How to Make a Zombie Prom Queen Costume

One of the most enjoyable parts of playing with the zombie horror genre is imagining and creating zombies of different “human” roles, professions or positions. Creating a zombie prom queen costume is particularly amusing because it combines one of the most idyllic settings of popular teen culture with the horrors of the walking undead. To become a zombie prom queen, combine disgusting zombie makeup effects with the most iconic trappings of a prom diva.

Things You'll Need

• Old formal dress
• Old dress shoes
• Nylons or stockings
• Formal gloves
• Tea or coffee
• Serrated knife
• Liquid latex
• Paper towels
• Stage makeup
• Translucent makeup powder
• Stage blood
• Food coloring
• Flour
• Hair styling supplies
• Costume tiara

Instructions

1. Obtain an old prom dress. These are easy and inexpensive to find in thrift stores, especially if you buy an older dress or one that's damaged (both of these are suitable for a zombie costume).

2. Distress your clothing. Soak the dress, as well as any gloves or stockings, in a bath of strong tea or coffee to give them an aged, dirty look (if you want it dirtier, splash with real mud and rub with sod). Tear the hems and sleeves in a few places and create holes using a serrated knife. When you're not handling clothing, store it in crumpled balls to make it wrinkled.

3. Create a “turning” wound. While wearing the dress, make a large wound on your body that will serve as the chew marks that turned the prom queen into a zombie. If the wound is on an area covered by the dress, cut ragged holes in the dress to expose the skin. Apply liquid latex-soaked strips of paper towel to your skin and let this dry (this will take 10 to 25 minutes, depending on how much latex you use).

4. Give yourself additional zombie wounds. Apply more strips of latex-soaked paper towels to your skin or to areas where you've exposed skin under clothing. Let the towels sit on your skin in crumpled patches rather than stretching them out to lay flat; this will create the appearance of ragged, torn flesh.

5. Color all exposed skin and latex with a coat of zombie flesh-colored makeup. Find or mix a color made up of pale flesh tone stage makeup (compared with your skin's coloring) plus a touch of green or gray, and apply wherever your skin is showing while wearing the dress. Cover with a coat of translucent powder to help keep the makeup in place.

6. Apply blood. Smear blood thickly wherever there's a latex wound and to any cloth surrounding these areas. Splash blood all over your clothes and body to imitate the appearance of cast off from “meals.” Smear plenty of blood around your mouth, neck and hands, and apply blood to the bottoms of your shoes to make it look as though you've trodden in it.

7. Create black gore offal. Mix a couple tablespoons of flower with a few drops of black food coloring and enough water to form a thick paste. Place dabs of this on wounds and bloody areas.

8. Do your hair. Style your hair as you would for a prom, then smear fake blood and brown makeup or dirt into it, mussing your hairdo as you do so. If you're wearing an updo, pull some of the hair out. Rat any long, loose hair strands by back-combing them. Break off parts of the tiara (if it has gems, pop a few out) before wearing it.