Cheap plastic zipper
December 6, 2006
My friend, Brinsfield, was having a Halloween party at his house in North Hollywood. Well, more accurately, I bugged him to have a party at his house as he swore the year before was his last. I even helped him decorate. Going over there on weekend for a few weeks to set up the Jar Jar dart board, the Death Star mural, the Imperial symbol drapery, the Yoda Hut, the Jawa, etc, etc.
I decided to wear my new Han costume to his party because Anakin wasn’t done yet. I also kind of wanted to save Anakin for the Nickelodeon costume contest. You know, show off the current duds.
I squeezed into my 70’s era slacks and headed over to his house. The party was great and everything was going smoothly. My friend Eryne asked me, “Those pants look tight. How are you going to go to the bathroom?” I could only answer, “I hadn’t thought about that.” I truly hadn’t. I had neglected to realize I would be drinking beer and most likely going to wizz about every half hour in my hard-to-get-zipped-up slacks. So the moment finally arrived when I couldn’t hold it any longer and I went to relieve myself. When I went to zip back up I breathed in and pulled and heard a rip and a pop and looked down and the zipper had come off the track. I quickly scooted into Brinsfield’s spare bedroom to try and fix the pants; to no avail. The whole time wondering how funny it would look if someone came in. Me sitting on the bed, pants around my ankle, fiddling with something in my crotch…
Anyway…
I decided to make a quick getaway and head home and put on my other costume. This being the only time when making 2 costumes was advantageous. I headed out the door quickly, drove home, changed and came back. Everyone puzzled by my absence and return in a different outfit. They all chuckled at my story and I spent the rest of the night trying to keep my pleather tabbards on my shoulders as I hadn’t yet added velcro to keep them in place.
The worst part of losing Han for the night was it happened before my friend Molly showed up. She had done a ANH Leia dress. We worked on our costumes at the same time and shared a lot of knowledge with each other. I really wanted a picture together. But it wasn’t to be. The moral of the story kids?
Have metal zippers sewn into your tight 70’s action slacks before you do drinking.
The busting of the zipper would actually kind of hault my life as everyone’s favorite smuggler until sometime in the spring. But, from there, it would prove a step into a larger world.
