I would love to be able to say that every year I am invited to more Halloween costume parties than I can possibly attend, and I am often left improvising top-notch costumes that are a brilliant combination of originality and whimsy at the last minute in order to attend each party in a unique outfit. Oh well, we can’t all have everything. So, just in case you are the in-demand social butterfly that I am not, here are ten easy little black dress costumes you can quickly whip up and head out in.
A Red-Winged Blackbird
I love this idea. I may use it myself. All you need is a red and orange scarf. Drape it around your shoulders and set the look off with some dramatic red and orange eye make-up. Et voila.
Your Favourite Letter
Meet my inner font nerd. She’s not very shy. For this you’ll want some black make-up; not just eyeliner, but something on the body scale. Body paint, perhaps. Anyhow, I would recommend choosing a letter that is shaped something like you are; perhaps an I or an exclamation point. A “w” may not be the best choice, but I’ve leave it up to you. Use your dress as the main body of the letter, and then complete the shape with the black body paint. Add your serifs and whatever else. Consider using belts, tights, shoes, and jewellery to complete the letter. You can also construct the letter so you have to pose a certain way for people to see what you are (for a “P”, for instance).
A chocolate cupcake
The flavour of frosting you choose will likely depend on your hair and skin colour. I would definitely be vanilla frosting with some sort of chocolate covered fruit on top (I’d pile my hair up and stick a giant stem in it!). Extra points for sprinkles!
A Black & White Photo
This will require some make-up as you’ll need to remove your natural, rosy type skin tones. Grab a black and white set at your local costume shop, and start mixing to create a lighter skin tone, and then something darker for blush and lips.
Add opaque black tights, grey scale accessories, and black shoes, and top off with some thoroughly baby-powdered hair (the idea is to make it grey, of course).
Batgirl
You can paint on your mask and then finish the look off with a yellow belt, yellow arm cuffs or gloves, and yellow boots if you have them. Extra points if you add a cape!
Fog or Smoke
This will work best for dresses that are on the floatier side. Pair it with a strong smokey eye and a billowy grey chiffon scarf. I also love the idea of wearing a red or orange necklace for embers (if you’re going as smoke, of course).
A phoenix from the ashes
This one will definitely require some make-up and a lot of glitter. Pretend your dress is the “ashes”, and use orange, red, and gold make-up and glitter to create a “Pheonix” rising out of the ashes from your neckline up. Pair with a fire-coloured scarf and some seriously punchy jewellery.
A constellation
You’ll need some little white stickers or something similar to create removable white dots on your dress. Staples and the like sells (or at least they used to) those re-enforcements for three hole-punch paper, and the white circles out of the center of those things would work quite nicely. Alternatively, you may have a collection of small white pins… hmm. Likely not. No matter. The idea here is to create a constellation on yourself. This would likely work best with a black dress that has some sparkle to it.
James Bond
Who says Mr. Bond has to be a dude? Add a nice bow tie and a toy gun to your classiest black dress and head out with your license to kill!
A member of the Addams’ Family
Go pale, plain, and creepy.
