Senior editor Jono Baron explores the frightful world of Halloween fashion from pumpkin buckets to zombie chic. Learn how to dress like a pro, and avoid the embarrassing reused costume.

By Jono Baron
Gargoyle senior editor
Posted Friday, Oct. 27, 2006, The OG, features

Halloween used to be the night on which the spirits of the dead would stalk the earth and haunt the living. But by now all Halloween is good for is cheap candy and swarms of little kids rushing for it like bats out of hell in their tacky costumes.

But just because Halloween's rep is going down the drain and the majority of its participants are poorly dressed elementary school kids doesn't mean you can't look great.

Still, even if you think you're better than those kids down the block, you're not going to be able to pull off a respectable wardrobe without giving it some thought and employing a few trade secrets of Halloween fashion. Ultimately, your Halloween look is going to depend on one thing: accessories.

It's not hard to find a Halloween costume that suits your needs as an individual after shopping around a bit (maybe at Halloween specialty stores like Dallas & Co.), but it's those little details that really add depth to the outfit. Luckily, most of these accents can be purchased at the same place for low prices, depending on how good you want to look.

Jono models the latest in zombie
chic. (photos by Devika Bagchi)

Jono again … or is it?!!

The easiest way to add some oomph to your costume is through wigs. Halloween wigs come in all shapes and sizes from simple rainbow-colored afros (though wearing one would be in bad taste, considering they've been out of style since they were invented) to elaborately crafted Rastafarian hairpieces. But just changing your hair around a bit isn't going to make jaws drop, even if you do pull off the Bob Marley look.

Depending on your costume, you may want to consider a less comical approach, and that's when the fun really gets started. Since Halloween has at least partially retained the fear derived from its chilling roots, using such things as fake blood, makeup, and prosthetics is an easy and effective way to terrify little children while maintaining a chic sense of style in the process.

Of course, as with all accessories, these little gems of fashion still need to be used properly and with discretion. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't strive to use any and all of these things together, but you need to make sure you're doing it right.

For instance, fake blood can be used just fine on its own to imply small cuts. Or suppose you've decided to go with a zombie or vampire motif — a smattering of blood around the mouth can hint at the aftermath of a messy, but delicious, meal. Either way, blood can be an incredibly effective way to look the part.

But let's think about this in a bit more depth. Let's say you are going as a zombie. Well, seeing as zombies are the reanimated corpses of the dead, just applying some red to your face and wearing torn-up clothes isn't going to help you much. To present yourself realistically as a demonic presence mindlessly wandering the earth searching for living flesh, you're first going to have to start with some makeup.

After doing some research, you'll find that zombies tend to be gray or white — the color of decaying skin. So the first thing you'll need is to lay down a foundation to build upon, but this isn't the kind of makeup you can buy at the Clinique counter at the mall. What you'll need is a kind of gray base, usually offered at costume stores, to paint your face with. But this still is only the beginning.

After more research, you will see that decaying flesh doesn't tend to remain intact. This is where prosthetics come into play. Prosthetics are pieces of latex or rubber that you can apply directly to your skin. You can then use (or start from scratch with) putty or liquid latex to smooth out the gaps between the piece and your face, and then touch up with some more paint.

Finally, you're ready for the application of some fake blood, to add the finishing touch. Of course, it sounds painstakingly intense, maybe even not worth the time, but the results of your efforts are guaranteed to be fantastic (plus, paint and blood often come with prosthetic pieces, so time is still the only problem). Once this strategy is mastered, no gory details will be too hard for you to plaster on someone's face. You'll truly look like a pro.

Nevertheless, there's one more thing you'll need to keep in mind about your costume: All the face paint and fake blood in the world can't save it from looking lame if you don't have the right props.

Now, I'm not talking about plastic swords, cap guns (which most high schools tend not to allow anyways), and those “blood”-filled swords and knives. What you'll need if you really want to look believable is to spend a little bit more.

For as little as a few extra dollars, you can purchase believable plastic knives, swords, and guns while still maintaining a certain level of safety and allowing for relative disposability — it's an obvious fashion faux pas to reuse items from previous years.

Of course, these props aren't properly suited to every costume; if we consider the previous example of the zombie outfit, we quickly realize that the vast majority of zombies rely only on very basic instincts and are too unintelligent to use weapons, or even reach normal walking speeds. So unless you're going as a super-intelligent, super-coordinated zombie for Halloween, extra weapons aren't really for you.

However there is one final accent that every trick-or-treater does hold in common — a candy sack. From those little plastic pumpkins you can buy at Walgreens to Gucci bags, you need to carry your earnings in something. If you're really feeling adventurous, these can be tied into your costume, but the fact of the matter is, if you are going trick-or-treating, you probably don't have much more fashion sense than a kindergartener anyways.