Great Fancy Dress Tips And Top Costume Museums

The choice of fancy dress and masquerade costumes is growing every year, so why not try something different? Pirates, 70s and Disney fancydress are among the top costumes, but each season brings new fashions to catch our attention.

Costumes are available in ladies, mens, childrens and plus size. You can also order matching couples or group fancydress. There is usually a discount for multiple orders.

You can buy or hire your fancy dress costume. If you buy a costume, you will always have a standby in your wardrobe. Alternatively, hiring is perfect if you are attending a themed party as a one off, and you dont like the theme. You can buy and hire costumes from online stores. Their websites have detailed instructions on how to order and return hired fancydress.

You will always find costumes within your budget. Prices vary from budget and mid range, to deluxe and luxury. The more you pay the better the quality will be. For instance, there is a Darth Vader costume priced at over five hundred pounds, but this costume is exquisite. The Darth Vader mask is actually cast from the original Lucas Studios moulds. Alternatively, at the lower end, you can buy a Darth Vader mask for less than ten pounds.

The type of event you are attending has some bearing on your choice of outfit. For example if you are attending a masquerade ball, the luxury quality clothes would be ideal. These costumes are available to buy or hire. At the other end of the scale, you could attend a hoe down, or country and western party, wearing your jeans, check shirt and a budget moustache with a pair of glasses.

Most fancydress is based on film or TV characters, but themes such as 70s, 80s and pirates fancydress are also popular. Holidays such as Halloween, Easter and Christmas are in special categories, but they contain outfits that can be worn on other occasions. A Halloween witch or Ghostbusters costume can be worn to most parties.

Fancy dress costumes never date and are always in fashion, although some costumes will enjoy a rise in popularity when they are in the eye of the media.

You dont have to buy or hire a costume; you can make your own. There are good patterns for sale, and also some great online video clips that show you how to make an outfit,

If you are serious about fashion, pay a visit to one of the many costume museums. UK and international fashion museums have fabulous collections of clothing, from the seventeen hundreds to present day. Collections include designer clothes, sportswear, theater costumes, royal clothing and high society attire.

There is a wealth of ideas to be found within these carefully restored museum collections, and you can find information on collections and opening times by visiting their website.

The museum of costume has contemporary and historical dress. On the website you will find exhibition events and news pages. Topics such as Photographing Fashion, Dress of the Year, Replica Sporting Costumes, and Corsets and Crinolines are covered. You can subscribe to a newsletter which alerts you to upcoming events and exhibitions. Fashion collections include eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth century fashion, contemporary fashion, dress of the year, accessories, British fashion and photographs. This is a good place to find ideas for fancy dress and costumes.

The Victoria and Albert museum has fashion and jewellery costume collections from the seventeenth century to present day. It includes handbags, shoes and accessories. The website gives details about special events and exhibitions that are currently on display and also future exhibitions. There are sections covering courses, talks, family activities and audio files ready available to listen to, directly from your computer.

Within the Victoria and Albert museum website there is a 1960s fashion collection. It has pages on the history of 60s fashion, 1960s dress, fashion interviews, fashion designs and a section on your 1960s fashion memories. The links page has good resources for further 60s fashion research.

The Museum of London includes collections from Mary Quant, Vivienne Westwood, occupational clothing and royal clothing. There is a collection of fancy dress clothes, costumes and accessories related to the theatre. Included in the collections are sportswear and clothing related to hobbies and London societies.

The Blandford Fashion Museum has collections from the 1730s to the 1970s. It provides information and history on each collection. There is a new room dedicated to the 70s fashion era called The 70s Flower Power. This is perfect for checking out 70s fancy dress.