Halloween might be the last American holiday with a dress code. But while the Internet is abuzz with sexy pizza rat, sexy Donald, and other tricky Halloween costumes that are no treat for the eye, British designer Steve Wintercroft has channeled the spooky, DIY Halloween spirit of yesteryear with a series of sleek, haunting geometric face masks for twisted sophisticates. Who needs a tacky throwaway costume when you can don one of these mysterious, beautifully designed masks and transform yourself into a devil, dragon, or eerily furturistic polygon face in the crowd?
Courtesy of Steve Wintercroft
Horns mask by Steve Wintercroft.
Courtesy of Steve Wintercroft
Wintercroft, a designer who also creates masks for music videos, television, fashion shoots, festivals, and events, first wowed us last year with a handful of downloadable templates starting at $7 for skulls, werewolves, and pumpkin heads and a range of animal masks designed so anyone can put them together in a few hours, ideally using old cereal boxes or recycled cardboard. Once you purchase and download a PDF of the mask pattern, you print, cut out, score, and fold the cardboard pieces; match up the corresponding numbers on the pattern; tape them shut; and decorate as desired with paint or other materials. (Mask patterns are compatible for both standard U.S. and A4 paper sizes.)
Courtesy of Steve Wintercroft
The mask templates are designed so anyone can assemble them in a few hours.
Courtesy of Steve Wintercroft
Since last year, the collection of mask templates has swelled to more than 50, including eight new Halloween-specific designs. “Our masks are getting more sophisticated in both the look and way that they are constructed but at the core they still have the same accessibility and ease of build,” Wintercroft told me in an email. “We now have masks with moving parts including an elephant with an articulated trunk and a pair of wearable dragon claws! The new dragon and claws are one of my personal favourites.”
Dragon mask and wearable dragon claws by Steve Wintercroft.
Courtesy of Steve Wintercroft
Bearded man mask by Steve Wintercroft.
Courtesy of Steve Wintercroft
Wintercroft said that he and his wife, Marianne, have both quit their full-time jobs to devote themselves to their mask-making business. Their striking masks stole the show in July at a political protest against fox hunting outside the British Houses of Parliament, and Wintercroft says that he and his wife have also been working with a number of international conservation charities, creating masks to support causes including rainforest conservation and rhinos.
Panda mask by Steve Wintercroft.
Courtesy of Steve Wintercroft
Half stag mask by Steve Wintercroft.
Courtesy of Steve Wintercroft
One of their polygon face masks will be featured on the new season of Homeland.
One of designer Steve Wintercroft’s polygon face masks will appear on this season of Homeland.
Courtesy of Steve Wintercroft
Check out the 1:44 mark in the trailer below for a glimpse of the mask in action:
They recently released a new range of jewelry based on the mask designs and have been working on a range of mask books, the first of which devoted to their popular skull mask, will be out in November.
