A little girl has gone viral after showcasing her incredible Miss Trunchball costume, complete with monobrow, hairy mole and shot put gear.
Thousands of children dressed up for World Book Day on Thursday, March 5, and while there were some incredibly creative costumes out there I’m not sure there were any quite as accurate as primary school student Lilly Cant’s.
Lilly, from Torquay, Devon, dressed up as the famously intimidating Matilda character and left her mum, Laura, in stitches as she set off to St Marychurch Primary School, where hopefully she spent her time learning, and not spinning her fellow students around by their pigtails.
Matilda is Lilly’s favourite book, so she knew she wanted to dress up as one of its characters, but Laura told UNILAD Lilly settled on Miss Trunchball after deciding she wanted to be ‘completely different to everyone’.
The mum helped create the amazing costume by buying things from eBay and from second hand shops. The outfit cost ‘no more than what a shop bought costume would be’, but Laura feels the homemade aspect makes it feel ‘more authentic’.
Laura and Lilly made sure to go into great detail when creating the costume, so Laura purchased a grey jumper and got it printed with ‘1972 Olympics’ so her daughter could dress just like the character in the film adaptation.
Lilly’s outfit also consisted of a weight belt, a brown satchel and a string bag filled with pretend shot put balls. She filled in her eyebrows to create Miss Trunchball’s monobrow and painted her face to be red and flushed.
The entire outfit is spot-on, though Laura told UNILAD her favourite part had to be the homemade hairy mole.
The proud mum shared pictures of the outfit on Facebook, where they have since gone viral with over 33,000 shares.
Speaking of the amazing response, Laura said:
The reaction has been crazy! If anything I’ve proved homemade is still the best, and not at all expensive – plus all her costume can be reused for everyday use!
The best part I feel too, is that Lilly [herself] was half of the costume [by being] in character the entire time. She made it that much better!
This isn’t the first time Lilly has wowed on World Book Day, as in the past she has gone all out to portray other iconic characters.
Last year she dressed as Cruella de Vil, wearing a Dalmatian-spotted coat with incredible black and white hair:
Two years ago, she depicted Violet from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, wearing a brilliant, bulbous blue costume made by Laura and Lilly’s Granny Kay:
Lilly’s dedication to World Book Day should be applauded – hopefully the family will continue to create the detailed costumes in years to come!
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.