By Nayla Lee
Sydney Presley describes the tweet that garnered her minor internet fame last year as “a scream into the void.” Her post, four pictures of Halloween costumes from 2013-2016, soon went viral. “It definitely took me by surprise. I just tweeted a random thing and I only had like 100 followers or something,” she said in an interview from her home in West Covina, California. The 26-year-old works full-time with children, who she says couldn’t care less about her 26,300 Instagram followers or her handmade Halloween costumes.
During our interview, she wore a bright striped sweater with a cutout felt heart pinned to it. We spoke about her inspirations for her costumes, the importance of her support network and how she dealt with a sudden presence on the Internet.
Presley’s parents loved Halloween. “My dad would always set up the haunted houses …and I was so into it, right off the bat. … He would get into weird trouble at school because he would bring in these grotesque things. Like, he would put dummy heads on rotisserie motors and the kids would come out crying and me and my dad would just be like, ‘yes,’” Presley said. Her mother made all of her costumes throughout her childhood, and taught her youngest daughter how to wield a mean hot glue gun.
In high school, Presley’s knack for sewing and costuming translated into a “full-blown scene phase,” in her words. She described her love for Karen O. of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, David Bowie and especially the members of My Chemical Romance as her early fashion inspirations. Making her own clothes became both a means of personal and creative expression. “I was never really into going to football games, but if I could wear a loud outfit, like, I’d go,” Presley said. Her passion for music and attention-grabbing outfits is well-documented on social media.
In recent years, Presley has dressed up as La Chalupa from the game Loterìa, a concha (a type of pan dulce), duros (mouthwatering pinwheel-shaped chips) and made matching Takis outfits for herself and her dog, Moz.
Many of Presley’s costumes are a nod to her Mexican heritage. She draws much of her inspiration from her grandparents, especially her grandmother, who passed away in 2013. “When I wasn’t in my house here in West Covina, I was over there. The food thing and the things that have more to do with my Mexican culture definitely comes from my grandparents,” she said.
We spoke about the time she spent with them in Montebello, which she called her “second home.” She spent a summer there while transferring colleges. “It was a really weird time for me, but such an inspirational time. I’d walk down the alley to the panadería and that’s where the concha came from. … All these little things that I remember from her house or being there, that’s really where it came from,” Presley said.
While the costumes were met with overwhelming positivity, people on the internet aren’t always nice. It only took four days for her tweet showcasing four years of costumes to be featured in a Buzzfeed article, and not everyone was thrilled with her creations. Presley noted that some people took offense, seeing her work as distorting and making fun of Mexican culture.
Comments such as “my culture is not a costume” were especially surprising and hurtful. “I am a firm believer in that sort of thing, but I was like, ‘This is my culture as well; this is how I’m appreciating it.’ I’m not making fun of it. … Like, they’re snacks. They’re childhood snacks that I grew up eating and they have to do with my Mexican culture, but I’m not saying that they’re definitive of Mexicans. I didn’t come out to be like, ‘I’m the queen of Mexico.’ I never tried to represent anyone other than myself.”
While Presley appreciated the compliments and thoughtful criticisms, the sudden spotlight on her work caused both stress and gratitude. “People were openly discussing me in the comments section like I didn’t read them. It really throws you into an existential crisis when you see your picture on the explore page,” she said. She stayed optimistic, focusing on her fans and acknowledging other artists who were working just as hard without receiving the same recognition.
Presley does her best not to let the social media presence have too much control over her life. She described fighting the pressure to post more often, monetize her work or crank out costumes mindlessly. She still has a full-time job, and friends and family who have been incredibly supportive. In fact, the only free products she’s received thus far have been from Tajín. After she turned herself into a human-sized container of the popular seasoning, her mom sent them a picture of her costume, and they sent her a package of all different types of their product.
While she kept the details of her upcoming Halloween costume a secret, Presley revealed that she had agreed to the interview with The Trail because of her own involvement in student media in college. As the Editor-In-Chief of her college newspaper and a participant in the Journalism Association of Community Colleges competitions, Presley has fond memories of frantic production nights and the satisfaction of a completed piece.
And what’s next for her? “I’m just gonna continue creating as I normally would, because I didn’t go into any of this having a hard plan. It’s always just been because I like doing these things. It’s just a hobby. I don’t try to make it sound like a craft I’ve perfected over the years. It’s still hot glue and a lot of felt … but it is my art. It’s something that I create and I take pride in, so I’m going to continue doing that,” she said. Keep your eyes peeled for her next piece! She’ll likely share it on Instagram (@emo_extremo) and Twitter (@wifiwifey91).