Dominic Toretto, who redefines family.
About the Look
This is my fifth year doing Costober and my coworkers know the drill — and to my delight, look forward to my outfits. Sometimes, like yesterday’s Starfleet uniform, they get the reference right away. Other times they’re not familiar. Or, like today, they have trouble looking at me, a 5’2″ white lady and seeing Vin Diesel. But they loved that I tried. It was such a heartwarming reaction and a big reason why I keep doing this.
The Fast and the Furious franchise is incredible. On paper it is absurd that it’s a big as it is. Every single movie, even the first one where they’re just a precision driving team stealing stereos, is completely ridiculous. And every single movie veers deeper and deeper into fantasyland, into an alternate reality where any of it makes sense. In F9 they literally save the world by shooting a sports car into space. And it’s not even the most unbelievable part of the movie (magnets don’t work that way!).
But the endless hijinks, the flashy cars, the sexy girls, the unforgettable music, the amazing races, the diverse cast — all of that make the movies what they are. But none of that is what the movies are about.
Family is central to Dom Toretto’s philosophy. This isn’t news, the meme was all over the internet earlier this year. But it’s bigger than a meme. It’s a thesis, a thesis Dom lives by. He will do anything — ride or die — for his family. But that’s just the beginning. What’s amazing is how wide the circle of family gets, how he collects all of his enemies into his super team of racers, hackers, thieves, government agents, spies and rocket engineers (?). And they all band together to literally save the world from warlords, powerful surveillance systems, and actual nuclear weapons. Dom doesn’t have enemies any more than he has friends. If you prove yourself worthy it doesn’t matter who you were before, now you’re family.
The Fast Saga is about family in exactly the same way Star Wars is about family and I love it.
About My Look
This is another look that is super easy to put together, but also super fun. I, again, and obviously, look nothing like Vin Diesel, but I can dress like Dom Toretto.
Muscle shirts don’t really last long enough to be donated so I purchased the shirt as well as the (iconic!) necklace. When I’m not wearing Dom’s cross I keep it hanging right above my pillow, like Letty. My jeans were purchased secondhand though not specifically for this look.
My props are real Corona which I really drank, my real car, which is not a Dodge Charger or any kind of souped up racing car — though Fiestas are raced! — and my real front porch which is just as ramshackle as the Torettos’ house. But it’s home.