One day, Harriet Claire took to Twitter saying “This is what happens when you’re freelance, in isolation, with an extensive fancy dress wardrobe. 10 days of challenges and counting”, followed by a thread of videos of Chloe dressed up in a number of costumes doing a number of things in a number of places.
The idea for the Covid Closet Challenge started off seemingly by accident one morning when the girls were fixing their hair:
“One morning, Chloe put her hair up and it looked like Little My from the Moomins. So, we decided she would complete the look and went to find the rest of the outfit. I then took a picture and we sent it to our friends who found it funny, so we thought we should get people to challenge her. The first challenge was Captain Jack Sparrow—we laughed so much doing it, we thought we should carry on!”
It is truly fascinating to see the two come out with a vast roster of costumes, including that of Jack Sparrow, Mr. Bean, Cruella De Vil, Frodo Baggins, Miss Trunchbull, Marry Poppins, Edward Scissorhands, Elton John, and all five Spice Girls—all of this from the collective wardrobe of Harriet, Chloe and her parents.
Each day, Harriet posts a poll on her Twitter with a number of options of characters for Chloe to cosplay as. When the voting ends, they get cracking on composing the costume: doing research on the character, picking out the clothes, coming up with a scene, etc.
“We only do suggestions that people have challenged Chloe to do, so we never really know [what character to dress up as beforehand]! Sometimes, there will be a character that doesn't win that we really wanted, but we are always true to the challenge that wins the vote,” explained Harriet.
So far, it has been 16 days that they have been doing this. Now, the lockdown isn’t going to be ending any time soon, so this begs the question: how big is their wardrobe?
“Chloe, her family, and I have pretty extensive wardrobes, lots of fabric and craft things, and a backlog of costumes from parties, plays, and dance shows. Chloe's ability to sew is also very helpful, so using a little creativity, there are many possibilities still going!”
She continues: “We have used a few of the wigs multiple times so it's just trying to find a way to keep it original. This is also the case in terms of location, as we are obviously limited to our house and garden!”
The two are staying with Chloe's parents in West Sussex at the moment. All of the photos for this project were snapped either in the house, or around it. It just goes to show how creative people can get despite the limitations.
However, creativity is immense and the project is fun, but, as Harriet says, it’s not without its challenges:
“The biggest challenges are when we don't know the character very well, which was the case for Beetlejuice. It was difficult to know what scene or mannerisms people would find amusing. It's also challenging if the character is really well-known for, say, having a purple suit, and if you just don't have that, it’s difficult to work around.”
So, while many sit at home, not everyone is necessarily bored, and now there’s yet another activity to partake in—to see how many costumes you can come up with using the clothes you have in your wardrobe.
“We'd just like to add a big thank you to all healthcare staff, shop workers, and everyone still managing (or having) to go out and do their jobs. In addition to sending love to anyone affected by Covid-19, we hope we can provide a few seconds of respite,” concluded Harriet.
