Maybe you haven’t noticed the phenomenon of Halloween creep, but over the years, the formerly one-day event has insinuated itself over several days as themed events and parties offer multiple opportunities to play dress-up. With Halloween taking place on Monday this year, you can bet revelers will be out in costume all weekend long.
But multiple occasions call for multiple costumes or versions of costumes. You wouldn’t want to show up to work in all your wenchy or gory glory, for instance. For those who want to show a little Halloween spirit at the office, a simple animal ear headband or hat worn with black pants and T-shirt will give the impression of a costume without getting in the way of work duties.
For the costume-challenged, creative minds around town offer plenty of starting points.
Shelly Catwings, a performer and costumer for the Cherry Blossom Cabaret, said wigs and hats are a great starting point for inspiration.
“I’d suggest going to a store and just looking around to see what inspires you,” she said, adding that colorful wigs and hats automatically bestow a theatrical sensibility to any outfit, the reason fashion designers often amplify their street-ready collections with over-the-top accessories.
If you’re on a budget, start in your own closet, she said. “People who aren’t costume-oriented sometimes don’t realize they already have things in their closet that might work as a costume. They don’t see the inspiration in it.”
Those who wear aloha shirts and slacks on the job, for instance, could don some mismatched shorts, sunglasses and loop a camera around their neck to become a tourist. Or put on a maxidress, braid one’s hair and find a leather headband for an easy hippie look. A plaid shirt and faded, tattered denim have the potential to be a scarecrow costume when stuffed with raffia.
The making of a gypsy and pirate
From the initial inspiration, finishing your costume often involves going with the flow, particularly if you’re rushing around at the last minute and can’t find the pieces you need.
To see what we could pull together on the spot, we headed to Savers, where a red plumed hat was the initial inspiration for an ornate medieval costume. We found a gold dress ($9.99) and deep red skirt ($9.99) off the regular clothing racks, but when we couldn’t find a costume corset that would fit our in-store model, Aileen Flores, we switched gears and, with a black-and-gold vest ($5.99), a trio of scarves ($4.99 to $6.99 each), hoop earrings ($4.99) and a multicolor necklace ($9.99) from the Savers jewelry counter, turned her into a gypsy for about $58. In comparison, a packaged costume from the store runs about $29.99 to $49.99 with accessories costing extra, but many of the types of pieces we found are likely to be in any closet.
We also met with artist Melissa Rivera at the Goodwill Beretania store, where a secondhand Wet Seal brown military jacket ($3.99) became the inspiration for a steampunk outfit. Layered over a metal-studded tank top ($2.99) and vest ($3.99), with brown leather belts (99 cents to $2.99 each), crisscrossing her frame and wrapped around her wrists, it was going well, but we didn’t have the right goggle-style glasses, so with the addition of a costume hat ($2.99), she became a pirate instead, for about $22.
It took about 40 minutes in both cases to pull the costumes together.
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“You don’t have to spend a lot of money buying something off the rack when you can pull something out of your closet and just get a wig or hat to accentuate it,” Catwings said.
A bra and skirt that she shortened and embellished with mirrors became the basis of her Lady Gaga costume during a “Going Gaga” event that took place earlier this year.
Last year a child’s plastic helmet became the inspiration for industrial and interior designer Melissa Rivera’s Hawkgirl costume. To make the helmet her own, she glued on side pieces made with lightweight Foamcor.
This year a bomber jacket Rivera found at Goodwill will be the basis of her aviatrix costume. She said she often starts with the body of an outfit “because I already have accessories or can make them.”
The artist, who hails from Mexico, said she never dressed up before moving to Hawaii, but after living in Waikiki and watching the annual Halloween parade of ghouls and pirates, she told herself, “Let’s do it!”
For those who need help finishing their costumes, she said, “Leather belts are easy to use and have saved me so many times. You can wrap them around your body or arms so they look like armor or a holster. With its metal buckle and hardware, it looks really good and kind of cool when it’s put together,” she said.
Her other go-to material is duct tape, which she has used to cover old shoes to get the color she wants.
WHEN IT COMES to Halloween spending, Savers’ annual Halloween shopping survey reveals that men typically spend about $59 on their costumes, women spend about $40 and parents spend about $32 per child, less than people spend on the family pet, at $59.
Halloween has become one of the biggest occasions for the resale store, which offers a mixed of gently used items and costumes, with sales over the past five years increasing 35 percent.
Savers Dillingham’s retail sales manager, Jon Padron, said he’s seen the number of racks devoted to Halloween expand every year in the seven years he’s been with the company, which has a team of costume consultants to help shoppers find what they need for the occasion.
For the second year, the retailer will present a “Costume Catwalk” at 3 p.m. today and Oct. 27 for those in need of ideas, and its costume consultants will be available to help shoppers assemble budget-friendly costumes after the event.
Padron said that about 70 percent of customers will purchase a packaged costume off the racks, while 30 percent will opt for an original look mixing its regular resale clothing items with costume accessories.
And, he said, people are fairly predictable. Little boys have been opting for superheroes, ninjas and Transformers; little girls still love being princesses; women want to be sexy; and men like to buy the scariest mask they can find, with a few “Angry Birds” thrown into the mix.
Nationally, Savers’ survey revealed the top costumes this year to be defined by pop culture, including zombies due to the popularity of AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” followed by the sparkle and glamour of “Dancing with the Stars,” the vampires from “True Blood,” with “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Harry Potter” continuing to influence.
For those too shy or too busy to pore through racks without a plan, Savers.com offers dozens of costume and makeup ideas and tutorials. Once you have a general idea, you can also go to YouTube for more specific tutorials.
