The perils of Halloween cosplay

What we have learned :  When you dress up as Emma but don't quite have your costume together and don't want to wear the wussy, lacy apron you managed to find for $.50 and are also not wearing the sachet you found for $.25 that, when flipped upside down, kind of looks like a sad shadow of a hair cap and are thus wearing a plain, black, extremely simple Victorian dress, people will think you are dressed as a witch even though you are so, so not.

A couple of my co-workers thought I was Jane Eyre because my hair was shellacked to keep its normal flyawayness in check, and I was okay with that since we had to dress up as a character from a book, but I put my formally-booted foot down after a scruffy man and his scruffy teenage son leered at me, snickered, and called me a witch. After I saw them leave, on went the lace apron and the cap that didn't quite match. And no one could think naughty maid thoughts because I was literally covered from neck to wrists to floor.

Halloween cosplay

At work, we're having a Halloween party for area kids, and we were asked to dress up as a character from a book.  Being the huge, poor nerd that I am, I--with the help of a local university's theater department--am almost dressing up as Emma.   (see Emma: Volume 1) 

I guess if I ever really do properly cosplay her, I'll need to find someone to make a nice, sturdy apron, a collar, cuffs, and a cap.  And I'll need to find some glasses.  And a hair-stylist.  Other than that . . .  I'm going to say I'm Emma on her day off.


Have you ever cosplayed for Halloween?  What reactions did you get?