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Halloween is celebrated around the world, but in the US costumes can sometimes be taken to another level of craftsmanship and creativity. For many planning and preparation begins well in advance trying to figure out the best way to top their last costume.
Halloween is not just about trick or treating for the Horth family in Miami, Florida. When Reed and Kat Horth celebrate the annual US pastime, they make it a week-long event they call, “Hallo-week.”
CGTN Digital spoke with Kat Barrow-Horth to find out what magical trickery they have brewing for this year’s festivities.
Reed and Kat Barrow-Horth as "Austin Powers 2" characters
How long have you all been doing this "Hallo-week"?
Kat Barrow-Horth: “This is our 4th year doing “Hallo-week” and we started in 2014 when our son was only 3 days old. He was born 10 days before Halloween, which has always been my favorite holiday so I decided to dress the three-day-old son as a Viking and post the photo online. Our friends liked it, so I dressed him up as Tarzan and then Charlie Brown. By the time Halloween came around, our 10-day old baby had been in six costumes. It was probably then that he realized his parents are a bit nuts. The photos seemed to resonate with people, so we opted to do more elaborate costumes the following year. We started putting backgrounds into the shots to make them more realistic like “Walking Dead”, “Labyrinth”, “Vikings” & “Beetlejuice."
Reed and Kat Barrow-Horth in "Mad Men" inspired costumes.
Where do you get the ideas for your themes and costumes?
Kat Barrow-Horth: “Throughout the year we think of concepts for Hallo-week and keep a draft email full of ideas we come up with. Sometimes they come from movies, art or famous people. We will generally start with 25 ideas and whittle down to the 7 that make the most amount of impact and sense. They are not always the easiest ones, but we want a balance between fun and serious. Generally, we try to do a combination of themes each year. As we're a family, we like to do one animated theme that's kid-friendly, for example, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and "Peter Pan". On the flip side, we like to do one that is sort of inappropriate for children. Last year we opted to do "Rocky Horror Picture Show" and this year, we are doing "Scarface." Neither of those is exactly kid movies. We also like to have a classic horror costume as well, for example, "The Walking Dead" and this year "The Shining". As we are art dealers, we are also doing one day of costumes that are an “Odes to the Arts.” This year we have selected Gustav Klimt's "Adele Bloch Bauer" and Andy Warhol.”
Ronan Horth as Andy Warhol
About how much do you spend on costumes each year?
Kat Barrow-Horth: “Believe it or not, a lot of the things we already have. If we are missing items we will try and go to vintage stores first to be more economical but if not, we will go the store-bought route and edit it. … While our goal is to do every shoot in a cool location, that can be cost-prohibitive so we work with what we have. This year we have shots on location in Toronto, Canada, and Miami, Florida.”
Kat, Reed and Ronan Horth as the cast of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"
Which costume is your favorite this year?
Kat Barrow-Horth: “Each time I finish one set of shots, I think “This is the one!” But, then I complete the next shoot and think, “No, THIS is the one”. It is really hard for me to pick. My husband just says, “if you do not feel it is your best work, don’t put it out there”. This year though, I love the Peter Pan pictures. Any toddler dressed as Peter Pan is just adorable, so I love seeing our son dressed up in that cute little costume, but with these photos, we have tried to do the backgrounds in an animated style to be more ethereal, like the movie. He's three years old and this age is so fun. The mom in me just loves these photos the most.”
Ronan and Reed Horth as Peter Pan and Captain Hook
Have your costumes ever been political?
Kat Barrow-Horth: “We are international art dealers and work with clients all over the world so we have been reluctant to do anything that is too political as it may be polarizing to our clients, friend, and family. We are open to taking risks but tend to avoid guns, drugs, politics, and religion. It's supposed to be fun and since we're so inundated with politics all the time, it's kind of nice to have a reprieve. Everyone needs a break sometimes, to pretend they're someone else for a bit. The insanity of Hallo-week kind of keeps us sane.”
Reed Horth in a Vincent Van Goh-inspired painting
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
