Dressing the part

Saratoga resident Amanda Lane greets every Halloween with variety of costumes that show her eclectic interests

Ask most people about their favorite holiday and they may have to give it a little bit of thought. When it comes to Amanda Lane, however, she barely needs to give it a second thought. For Lane, no holiday comes close to Halloween.

"It is my favorite holiday," said Lane.

Around the month of October, Lane often stands out, but she isn't hard to find during the rest of the year, either. She'll be the one who is wearing a flower or some other sort of decoration in her curly blonde hair and she'll greet you with a smile. Lane has worked for Valley Foods for four years, about the same length of time she has lived in Saratoga. During all that time, she has dressed up for Halloween.

"I've always dressed up for Halloween. It's my favorite holiday and dressing up for it is my favorite thing to do," Lane said.

Her costumes are always a mix of popular culture references. Last year, she dressed as Vault Girl from the video game "Fallout 4," Minnie Mouse, Marilyn Monroe and Wednesday Addams throughout October. For Halloween itself, she dressed up as Merida, the main character from the Disney/Pixar movie "Brave."

"I like to know for sure what I'm going to be before the beginning of October, " said Lane. "This year, I had a little trouble figuring it out, but I figured it out like a week into October, that way I have enough time to plan my outfits and order stuff if I need it."

The particulars are important to Lane, which is why she will occasionally need to order something. One previous Halloween, she dressed up as the character Elizabeth from the video game "Bioshock: Infinite" and needed to find the right accessories.

"I like to have little touches, like when I was Elizabeth from Bioshock (Infinite)," Lane said. "She has this little broach that she wears and I ordered one and it was round and it was supposed to be oval, so I reordered a different set so I could have the oval one."

When it comes to planning her costumes, Lane doesn't start out with any particular theme. Often, what she has on hand goes into her decision making.

"I have a really eclectic taste when it comes to stuff; whether it be video games or movies and sometimes it happens with the outfit I have," said Lane. "Like Minnie Mouse, I happened to have a red and white polka dot dress and I had bought a headband with little Mickey Mouse ears, so that just kind of came out of that. I already had the little dress gloves, so it went all together."

The same went for the Marilyn Monroe costume that Lane wore last year. She already had the type of dress worn by the actress in the movie "Niagara." Lane's eclectic taste extends to the 1950s and 1960s pin-up culture. With the dress already in her collection, all she needed to do was purchase a wig to complete the ensemble.

"Sometimes it's just kind of a eureka moment when I decided what I want to be, which is kind of what happened this year," Lane said. "What do I have, what do I like? I got a piece for this. I can totally do that." 

With some of the intricacy that is put into the costumes, one might wonder how long it takes Lane to get ready for the day when she gets dressed up. As would be expected, it comes down to the particular costumes, but average prepartion time is around a half hour.

"Vault Girl, didn't take a lot of time, though mostly because I did kind of a pin-up, glamor 1950s makeup with it and I pinned my hair back," said Lane. "Maybe 30-40 minutes."

According to Lane, customers often comment on her costumes, telling her that they look forward to seeing what she will dress up as. What has become a tradition began under the previous manager of the store, Tim Lamprecht, and has continued under current manager, Adam Clarke. Lane said she was told that, as long as the costumes don't get in the way of her work, they get a green light.

While Lane enjoys dressing up for Halloween, what also makes the holiday enjoyable for her is seeing what costumes other people will wear near the end of October.

"I really like seeing everybody getting dressed up and enjoying it," Lane said. "That's one of the best parts."

 

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