A Glaswegian mum has become the talk of the town thanks to some incredible handmade Halloween costumes for her son over the years.
Lauren Mulvey has made a name for herself crafting amazing guising get-ups for nine-year-old Ollie every October. The 31-year-old was initially inspired to start making the costumes after she was unable to buy a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man costume from Ghostbusters so decided to spend two weeks making her own.
Since then, the mum has upped her game every year re-creating iconic film characters such as the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland and Pinocchio, complete with built-in Gepetto.
This year is no different with the mum deciding to take on the challenge of Beetlejuice. The final year photography student at the Glasgow School of Art told Glasgow Live: “Our costumes are top secret.
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“I’m from Govan originally but I stay in Renfrew and I avoid going down to Govan because everyone wants to know what I’ll dress Ollie up as this year. They stop my family in the street and ask them but I don’t even tell my parents till the day of the reveal.
“I’ve got loads of people on my Facebook and Tiktok as well that love to see the designs that we’ve come up with. And Ollie loves it as much as I do, he sits for hours while I create the costumes and is always buzzing to see other people’s reactions.”
Lauren says that she has even been approached by Americans asking if she sells costumes, but says she only does the designs for the joy of the traditional Scots holiday which she says is her favourite time of the year.
The mum, who is a self described perfectionist, had no experience with design or special effects make-up before starting but says she has always had a creative streak with her working as a hairdresser for 16 years before deciding to follow her photography dream at the competitive art school.
She added: “I’ve always had that creative streak. But I’ve never done any courses on costume making or SFX makeup.
“I just brainstorm and then draw a sketch out and decide what I’m going to use and how it’ll come together but it doesn’t always work out. Sourcing the items is the most difficult part, everything has to be perfect.
“This year’s Beetlejuice costume was probably the hardest because every wig I ordered wasn’t right. I ended up ordering synthetic hair and coloured it and then individually glued it to Ollie’s bald cap.
“Making the costumes is very time consuming, this one took around a week and a half but the longest one has taken me is the Mad Hatter which took around four weeks.”
Lauren is always keen to throw in a small trick with her costume, including using fake legs – something she originally used in the Pinocchio design with many believing that Ollie was Geppetto (the old puppeteer).
This year is no different, with the youngster’s legs actually buried inside Beetlejuice’s grave, allowing him to move around – to the delight of trick or treaters.
Although the mum has left fans gutted after saying that this year is her last, she is leaving the door open to creating another in the future. Anyone wishing to see a behind the scenes on how the mum creates the incredible designs can follow her on Tiktok here.
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