doctorlit buzzcuts his hair, for minimal hair maintenance. A straw hat to ward against the sun may be worn.

Shirt is very nearly always collared, like a proper former student of a prep school. No logos or fandoms or other images suggesting an allegiance! doctorlit does not exist to be a walking advertisement, and revealing fandoms or former schools or whatnot is only inviting unwanted conversation. Patterns or solid colors only, but nothing too bright or attention-grabbing. Dark forest greens and dark blues are ideal.

Shorts must be cargo shorts, with many pockets, precious, for carrying many things, and deep pockets, precious, yesssss, to fit novels and the Nintendo 3DS, for we must always have our fictions, precious, yesssss . . . Mostly browns/khakis here, with some blue. doctorlit never wears pants, even in winter, for they restrict the bending of the knees and reduce the Dexterity stat, the most critical stat for a doctorlit.

Shoes are preferably flip-flops on a doctorlit. They are called flip-flops, and not thongs, regardless of what any Larfen J. Stocke might tell you. Larfen J. Stocke? More like Lyin' J. Mocke! If close-toed shoes are necessary for the protecting of feets, the shoes are probably quite worn out. The socks must be tall socks, and not the tiny booty socks that are popular among men nowadays. They should reach about ten inches above the ankle, and be kept straight and unwrinkled all day, because that is the only way in which socks are comfortable.

—a doctorlit cosplay

...I accidentally cosplayed as a religious married woman a couple days earlier (mostly by going "oh, huh, this would look like...nope, don't care, this is what I'm wearing I don't care today if someone looks at my clothes and think they mean something other than practicality" and then later joking that it was totally my costume for a holiday my past relationship to which it's taking me far too long to try to describe. Essentially, I've occasionally treated it as a secular holiday? An excuse to have fun dressing up and eating candy, generally with friends and mostly when I was younger? It's kind of weird to pick apart, honestly, especially since this year my only exposure to it has been through social media and that one moment of joking a few days ago.

However, should you wish to dress like a semi-accidentally married!religious!Zing, get a black shirt with long sleeves and a neckline that falls right around the collarbones but won't choke you, a long grey skirt (a bit above ankle length, I think?), and tie a bandana (folded into a triangle) around your head (any color, pretty much, though darker may be better). Oh, and an overshirt in a solid pastel color around your waist, for future warmth. Behold, how to stay warm, plan for an even cooler evening, and keep your hair completely out of your face!

Bonus: how not to care if people are going to assume your marital status based on what you're wearing? Avoid crowds (a thing to be doing anyway), don't be planning to go around people you know (walk partner(s) excepted, and preferably people who will just be amused), and just plain be tired. That helps.

Oh, and wear a bloody mask, unless there's a reason why you can't, in which case please consider an alternative like a face shield. Pull it up if you happen to have pulled it down and someone is passing you or you're passing by someone, especially if you're, say, talking loudly with your equally maskless friend. This is less how not to care and more part of the costume+a PSA, but just--just--wear your masks (or alternatives) properly as much as possible, okay? For your safety and others'? It's the law where I am, you see, and I've still spent the past ~7 months seeing people Not Do The Thing and rarely being in a position to say anything. So here I am, lightly venting to you all about it :P

To those who celebrated, I hope you had an enjoyable time!

~Z

I’m don’t really have a Halloween costume. I’m not going out at all today anyways.

Well, I suppose I’m dressing up as GeniusGamer for Halloween, in which case I have the most accurate costume ever devised.