Ten Unique Halloween Costumes Full of Tricks and Treats

Halloween approaches, and the time to gather the elements for unique Halloween costumes is disappearing faster than the last of the summer heat. Studio 602 has ten unique costume suggestions that you are unlikely to see at any other Halloween affair.

10 Unique Halloween Costumes

1) The Writerly Life
Many of literature’s best-known writers are remembered for their iconic looks as well as their immortal works. Headed to a grown-up Halloween soiree where cocktails, not candy, are on the menu? Go Ernest Hemingway (cable-knit sweater, boots, fake beard) for comfort; channel Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald (beaded Twenties-style cocktail dresses for her; straw boaters and spats for him) for all-out elegance.

2) It’s A Mad Men World
Our love for AMC’s “Mad Men” is well-documented here at Studio 602, and the looks from the show make easy, seductive and unique costumes. Gentlemen, bust out the three-piece suits (extra credit if it’s gray flannel), slick your hair back with Brilliantine and carry a tumbler of whiskey or iced tea to channel your inner Don Draper or Roger Sterling. Ladies, pencil skirts, sweater-sets and highest heels give you the swish of office maven Joan Harris, while full-skirted dresses, pearls and a bitter glare recall the disappointed drama of Betty Draper-Francis.

3) A Pop of Culture
Dressing like an Andy Warhol canvas is surprisingly achievable, and subverts traditional costume figures like Jackie Kennedy or Che Guevara. Fluorescent body paint and cosmetics can be purchased from many costume and theatrical supply shops, while inexpensive costume wigs can be spray-painted into technicolor hues. Team up with friends and do the same costume in different shades to create an entire Warhol canvas.

4) Don’t Wanna be an American Idiom
American English is full of idiomatic phrases that can be fashioned into utterly unique costumes. Try wearing white tennis clothes and carrying a tennis racket to which you have taped sentences like, “You look so much better than your Facebook profile picture.” You are now the ultimate “back-handed compliment.”

5) Do the Twist
Write traditional Halloween costumes, like vampires, zombies and witches on several slips of paper. Do the same with pop culture figures, celebrities and famous movie characters. Place the slips in two seperate hats and draw one of each for a Halloween costume that tweaks expectations. Zombies and “Jersey Shore” characters are popular choices for 2011; it’s unlikely, however, that you’ll meet another Zombie Snookie.

6) Retro-Active
Banding together for a group Halloween costume gives simple ideas maximum impact. Choose your favorite 80s high school flick and go as the cast of “The Breakfast Club,” “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” or “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” Nineties sitcoms like “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” or “Saved by the Bell” featured large casts and loud fashion choices that make fun and funky group outfits.

7) In My Fashion
Halloween parties are full of costumed revelers, but who is there to hold them to sartorial standards? A blond bobbed wig, large dark glasses and a tight-lipped stare is the start a fitting tribute to “Vogue” editor Anna Wintour. Jeans, a black blazer and spray-tanned skin lets you channel “Project Runway” judge and fashion designer Michael Kors, while a spangled mini-dress and chirpy German accent lets you vamp as the show’s creator, supermodel Heidi Klum.

8 ) Cover Girl (or Boy)

A sheet of sturdy foam board and a band of wide elastic is all you need for a thoroughly memorable Halloween costume. Cut a hole in the center of the board that is wide enough to frame your face, then get busy decorating. A magazine cover, a postage stamp, a playing card, the Mona Lisa  — all of these designs will feature your face as the star. Glue each end of a strip of wide elastic to each side of the hole, giving it enough slack to slip your head through the band.

9) Slacker’s Delight

The ultimate lazy Halloween costume: Pin socks, t-shirts, handkerchiefs and fabric softener sheets to a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. Glue an empty travel-sized box of detergent to a plastic hair-band for a jaunty headpiece and go as your laundry pile. Word to the wise: do not actually pin on clothing straight from the laundry pile; no one wants to smell dirty socks all night.

10) A Sketchy Costume
Take your cue from one of Studio 602’s featured pencil artists and work a costume inspired by graphite hues. As with the Andy Warhol costume, grey body paint and contacts can be sourced from costume and theatrical supply shops, though you will likely have to sew your own costume to create the appropriate grey-scale tones. Choosing a figure that is well-known for their bright costumes (Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz”) or one who is known for their black-and-white imagery (a gray-scale Charlie Chaplin).

Sound off, Studio 602 Readers! What are your costume are you rocking this Halloween? Share your thoughts in the comments below, and if you plan on using any of the above suggestions, send us a photo!

Photo Credits: “Jack-o-Lantern” — Zirconicusso/FreeDigitalPhotos.net; “Mad Men” — AMC/The Everett Collection; “Mona Lisa” — Ibiblio/Nicolas Pioch