Shannan costume. First and foremost, my hair is very very fine, thin, and there’s not a lot of it. Shannan, on the other hand, has thick hair. In the book it’s written that Shannan wears her hair in a large braid. Well, I can guarantee you that when my hair gets put back in a braid it’s about the size of a rat’s tail. Seriously. So I decided to save myself the embarrassment and get an actual wig. Now since this was the first time I had ever worn a wig for a costume, I was going to need a little extra help.

Aria Durso is THE wig lady of Middle Tennessee. Although her wig creations tend more towards the fantastical and theatrical, she has experience with more down-to-earth hairstyles as well. (You can see more of her delightful creations here —> http://acd-creations.webs.com/ ) After searching through an untold amount of braid images online, I settled on a style of braid seen on the runway for Alexander Wang’s Spring/Summer 2010 collection. It wasn’t pulled starkly back (as I wanted bangs like in my drawings of Shannan), but still secure and believable to be running around the forest in.

Man I wish I could get my hair to look that awesome every day….but I digress. Aria brought over two wigs for me to try on – one synthetic and one made of real human hair. Ironically the synthetic fit better! (I forgot to mention that in addition to having thin hair I also have a small head more akin to a child’s size than an adult. Don’t even get me started on trying to shop for hats.) So Aria went to town and I was graced with a beautiful wig that could not have been more perfect (EDIT: 12/6/11 – After multiple conventions and photoshoots, it’s only just now falling apart two years after Aria made it.  And I’m still getting comments that people think it’s my real hair!)

In January 2011, we actually had a real snowfall in Nashville! (we tend to only get a dusting every so often) So while everyone else was lobbing snowballs and building their snowmen (alright, so I did kind of build a snow Yoda…), I decided to grab my costume and head outdoors for a little fun photoshoot with my mom. Here you get the see the wig in action!