Halloween fashion is sexy, spooky fun

The possibilities for costumes are endless during the Halloween season. Costume hunters can purchase premade costumes from Halloween stores or create their own from scratch.

A quick search on Pinterest provided Carey Sollaccio, a junior psychology major, with the idea for her costume. “I am going to be a loofah for Halloween. The fabric should be easy to find and the costume should be quick to make,” Sollaccio said. The loofah picture on Pintrerest has 2,228 “likes,” 26 comments and 942 repins, as of time of press, making it a popular Halloween costume idea.

Halloween stores are another way for students to find costumes, makeup and accessories for their special night.

“I am going as a vampire because I get to wear red contacts and fangs from the Spirit Halloween Store,” Brian Knox, a junior studying criminal justice, said.

The Spirit Halloween Store is located near UCF on Colonial Drive. This chain store has a wide variety of prepackaged costumes, accessories, wigs and masks. It is a one-stop shop where everything needed to complete an outfit can be found. Students can shop from the comfort of their dorms or apartments by visiting spirithalloween.com.

For students who prefer to support local businesses instead of chain stores, another option is to visit Halloween Headquarters on University Boulevard. The store is seasonal and carries many of the same types of costumes as Spirit Halloween. However, it is a family-owned business operated by Joyce Darch, who also owns the Costumes, Gags and Gifts store in the Seminole Towne Center.

Halloween Headquarters manager Melissa Boyer said that the store’s biggest sellers are the “sexy costumes.”

“Anything sexy, from cops to Alice in Wonderland, sells the most,” Boyer said. She also advised that men go with the flow. “They will be the male counterpart of the sexy costume if he is part of a couple. Guys will wear a little bit of everything.”

Megan Watson and Addison Burgess, co-workers at Gamers Inc. in Waterford Lakes, plan to dress as a character duo from Final Fantasy X. Watson, a senior psychology and biology double major, will be dressing as Yuna, while Burgess, a senior math major, will be Tidus.

“I plan on getting what I can from places like Target or Goodwill and then making the rest," Watson said. The duo also plans on using its costumes at MegaCon in March.

Specialty stores are another way for students to accessorize their outfits. Beachcombers Bazaar, found at 2525 Edgewater Drive, Orlando, or BeachcombersBazaar.com, offers women’s fashion accessories such as henna tattoo products, East Indian-style shoes, glass bangles and bindi body stickers. Jody Rogers, co-owner of the store, said that henna tattoos are not just for women.

“Last Halloween, my favorite henna tattoo was on a man who was going to be a sailor. I did an anchor tattoo on one arm and spent an hour on his second arm. I designed a woman on his arm that would shake her behind when he moved his arm,” Rogers said.

Rogers said that she does see an increase in bangle sales due to women who want to be Princess Jasmine for Halloween. She can make custom bangle sets to match any costume or outfit that a customer has already purchased.

For students who wanted to purchase costumes on campus, Theatre UCF hosted its annual Halloween Costume Sale from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday in room 218D of the Student Union. Proceeds from the sale help fund the theatre department’s future productions. In addition to the costume sale, the advanced theatre makeup class held free demonstrations on how to apply makeup and prosthetics between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Most items cost around $10 or less; cash or checks were accepted.

With so many options, costume possibilities are all around for UCF students.