ED Hardy Blog

Sure, you love to wear them, but how do you find the best fancy dress costumes? There are so many choices of where to shop and then so many choices once you get there it might be overwhelming. Rest easy, little ones; the Queen of Halloween wants to help, as always. Here then is the guide to fancy dress costumes, where to find them, what to look for and how to save a little time and money in the bargain.

Where to Find Fancy Dress Costumes

There are several options for great fancy dress costumes, each with their own charm. First, there are the little boutiques which have the most exquisite costumes but they also tend to have smaller selections and higher prices than other places. There are fairly decent selections at the big box retailers, however there is usually limited sizing available here. In many cities, there are temporary Halloween stores that set up about a month before the event and have larger selections and sizes but may still not have everything that you are looking for. Finally, there are online shops that can give you unlimited selection and sizing; however you are at a disadvantage when it comes to trying the items on. Here is a tip for sizing: most costumes tend to run a little on the smaller size so you might do well to go at least one size larger than you usually wear.

When to Order Your Fancy Dress Costumes

If you need to order your costume either from an online shop or from a local store, you should aim to do so by no later than the second week in October in case you need to exchange it or make adjustments. Do not think that you can just make do, especially if the costume is too long. For instance, the Queen of Halloween must always shorten hemlines. (The Queen is less than five feet tall.) Even if you think you are a simple fit, order early so that you do not have to do that eleventh hour, sweaty panic moment.

How to Get Advice about Your Fancy Dress Costumes

First, you should make sure that you understand what the host of the event has in mind for the costumes. Next, you should talk to the sales staff at the Halloween shops who can give you some general tips and hints. (Skip doing this with the big box retail staff however, who will typically have limited knowledge of costumes and accessories.) If you are not finding the information that you need, you can always rely on the expert opinion found in blogs. (What a shameless plug, no?)

Completing Your Fancy Dress Costumes

No matter what you settle on, you will need to finish the look with the right shoes, makeup and accessories. Do a head to toe inventory of what you might need: do you need a hat or wig? Do you need jewelry, a cape, gloves or special hose? Do you need special shoes or do you have something that will work perfectly? Make sure that everything that you have is in perfect harmony so you have the best fancy dress costume.

Ladies Shoes are the very fundamental piece when it comes to accessorizing. The best part about wearing a little black dress is that almost any colour of shoes goes well with it. In this articles, we will take a look at how to buy shoes for your little black dress.

Ladies Shoes for a Little Black Dress

Wild Diva Women’s Plosive-01 T-Strap Pump is available in fuchsia, a bright cheerful pink colour. Along the horizontal T-strap is a row of 3D fabric roses which gives a girly touch to the chunky heels. Wear this to a party and be the centre of attraction. Own this pair for under $40.

Steve Madden Women’s Harlie Hi Heel Ornamented T-Strap Pump comes in metallic silver, pewter. This shoe is an ankle length gladiator with gold and silver studs that embellished the three circles in the front. If you are wearing this with a little black dress, you can accessorize with layers of bangles for the rocker chic look.

Both shoes mentioned above can be found at amazon at unbelievable affordable prices. They are shoes with embellishments of different kind and are of the latest trend.

If you are going out to a more casual event, you can opt for the ballet flats. Ballet flats are comfortable and easy to walk with, a great choice for the warm summer months. Look out for BowWow, a shoe design by Moschino and Kartell which comes in many cheerful colours, white, red, black, baby pink, bright pink, yellow, green and blue. Although it is plastic and 100% recyclable, its design is nonetheless fashionable with an interwoven texture and a cute flirty Moschino bow.

If plastic shoes are not an option, Michelle Peep-Toe Flat by Christian Siriano is another choice. It has a faux leather textured design and a half inch mirrored mini heels. This cute design also comes in 3.75 inches heels and has more elegant detailing. The upper edge has a curvy scalloped cut and the insole has a bright bold print. Get either of these at Payless.

Looking around today, you would see lots of gorgeous looking women of different ages wearing different types of jewelry, shoes, sandals and accessories. With the invention many of beauty enhancement products available in the market like cosmetics, beauty soaps, body lotions and others, it becomes easy for them achieve the look they have always dreamt of. But one thing that really makes a woman look beautiful is her dress.

There are many different types of dresses she can wear - casual, sporty, girly, sophisticated, and more. If you take a look at what’s being worn by many women considered to be fashion icons today, you’ll find the flapper dress.

Flapper dresses are a whole genre of women’s fashion which was introduced during the 1920’s. At this time, the dress represented the birth of a new breed of women because of the way they dressed up. After enduring years of torturous corsets and long manes which were becoming too inconvenient, they started to wear skirts and cut their hair into bobs.

Flapper dresses are usually straight in design, loose around the waist which dropped to the hips and sleeveless. They were also worn with stockings which were held up with garters. By the year 1927, the flapper dress was worn just below the knee.

Here are some steps on how to make your very own flapper dress:

1. Choose a flapper dress pattern.

2. Have someone take the proper measurements of your body- the waist, bust, hip, back waist length, front waist length, shoulder-to-bust, shoulder length, back width length, arm length, upper arm and shoulder-to-elbow. When you have finished taking the proper measurements, you should now determine the pattern size that best suits your measurements.

3. Make adjustments. Make a test version first. While on the process of sewing the test version, you can put the dress on and make proper adjustments so that it fits your body perfectly.

4. Finalize your pattern. If everything is done and good, you can now take a part of the test version and then use the sections in place of the original pieces. Before finishing, you should fit the dress first and see if it needs any adjustments. And when everything is good, you can now finish the hems and add details.

And now you have your very own flapper dress. You can wear a beaded necklace or a long pearl necklace to complete the vintage look.