Most of the low-budget costume ideas I’ve written about have been geared toward women (or men who want to dress in drag). Here’s one for the guys: the Mexican comedic genius of Mario Moreno’s immortal character, Cantinflas.
What you’ll need for the costume:
- Small, beat up hat
- White thermal or henley shirt
- Red bandanna
- Old belt or even some twine to hold up your pants
- Loose, dirty and tattered pants (brown, beige or blue); make sure to wear them low
- Beat up old shoes
- Cigarette
- Scruffy facial hair, but make sure you get the moustache right
- Brown scrap of fabric to hang over your left shoulder (tie it in a knot or two)
I’m not sure where you’ll find a small hat, but you can always try a second hand store.
If you need inspiration to see how he speaks, walks or acts check out YouTube videos.
Photo by thevid used under Creative Commons license.
Other classics are Don Ramon and Tin Tan. If I slim down, I’ll do Don Ramon next year.
Wow! This brings back memories that I had as kid!
My Wife & I were contemplating dressing up as Antonio y Mirthala, but the Cantinflas idea is great [cool Wikipedia link]. Other possibilties for men: el Chavo del 8, el Tapatillo, Bosco, Gloria Trevi [there goes that drag thing again!]. Thanks for the ideas.