Phoenix and Gryphon Star in "Labyrinth"

Phoenix and Gryphon are dressed as characters from the classic Jim Henson movie “Labyrinth”, in a tribute to the late great David Bowie. Gryphon is dressed as David Bowie’s character Jareth, the Goblin King. Phoenix is wearing an illusion costume so that he is taking on the role of two of the characters, both the girl Sarah and the baby Toby.

Materials and Tools:

Female mannequin head

Brown wig

Straight pins

White flower hair clips

Imitation pearl drop earrings

Mannequin half-torso

Glue gun and glue sticks

White satin dress

Small yellow artificial flowers

Jewels

White blouse with puffy sleeves

Cream colored gloves

White artificial nails

Red and white striped onesie

Doll hands

Stuffing

Red and white cap

Short blonde wig

Pacifier

White blousey shirt

Black gloves

Jareth’s necklace

Clear Christmas ornament ball

Light gray leggings

Brown boot covers

Blonde punk rock wig

Pet safe makeup

Brown shower curtain

Foamboard

Brown, white, gold and silver paint

Rope

Green dolls

Doll shirts

Black permanent marker

Plastic doll’s eyes

Doll hair

Paper bowl

Silver posterboard

To make it appear as though the dog Phoenix is a baby being held by the character Sarah, we had to make an artificial head and torso for Sarah. We got a female mannequin head. This head had a nice face with makeup on it, but no hair. We attached a brown wig, using straight pins to hold it in place. The straight pins went nicely into the styrofoam inside of the mannequin head. We styled the hair, trying to look like the style of Sarah in the movie. We added white flower hair clips, like she wore. We also bought cheap imitation pearl drop earrings. We poked a hole through the mannequin’s ears, and then poked the earrings through. We also got a mannequin torso, which was a half body torso. We attached the head to the torso by digging out some of the styrofoam from the head with the knife, so that there would be room to insert the neck of the torso into it, and glued it together with hot glue.

We wanted to try to recreate the outfit Sarah wore during the ballroom dream sequence in the movie. We bought a long white satin dress. We then glued on small yellow flowers and jewels to look like Sarah’s dress. We also got a white blouse with puffy sleeves, and attached it under the dress, to make it look more like the dress Sarah has in the movie. We stuffed cream colored gloves for the hands, which we attached to the ends of the sleeves. We also glued on artificial nails to the tips of each finger.

For the baby Toby part of Phoenix’s costume, we got a red and white striped onesie, like the one he wears in the movie. We stuffed the whole thing with stuffing. We also got doll hands, and glued these on to the ends of the sleeves, using hot glue. We finished off the outfit with a matching red and white cap, which we attached to a short blonde wig. We also got a pacifier, which Phoenix could hold in his mouth.

To create the illusion part of the double costume, we cut a hole in the white dress big enough for Phoenix to put his head through when he wore the dress. We then attached the onesie directly underneath the hole, so that it would hang down below Phoenix’s neck. We also attached the hands of Sarah onto the baby arms, so that it looked like she was holding him. This created one double character illusion costume for Phoenix to wear.

For Jareth the Goblin King, we got a white blousey shirt, similar to the one he wore in the movie. We stuffed the arms of the shirt, and then stuffed black gloves and attached them to the ends of the sleeves. We added a special necklace in the design he wore. We also attached a clear plastic Christmas ornament ball onto one of the gloves with hot glue. This looked like the magic crystals Jareth showed Sarah in the movie which would show her all her dreams.

For Jareth’s pants, we used light gray leggings. We stuffed the leggings and then tied brown boot covers on top of them. We attached the legs and boots to the front of the shirt, so they would hang down in front of the dog’s legs.

To complete the Jareth outfit, we got a blond punk rock wig in the style of Jareth’s hair in the movie. We also used pet-safe makeup to try to recreate the classic make-up look the Goblin King is known for.

To create Jareth’s throne, we covered a big roundish brown armchair with a brown shower curtain. We let it drape over it. To create the top arch of the throne, we used foamboard. We cut the shape out of foamboard, and then painted it with a wood grain look. We then painted rope gold and glued pieces of it onto the foamboard, to look like the ties of the throne. We then glued the top arch onto the top of the brown shower curtain. Gryphon was then able to sit in this throne while wearing his costume.

To create the little goblins that Jareth rules over, we started with little green dolls. We got tiny doll shirts and put them on the dolls. We colored their nails black with permanent markers. We added eyes that popped by gluing on plastic doll eyes. We also added hair, which was made from doll hair and glued on. We made a little armored hat for one of the goblins. To do this, we painted a paper bowl silver. We then glued silver posterboard into spike shapes, and glued this onto the bowl.