You know by now that I'm a Value Village devotee and have shared with you my fab fashiony VV finds since starting this blog almost two years ago. But with Halloween fast approaching the quest for second-hand deals can be stretched out to include fun costumes for office parties, home bashes and basic trick or treating.
VV does sell ready-made new costumes and the store, as you may well know, converts itself from the ultimate treasure hunt experience to Halloween costume central this time of year. So when I had a chance to meet with Meg Allan Cole, Value Village costume expert, designer and all round Do It Yourself-er extrordinaire (check out her Nest blog for inspiring DIY ideas) at a local VV store, I jumped at the chance as any deal diva would.
If you're crafty like Meg you can create your own costume from second-hand curtains, bedspreads and other fabrics found in the linens department. VV's Halloween costume section on its website is extensive, and it shows you how to create looks like Eve, the costume pictured here, which cost under $30 to put together.
If, on the other hand, you're like moi and can hardly sew on a button, you can still put together your own DIY costume with some planning, a good eye, and some creativity - as with this Jackie O costume. Meg recommends
1). Making a list of the items you'll need for whatever costume idea is rolling around in your head (in this case a wig, shades, trench etc - be sure to click on the Jacki O link above to see how they did it), and then
2). Raiding your closet and looking around your house to see what you can find. Then
3). Looking for stuff in the new Halloween costumes section that you know you won't find in the used section (in this case the black wig - VV has every kind of wig you can imagine for good prices) and then finally,
4). Hitting the second-hand clothing and accessories section to fill in whatever basics you need that you haven't found at home to complete the outfit (perhaps some clip-on peal earrings or a strand of fake pearls for a couple bucks in the jewellery section).
If you're fresh out of ideas, do what I'd do and hit the racks for inspiration. Meg suggests looking for patterned pieces of clothing and keeping an open mind when it comes to fabric. When you see a print that jumps out at you, what is it that jumps to mind first? When we saw this rather hideous retro polyester dress (under $15), Meg screamed "Marsha Brady!", forgotten middle sis in the 1970s sitcom, The Brady Bunch. Pair it with fugly boots, slop on a blond wig (new) and some ugly black Coke bottle glasses (used, and you may want to take the frames out!) and whine, "Marsha, Marsha!". Voila! You have your costume!
We both thought Edie Sedgwick when we saw this handmade silver dress that was about $20. Add some black eyeliner and a blond wig and carry a cigarette along with a photo of Andy Warhol - doncha love it? Those last few ideas were mine, ahem.
'And as Meg says, if you find something really fab, like this 1980s designer dress from New York (which hasn't even been worn and still has the tag on it!), it's not as though its taboo to wear it in your every-day, non-costume-y life.
I just have to sign off with a goofy-fun pic of Meg modeling a flapper look. That vintage-esque fringed dress was actually found in a Savers store in the States (Savers is the US counterpart to Canada's VV)! Grab some costume jewellery pearls and a flapper wig, maybe a ciggie holder if you can find it, and out on some black heels and there you have it!
Thanks Meg - had heaps of fun!!
OH and if you want to see how the VV costume experts put together items in the store to create inspired costumes, drop by any Toronto store at 3pm every Thursday until Oct 31 for a Halloween fashion show! Meg gave me so many ideas that I may do a couple more thrift Halloween idea posts in the next week or so - so check back!
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