Happy first day of October! I don’t know about you but I love autumn, and I’ve been readily embracing anything that is remotely related to Fall… i.e. Harry Potter, 1990s and 2000’s movies, hot cider, popcorn, musky candles… well, you know!
But October means Halloween… and Halloween means costumes! It’s kind of an unspoken fact in the historical costuming community that Halloween is pretty much everyone’s favorite holiday.
As any costumer would happily confess, everyday is Halloween. We play dress-up pretty much on a regular basis in “costumes” that the average person might consider to be outlandish and perfect for an over the top Halloween costume.
Oh… but they have no idea how far we are willing to go to make our historical Halloween fancy dress costume “costume!”… Most recreaters play it safe, by sticking to their favorite era with an essence of Halloween. But this is a time for the rest of us to literally go crazy… and we welcome the crazy with open arms.
Probably, a majority of costuming people spend months planning their Fancy Dress costume, whereas people like me, pretty much dedicate one full month to planning and creating a costume if they have enough time to spare.
Two of my favorite decades for referencing Fancy Dress ideas spurs from the 1860s and the 1880s (approx.). These costumes are lavish, wild, and most importantly uniquely creative and really weird.
But for you, I’ve found dozens of photos that you will just have to make this Halloween and I divided them into categories ranging the gowns you just can’t live without to the ones that you can, but you want anyway.
Enjoy! (At the end I’ll share some blogs I’ve really enjoyed!)
The Ones You Just Have to Have
The “Oh Wow” Effect
Concept Designs
The “What On Earth Is That But I Want One”
I don’t know about you, but I really want to make the chicken one… Nuff said… Now I challenge you to pick a costume and show it off on Halloween!
Happy planning! – Elise
Other Resources: For some incredible photographs of women in their costumes, you need to research “The Duchess of Devonshire’s Diamond Jubilee Costume Ball” in 1897. Or check out the Library Time Machine. 26 Halloween Costume Designs: MentalFloss Cult of Weird Colored Photographs: Mirror