The decision to be dedicated to growing out my beard was a decision to be Abraham Lincoln. I consulted with my beard mentor Brigham on how long it would take. I stopped shaving and started growing on October 5th 2009. That gave me 5 weeks of solid growth.
For the actual costume I had my Karl Lagerfeld H&M double breasted long coat, a black vest Collin gave me from a production that he worked on, my black wool crêpe pants, and my black boots. I went to the trim store and bought black ribbon - two yards just incase I messed up - which I did. I tied the bow tie on and then I cut it to the historically accurate shape that President Lincoln wore. The hat came from my A. Lincoln birthday party I hosted back in February.
(Side story... I wanted to get a real hat. There was a beautiful one on ebay that I wanted to win. I determined to get it no matter the cost. I figured no matter what I paid for it there would be a market and could resale it for what I paid for it. I watched the auction for five days then put in my bid for $200 and went out for the night. When I got home I had been out bid! It went for $255! Everything worked out in the end though. While waiting in line for the parade to begin it started to raining hard. The top hat was fur and would have been destroyed and lost it's resale value.)
In preparation for my once-in-a-lifetime roll as A. Lincoln I memorized the Gettysburg Address. While at party later that night Hillary yelled out say the Gettysburg Address. I grabbed my jacket lapels and laid out the Address like it was nobody's business. I made two errors... but guess what? - nobody was the wiser. People had looks of surprise and delight on their faces at my recitation. When I finished Collin started a chat of "FOUR MORE YEARS". It caught on through the party. It was a worthy reply for my hard work.
My friend Brittany Watson wrote a most delightful blog post about A. Lincoln's beard. I suggest that you read it.
Oh... there were a few other Abe Lincolns around town that night but they were pretty amateur. First of all, they had prosthetic beards. Secondly - I know for a fact none of them had even thought of taking the time to discipline themselves in the quest to memorize The Gettysburg Address. Nonetheless I salute them for their endeavors and encourage them to keep working on their Lincoln methodology.
1 comments:
You know you can trust a beard mentor if he's named Brigham.
I want a recording of your rendition of the address, please. Thanks.
Oh, and tell Collin that his work inspires me. I'm sure he'll care. Artists care about things like that.
Post a Comment