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Jimi Hendrix's patchwork coat. Photo by Katherine Fogden

Halloween is two days away—costume parties perhaps even sooner—and if you are anything like me, you are probably Googling “easy costume ideas” right about now. Well, look no further. Here, Smithsonian.com’s Around The Mall team brings you ten clever (if we do say so ourselves!) costume ideas inspired by artifacts and artworks we found in the Smithsonian Institution’s collections.

1. Carol Burnett’s Curtain Rod Dress

We saw it in the collections and just couldn’t resist it. Carol Burnett lampooned the movie Gone With the Wind in a 1976 episode of her weekly sketch comedy show. When her character, Miss Starlett, strutted her stuff on the small screen in a dress obviously made from the living room curtains—with the curtain rod still in place—it was side-splitting television magic, and the costume now calls the American History Museum home. If you have a Southern belle-ish dress with a full skirt, you’re halfway to completing this look. For the rod, I suggest finding something long and lightweight, like a wrapping paper tube or two securely taped together. Since this bit will be covered with fabric, no one would be the wiser and you’re not bearing the weight of an actual metal rod all night. Just attach some finials to either end and the whole curtain rod idea should come across loud and clear. Drape the rod with green fabric, adorn with gold fringe, cinch with cording at the waist, and you’re good to go. How you actually get the rod to stay on your person is going to be a trick. Personally, I’m a proponent of duct tape. And since you have all that loose fabric hanging around, a well-done duct tape job can be easily masked from critical eyes.  – Jesse Rhodes

2. Hirshhorn Museum

Why dress up as a famous person for Halloween when you can go as an entire building? And not just any old building, but one of the most iconic and unique in the entire Smithsonian Institution. The donut-shaped Hirshhorn Museum can easily be replicated by wearing an inner tube painted gray, a gray bodysuit with strategically placed G.I. Joe’s as the sculptures in the museum’s sculpture garden and—if you really want to go all out—a Tupperware bowl over your head (or attach an inflated blue balloon to a hat) to serve as the Hirshhorn Bubble, the proposed new pavilion that would fill the museum’s central courtyard. Dressing as the museum is also the perfect excuse to stay out “After Hours.”    - Ryan Reed

3. Blue Man Group

Though the “Yves Klein: With the Void, Full Powers” exhibition that encompassed an entire floor of the Hirshhorn closed over a month ago, I can’t resist its allure for the theme of my abstract costume. Klein created his own intense shade of my favorite color (blue), titled International Klein Blue (IKB), and I’ve *so* got to respect that. So in Klein’s honor I will paint myself from head to toe in IKB, making sure to leave a small, uncovered space on his lower back. Lord knows, I don’t want to end up like Jill Masterson!   – Jeff Campagna

4. Jimi Hendrix

Draw some inspiration from the late rock guitarist, whose iconic patchwork coat is now hanging in the halls of the American Indian Museum. Collect a bunch of old clothes you don’t want anymore, and sew (or even staple if it’s only for one night!) squares of different colored fabrics together. Throw it over your (preferably bare) shoulders, grab any old guitar you can find, tease out your hair and pile on whatever old jewelry you can get your hands on. Rock out periodically throughout the evening.   – Jess Righthand

5. A Boy Scout

Use Norman Rockwell’s painting “Spirit of America,” on display in “Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg” at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, as a model for how to dress like a Boy Scout. It would be best to wear a campaign hat, a khaki shirt and shorts, tall socks and a neckerchief. If you don’t have a bolo tie, make do with a brooch or hair tie. An external frame backpack (if you have one in the basement) completes the look. Oh, and occasionally give the scouts honor sign by holding your right hand up and touching your pinky finger to your thumb.    - Megan Gambino

6. Michelle Obama

Approximate the first lady’s inaugural gown, on display at the National Museum of American History, by decorating a white sheet with glitter and sequins and then draping it over one shoulder. For a slightly higher-brow approach, look for a white dress at a thrift store, cut out one shoulder and then decorate at will. If the inaugural gown thing isn’t working, you could always go with the bright dress and belted sweater combination that the first lady has made her signature look. Top it off with an American flag pin, wave a lot, and people will know exactly who you are.    - Jess Righthand

7. A Jellyfish

It is hard to miss the enormous model of a Lion’s mane jellyfish in the National Museum of Natural History’s Sant Ocean Hall—and it will be hard to miss YOU, even in a bustling costume party, if you dress like the creature. All you need to do is carry a clear umbrella with streamers dangling from it and perhaps a red shirt and white sweat pants. With the umbrella, you are prepared for the elements; though, if rain is in the forecast, I suggest substituting something more water-resistant, like tinsel, for the streamers.    - Megan Gambino

8. The Fonz

Ayyy, Halloween costumes don’t get much easier than this; however the key component is finding a leather jacket, like the one in the American History Museum’s collections once worn by Henry Winkler, a.k.a Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli, on the sitcom Happy Days. Aside from that, all you need are jeans, a white V-neck T-shirt, leather boots and hair styled into a pompadour. And if you somehow master the knack of turning on a jukebox by banging on it with your fist, you totally have this costume mastered.    - Jesse Rhodes

9. Abel the Monkey

This little guy helped to pave the way for human explorations in space. Strapped into a specially designed fiberglass cradle that allowed scientists to monitor the rhesus monkey during his space flight. Sadly, he didn’t survive the voyage, but, through the wonders of taxidermy, you can see him at the Air and Space Museum. If you’re crafty enough to cobble together your own monkey suit—or live near a costume rental place—you can complete the Abel “look” with a straight jacket and a white polo helmet. Or you can get really fancy schmancy and craft a more faithful re-creation of his body armor. Cardboard and duct tape anyone?    - Jesse Rhodes

10. And last but certainly not least:

The perfect costume for you and six of your laziest (or possibly most pretentious) friends: dress as Lawrence Weiner’s “A RUBBER BALL THROWN ON THE SEA.” The conceptual piece, on display on a length of wall in the Hirshhorn, is bold and blue and is easy enough to recreate on a collection of white T-shirts. A word to the wise: don’t stray too far from members of your work of art or else you’ll just be “that guy wearing the ‘ball’ shirt.”   – Jamie Simon

If none of these strike your fancy, our friends at the Archives of American Art came up with a few ideas of their own.

Poster advertising a Tenth Annual Dia de los Muertos Celebration. Artist unknown. Image courtesy of the American Art Museum.

Friday, October 29: Hirshhorn After Hours

Come enjoy DC’s premiere contemporary art event, Hirshhorn After Hours, which will feature gallery talks, special performances and music spun by DJ Matt Bailer and DJ Robert Bozick. Tickets are required and may be purchased online or at Smithsonian IMAX theaters on the National Mall. Tickets will not be sold at the door. Rates are: $18 general admission; free for Annual Circle members. Hirshhorn, 8:00 PM-12:00 AM.

Saturday, October 30: Gay Art before Gay Liberation: George Bellows, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jasper Johns

Before LGBT rights came to the forefront of political discussions, issues affecting gay Americans were explored by way of the visual arts. Today, co-curator of the new exhibition “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture” Jonathan D. Katz will have you take a close look at the nature of gay art through the paintings of George Bellows, Georgia O’Keefe and Jasper Johns. Free. Portrait Gallery, 4:30 PM.

Sunday, October 31: Smithsonian Dia de los Muertos Festival: A Second Life Experience!

To celebrate the Day of the Dead, the Smithsonian Latino Center presents a Dia de los Muertos 3D online experience illustrating Latino customs and beliefs dating from ancient Mesoamerica to those practiced today. Explore and learn about Latino cultural heritage through this holiday for honoring the dead and the cycle of life and death. For more information about the event, and instructions on how to sign up for a Second Life account, visit the event’s official site. Free. Smithsonian Latino Center. This event repeats daily through November 2.

For updates on all exhibitions and events, visit our companion site goSmithsonian.com

Jared French, Monroe Wheeler, Paul Cadmus and George Tooker on Fire Island, 1945. Photographer unknown. From the William Christopher papers, 1946-1972. Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution.

The modern gay rights movement in America was jump-started in June 1969 when police raided the Stonewall Inn, a New York gay bar, and met with massive resistance from the patrons therein. The days of rioting that followed was a major rallying cry to all gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons to stand up for their civil rights and take pride in being different from the others. But these communities of people simply didn’t spring up out of nowhere to demand their due. They have always been a part of our nation’s cultural fabric, but, for fear of social persecution or legal prosecution, gays have long felt the need to live under the radar. Living in times of extreme social intolerance, these people have had to mask parts of their identity in self-defense, but sometimes these hidden lives play out on the page. For the new show Lost and Found (opening on Saturday), the Archives of American Art has unearthed a trove of letters, photographs and other ephemera that illustrates the gay experience in America and brings to light social enclaves and romantic relationships that provided support to people rejected by society at large.

“It’s within artistic communities that gays and lesbians were first able to express themselves in American culture,” says Archives of American Art manuscripts curator Liza Kirwin. “Because it’s a bohemian milieu, they were allowed certain broader parameters to express who they were within an artistic community. And I think that’s pretty provable going back to the 19th century that gays and lesbians within the artistic community—both the visual arts and performing arts—were accepted within that group to a point. More so there than within the broader culture.”

But divining who was involved in homosexual relationships—especially before the late 1960s— is a bit of a trick. Even in personal correspondence, the language of love may be suggestive, but not explicit. “Part of it is knowing the surrounding context of these artists’ lives,” Kirwin says. “You already know that they’re gay or lesbian, so you go to their papers and you find evidence of it that way. If you didn’t really know, and you just went to the papers, you wouldn’t necessarily know that they were gay.”

Such is the case of Appalachian Spring composer Aaron Copland, who was a private man disinclined to discuss or write about his personal life. In the summer of 1928, he made the acquaintance of painter and lithographer Prentiss Taylor and the two struck up a correspondence in November of that year. Copland’s initial letters express a warm cordiality befitting good friends. But by spring 1929, cordiality evolved into romance. “It’s always a dangerous business to write the kind of letter I sent you,” Copland wrote in March 1929. “Now that I know how you took it, I don’t regret having sent it.”

In addition to one letter from April 1929 on display, you can see a selection of Copland’s letters to Taylor online. It’s genuinely heartwarming to read through the progression of their relationship, especially since it makes you wonder if the art of the love letter—be it authored by a gay or straight person—is alive in the digital age. Somehow love texting or love tweeting seems inherently trite, and email too impersonal for the occasion. But if you want to see it done well, read the writings between people who—without public displays of affection as an option—made such beautiful use of the written word.

Lost and Found complements the National Portrait Gallery’s LGBT-themed exhibition Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture. Both shows are open from October 30, 2010 through February 13, 2011. You can preview some of the Lost and Found artifacts in our online gallery.

One of Shera's cubs gets a little boost from a zoo keeper to get out of the water. Mehgan Murphy, National Zoo.

In order for the National Zoo’s seven new lion cubs to go on view by the target date of mid-December, the cubs have to be able to paddle and paw their way across the moat that surrounds the lion habitat. On Tuesday, the four eight-week old cubs, the first of two recently-born litters, took their swim test, mostly passing with flying colors.

The four were born at the end of August to the mother lion, Shera. Just three weeks later, Nababiep, Shera’s sister, gave birth to a litter of three cubs, bringing the grand total of cubs growing up at the Zoo to seven. The Zoo’s male lion, Luke, is the proud father of all of them.

“They did really well. We were thrilled. Everybody swam, and that’s the first thing that we expect,” says Craig Saffoe, curator of lions, tigers, and yes, bears at the National Zoo.

Saffoe says that swimming is innate for most mammals, including humans. While cats (and lion cubs) don’t generally enjoy the water, the Zoo’s cubs do have to be able to pull themselves out of the moat in the event that they fall in.

“Typically, when a cat hits the water, they freak out, and they start flailing and throwing water everywhere, and that is not an atypical response,” says Saffoe. Several days ago, the zoo keepers exposed the lion cubs to a basin of water to give them a primer on being wet. The cubs did not “freak out,” which signaled to the keepers that it was time to plop them in that moat and let them swim.

The first two cubs pulled themselves out of the water without any help from the keepers. The third needed a little help, as he was slightly too short to push off the bottom of the moat with his feet. The fourth cub was a bit errant, and started swimming out into the bigger part of the moat, away from the keepers. “She swam really well,” says Saffoe. “My guess is that she just wanted to be as far away from us as she could possibly be. I think she did very well, and I suspect she knows where to go to be safe.” All swimmers are well-documented with a slideshow and video on the Zoo’s Flickr page.

A lion cub paddles to the edge of the moat in the Great Cats exhibit. Mehgan Murphy, National Zoo.

Zoo keepers have decided to put all seven cubs on view at the same time, which means that Nababiep’s cubs, now five weeks old, will have to pass their swim test as well. Keepers will also have to introduce the two separate litters to one another, to be sure they all get along. Finally, all cubs will have to be vaccinated against rabies before going on view, a shot they must be twelve weeks old to receive. So if all goes according to plan, visitors should all be able to see the cubs on view just in time for the holidays.

The Bigger Picture suggests dressing as one of the first ladies in American History for Halloween this year. Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Archives.

Halloween Costumes of the Past: Not sure what to be for Halloween? The Archives of American Art blog has dug up some photos from Halloweens gone by to spark the imagination. Beginning with an old invitation to a Crazy Costume Dance held by 20th century architect Spencer Fullerton Weaver, a series of pictures (not all of which were actually Halloween costumes at the time) illustrates a few artsy costume ideas. As “L’Artiste,” “The Gunslinger,” or “The Arabian Prince,” you’ll be ready to dance the night away at your own costume party.

The Bigger Picture: If none of those ideas stick, you can also turn to The Bigger Picture, where in honor of Archives Month, blogger Courtney Esposito has compiled several archival photos of possible costumes. Bearded lady, mad scientist, and first lady are but a few of the original disguises in the post.

The Biodiversity of Creepy-Crawlers: In honor of All Hallows’ Eve, the Biodiversity Heritage Library, a digital natural history resource, has featured the Spined Micrathena, a horned spider that would scare even the least skittish trick-or-treater. The spider, which lives west of the Rocky Mountains (lucky for those of us on the East Coast), comes in a variety of sizes and colors, with females growing nearly twice as large as males. These spiders spin orb-shaped webs. Another orbweaver, Darwin’s bark spider was featured on Surprising Science earlier this month.

Phantoms of the Natural History Museum: Anyone who’s watched Night at the Museum knows that museums can be strange places to be on a dark and stormy night. Currently under renovations, the Smithsonian Arts and Industries building, which once housed the first-ever Smithsonian museum, is no exception. According to a post from Natural History at 100, the scientists that once roamed the halls of the building when it first opened as the National Museum in the late 19th century continued to haunt them after they died. The post details a number supernatural events: figures coming to life, ghosts of scientists watching over their collections and even classical music emanating from the shadowy recesses of the building. Can you say ‘boo’?

Pumpkin Carving, Smithsonian Style: Sick of carving jack o’lantern after jack o’lantern, with the same triangle eyes and toothless smile every year? This year you can carve pumpkins using our specially-customized Smithsonian-inspired stencils of Tai Shan the panda, the Smithsonian castle, the elephant from Natural History or even a Neanderthal. Smithsonian magazine’s Brian Wolly and Jamie Simon have teamed up to bring you a group of the scariest, zaniest, cutest, and most Halloween-like things they could uncover around the mall. Use our Smithsonian stencils to carve your pumpkin, and your squash is guaranteed to be the most cultured on the block! If you send us your photos of your carved pumpkins, we’ll even post them in our photo gallery.