Accessorize a Regular Dress to Create a Halloween Outfit

Welcome to Day 8 of Crafty October 2014 (check out 2013 and 2012 here) – a month of Halloween Ideas here on The Purple Pumpkin Blog!

My sisters and I LOVE dressing up for Halloween – we always have! However, we tend to just accessorize our existing clothes with things like hats, wigs, make-up, jewellery, and Halloween decorations.

The reason we tend to do that is because fancy dress costumes can be really expensive, and for me, as a plus size girl, finding costumes in my size can be a pain, so it’s easier to just create my own!

Between the three of us, we’ve got quite the collection of Halloween accessories! Here are some photographs of us over the years—I tend to stick with a relatively safe witch, Jo is often some sort of pumpkin, and Maria, well, she’s the best dresser-upper of all of us: cat, witch, devil, zombie bride, she’s done ’em all!

I thought it would be fun to assemble a collection of Halloween outfits using dresses, shoes, and accessories that can be found in most stores or utilizing your wardrobe.

The dresses can then be worn for nights out and special occasions throughout the year and not just Halloween!

Let me talk you through each Halloween outfit I’ve put together…

Spider Queen

Wear a black or deep burgundy dress (with lace if possible) paired with strappy heels. Paint your nails black or red. If you’re handy with nail art, paint on some webs with white polish. A fascinator with a black net and ruby-red jewelry completes the look. 

Ms. Purple Pumpkin

Wear a black pencil skirt, a flowy black top, and pointy boots. Purple accessories, a long purple wig, and, of course, a purple pumpkin to hold. If my blog came to life as a person, it would be this outfit! 

She-Devil

Impress your party guests with a red dress, shoes, masquerade mask, jewellery, and a red bob wig! Don’t forget about Halloween decorations when putting an outfit together—they can become accessories, so grab that plastic pitchfork! 

Trick or Treating

If you’ve got children, you may be going out Trick or Treating! You may be coming home to a party after said activity, so be prepared by dressing up before you go. Team a black jumpsuit with a black and red wig and black wedge boots, so once you come home, you can just take off your coat, gloves, and kitty cat ear muffs and be ready to party! The little spider bucket was too cute to not include! 

The Mummy

There’s absolutely no reason why you can’t dress up for Halloween if you’re a mummy-to-be! Comfy, flat boots paired with a black dress, sparkly jewelry, and festive accessories like a headband and wig. 

Simple Witch

A witch outfit is so easy to create—you can be as flamboyant or subtle as you like! Of course, you need a witch hat and a long black wig. A pair of pointy flats and some false eyelashes help to finish this look off, along with some of that fake spider web stuff, which is really handy at this time of year.

Bride of Blood

Another red outfit—the dress really is the focus here! If you dislike wearing wigs, clipping in a hairpiece is an excellent midway option. White out your face with face paints, and apply the blood dripping around your eyes and lips. Since this outfit is a ‘bride,’ a small posy of flowers is a must! 

Perfect Pirate

I’ve used another Halloween decoration here as an accessory—a light-up skull! You could also throw on some spider-web, as I mentioned earlier. Add jewels around your neck (and wrist and ears!), a pirate hat, and a striped tie around your waist! I’d wear this if I could get me a Captain Jack Sparrow to go with ;) 

Mrs Addams

And finally, an outfit inspired by one of my favourite film characters—Morticia from The Addams Family. I love the styling of Angelica Huston’s take on this character, and boy, oh boy, would I like to be able to pull off this kind of outfit once in my life! Morticia just glides across the room and oozes sex appeal. This outfit replicates that! When you look at it, it’s all regular clothes and accessories—long, slinky black dress, lace bolero, and black, pointed shoes—with the addition of a long, straight black wig. Red lips and nails are mandatory!

Please Share This Post!