How to Make a Bombalurina Costume

Makeup is a large part of the Bombalurina costume.

Bombalurina is a character from the musical Cats by Andrew Lloyd Webber. She is flirtatious and attention seeking, which is reflected in her brightly colored coat. Making your own Bombalurina costume involves many steps, but does not have to be difficult. Much of Bombalurina's costume is in her detailed face makeup, tail and cat ears. Once those basic aspects of the costume have been met, it is up to the costumer maker to decide how elaborate and expensive the rest of the outfit needs to be.

Things You'll Need

• Face paints or costume makeup
• Teasing comb
• Hair spray
• Orange hair dye spray
• Black hair dye spray
• Shoulder-length frizzy wig (optional)
• Cat ears
• Spiked pet collar
• Leotard (red or orange)
• Leggings (red or orange)
• Black fabric paint (optional)
• Shaggy fabrics (red or orange and black)
• Glue gun
• 2.5 ft of metal wire or 1 metal hanger
• Belt

Instructions

1. Paint your face with face paints by looking at a picture of Bombalurina and applying her characteristics to your face. This should include dark cat-eye style eyeliner, bright orange/red lipstick, whisker dots underneath the nose, and heavy shading of the cheekbones using bronzer.

2. Tease your hair heavily using a teasing comb. Do this until your hair sticks out on its own and appears very frizzy. Use hairspray to keep the hair looking as if it's standing on end. If you are unable to get your hair to act in this manner, use a should-length, frizzy wig. Spray your hair, or the wig, with orange hair dye and use black hair dye to spray a few stripes.

3. Apply the cat ears and spiked color to your head and neck. These are classic parts of the Bombalurina costume and will help ensure your costume will be recognized.

4. Wear your leotard over your leggings. For the best effect, paint black stripes on both the leggings and leotard using black fabric paint, and allow the paint to dry prior to wearing the clothes.

5. Cut strips of the shaggy red/orange and black fabrics and wrap the strips individually around the metal wire to create the tail. Use a glue gun to glue the fabric on the wire as you wrap. Once the wire is covered, it can be looped around a belt and curved in an upward motion. A metal hanger can also be used for this by bending it into a single curvy line.

Tips & Warnings

• For a more adult-look that is closer to the real Bombalurina, use a leotard that has a plunging v-neck or cut your own plunging v-neck into a regular leotard.

References

• Grittlebone: So, you want to look like Bombalurina?
• Belles Domain: Costume Designs