The Wonka Factory: An Inside Tour
In this post, I’m going to walk you through my Willy Wonka costume and show you how to make your own. It’s a lot of fun, but it’s not for the faint at heart. If you want something that knocks people out, this is it. It’s not going to be easy, but it’ll be worth it.
I used the costume to promote my book, How They Started Digital (which is out today). I used the costume in two ways:
– To help me write the book. Every morning I would wear the costume while I wrote and edited. Yes, I look ridiculous, but no one could see me because I was working at home. The result? After a month of writing every day as Willy Wonka, my book was done.
– To launch the book. I wore the costume into work on the first day of launch week and used it as a conversation starter for my colleagues about why I wrote the book and what they could get out of reading it. It was a bit of a risk because most people didn’t know that I had written the book or what it was about. But now they
The Wonka Factory: An Inside Tour
September 30, 2013
One of the highlights of my year is the fall costume party I attend with some of my closest friends. For the past several years, we’ve teamed up to dress as a group. We were the Mad Men characters two years ago, and last year we went as a Scooby Doo mystery gang (Chloe was Velma). This year, Chloë decided that we should be the Willy Wonka characters. She even drew out our costumes for us!
Since I had ended up making all of our costumes last year, I was a little worried about making all these costumes again this year. But I decided to take it on because I love dressing up with my friends and it’s so fun to do something like this together. The deadline for finishing them was Halloween night!
I have been asked several times to do a series of posts showing the construction of my Willy Wonka costume. I am happy to oblige.
This is a costume I made for Halloween. It is not meant to be an exact replica of the costumes used in the production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), but it definitely looks like something Mr. Wonka would wear, and it has all the features one would expect to see on such a costume.
In this post I will describe how I made the hat and coat.
If you’re planning to dress up as Willy Wonka for Halloween this year, then this is the blog post for you. Here’s my step-by-step guide on how to make your own Willy Wonka costume from scratch.
I’m all about homemade costumes, especially when they come out looking as good as these do. I found this post and was amazed at the level of detail that went into making it.
A lot of work went into making it look just like the original, with a top hat, bow tie, cane and even those creepy Oompa Loompa hands.
The Oompa Loompas are without a doubt one of the most iconic parts of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. And there’s so many different ways to go about creating them!
There are tons of tutorials online for how to make an Oompa Loompa costume, but this one is by far my favorite because it’s so easy and doesn’t require any sewing or glue gun skills.
The author goes through each step in great detail with photos so you can see exactly what they did and how they created their Oompa Loompa costume.
Currently I am working on my own Willy Wonka costume for Halloween. I wanted to make a costume that was more authentic than just a purple jacket, but also not too expensive.
This is the first time I have ever made a costume from scratch, so this is all new to me! I hope to show you what I have learned so far and hopefully inspire you enough to make your own.
I have posted some pictures of the outfit in progress as well as a list of things I used to make it. If you have any other ideas or tips please share them in the comments!
My goal was to make a costume that was reminiscent of Willy Wonka, but not necessarily specific to any one movie or time period. I wanted a costume that would be comfortable, mobile, and recognizable. I think the following are the most important elements of a Willy Wonka-esque costume:
*A black top hat with a band around it.
*A black bowtie.
*A purple velvet coat or suit coat.
*A white shirt with a long collar (flipped up.)
*Pants that are either black or the same color as the coat you’re wearing (I found some purple corduroy pants online for about $18, which were perfect.)
*Black shoes.
Top Hat: My first goal was to find a reasonably thick black top hat without any sort of design on it. I tried several local party stores and even went to every single store in my local mall, but had no luck finding one. Eventually I looked online at Amazon and found this hat for about $20. It’s good quality and looks great! Of course I had to order it well in advance because it was shipped from China, but it’s definitely an essential part of the costume.
In the 1971 children’s movie “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,” the eccentric owner of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory gives five children a tour of his candy-making operation. This year, many adults will don costumes of the five children who won this special opportunity to dress up for Halloween.
In order to make a Charlie Bucket costume, you will need only a few inexpensive items. You can find most of these materials at local department stores or your neighborhood thrift store. Begin with a corduroy jacket and a pair of brown corduroy pants. The length of the pants should be short enough to allow your knees to show, as they did in Charlie’s original outfit.
Next, you’ll need to locate an orange shirt and a matching knit cap, which were worn by Charlie when he entered the factory. Another option is to purchase an oversized white T-shirt and use fabric paint to create an orange stripe across the front.
For Charlie’s footwear, wear a pair of scuffed black shoes or sneakers with white socks that are long enough to show above the shoe tops. Finally, top it all off with a brown paper bag hat. Use construction paper or fabric paint to add the appropriate label: “