Oscars Fancy Dress Party

Posted on February 24, 2013 by admin

The final preparations are being made for tonight’s Oscar ceremony. We just had to have

Dorothy Costume – Wizard of Oz

ideas for an Oscars themed fancy dress party today.

An Oscars event can just be a great excuse to dress up in your glad rags, or you can take it further by looking at the major films that are featured, and remember it is not just the best actress and actor awards but also best music, best director, best costumes etc. etc. You could even dress up as a paparazzi catching the stars on the red carpet.

Most people however will dress up an actor(ress)playing a part in a major film. Here are just some of our film costume ideas…

Mens Movie Costumes:

Officer & a Gentleman
Maverick – Top Gun
Rhett Butler – Gone With The WInd
Amadeus – wear Georgian Costume
An American Werewolf in London – another chance to wear a werewolf costume
Apollo 13 – Astronaut costumes
Around The world in 80 days – Victorian Gentleman’s costume
Avatar
Batman
The Beast (Beauty & The Beast)
Beetlejuice
Ben Hur – wear Roman costumes
Braveheart
Brokeback Mountain – cowboy costumes
Bugsy – Gangster Costumes
Dances With Wolves – Confederate uniforms
Ghandi
The Godfather, another chance to wear your Gangster outfits
Indiana Jones
Julius Caesar
Men in Black
Pirates Of The Caribbean
Rocky
Silence Of The Lambs
Dark Knight – a great black costume idea

Ladies Movie Costumes:

Anna (Anna & The King of Siam)
Alice In Wonderland
Avatar
Belle (Beauty & The Beast)
The Black Swan
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Cleopatra
Ariel – the Little Mermaid
Mary Poppins

Here is a list of some Oscar award winning films that may give you more costume inspiration:

Annie Get Your Gun
Babe
Apocalypse Now
The Artist
Back To The Future
Aladdin
Aliens
All about Eve
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of The Desert
All The King’s Men – great film to wear 1940s uniforms
Airport
Bedknobs & Broomsticks – a wide selection of potential costumes in this film
Black Hawk Down
Bonnie & Clyde
Born Free – wear some of our animal masks
Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid
Calamity Jane
Cabaret
The Chronicles of Narnia – a huge selection of potential costumes in this film
A Christmas Carol
The Dark Knight
Dumbo
The Empire Strikes Back – lots of Star Wars Costumes
Fame – dig out those legwarmers!!!
Finding Neverland
The Full Monty – our stripper kits are all you’d need!
Licensed Star Trek Mens Top
Goldfinger
Happy Feet
The Jolson Story
The King & I
King Kong
The Lion KIng
The Lord Of The Rings
The Matrix
Moulin Rouge
The Muppets
My Fair Lady
Oliver
Phantom Of The Opera
Pinocchio
Star Trek
Titanic
Toy Story 3
West Side Story – 50s Costumes
The Wizard of Oz costumes

Originally set up to improve the industry’s image and mediate in disputes, the organisation went on to found the major film awards event which is ‘The Oscars’. The Academy does give other awards, and technically the gold figurines are ‘Statuette Awards of Merit’, but, as legend has it, a secretary at the Academy saw one of the prototype awards and said that it looked her Uncle Oscar. As the statue depicts a crusader knight resting on his sword and standing on a reel of film, her uncle must have lived a very interesting life. Anyway, if this gives you the incentive to have a Movies party, we have obviously got the costumes and we have also got the awards! Award statuettes in a similar style to the Oscars (the Oscar design is copyright) and available for you to give to those whose efforts deserve merit, alternatively gold Morphsuits will do the job equally well..

New Year’s Eve Costume Ideas

Posted on December 27, 2011 by admin

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This week we hope to inspire you with some creative choices for costumes for New Year’s Eve. One of our most popular fancy dress themes for the New Year is Movies. Why not take a look back at some of our previous blogs on this Movie theme, to get some inspiration on the characters you could be? Take a look here for some great Movie costume ideas.

You might choose to be a silver-screen idol such as Humphrey Bogart (who was born on December 25^th1899); a comedy legend such as Charlie Chaplin (who died on Christmas Day 1977); or what about the sultry temptress Marlene Dietrich? Her birthday is celebrated today, as she was born December 27^th in 1901. Our fabulous range of female tailcoats would certainly help create that particular look, as she was famous for dressing in men’s Top Hat n Tails – something very daring for a female to do back in the late 1920s/early 1930s.

One of the most popular pairings for the Movies theme is Cleopatra and Mark Anthony. Not everyone can carry off the black fringed wig, which is an essential part of the Cleo look, but this couple can certainly make a statement.

Fancy something a bit more modern? Then here are a few suggestions from our selection of Movie Characters. If what you want is not on the list, don’t panic, we have many others to choose from.

Ariel, Snow White, Cinderella or one of the other Disney Princesses.
Captain Jack Sparrow or other characters from the Pirates of the Caribbean films.
Woody, Buzz or Mr Potato Head from Toy Story.
Characters from Alice in Wonderland.
Other animated characters such as Shrek and Princess Fiona

Perhaps you fancy something more daring, such as one of the characters from the Rocky Horror Picture Show – we stock the full range of Rocky Horror Costumes at Props n Frocks. You might choose a costume that requires some make-up. Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice are two such characters. Not only do we stock the costume, wig and make-up for both these costume suggestions, but if make-up is too much effort, for Beetlejuice we can also offer you the mask option (which is even on special offer at the moment). Masks can certainly help create a fantastic impression, but may be a little impractical when it comes to eating and drinking. Finding somewhere to store the mask when doing this can be a good move.

Here are some more great film costume ideas.

Film Fancy Dress Theme

Posted on August 25, 2011 by admin

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Films is today costume theme…

What do director Tim Burton & supermodel Claudia Schiffer have in common? Well, today we can say Happy Birthday to both of them. Tim Burton was born in Burbank, California in 1958, whilst Claudia Schiffer’s birth was over a decade later, in 1970 in Dusseldorf, Germany. We think however, that is where the similarity ends. Claudia of course has made a couple of appearances in movies such as Zoolander and Love Actually, but nothing from the prolific Tim Burton stable. The great thing about the majority of Tim Burton’s films, are the number of costumes that are regularly requested here at Props n Frocks, and which we have available. From Beetlejuice to Batman, Edward Scissorhands to Sweeney Todd, Willie Wonka to the various characters from Alice in Wonderland. The latter of course includes Tim Burton’s wife Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, and Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter. And if the films of Tim Burton are not quite your style (some people find them rather dark), you could always go for a James Bond party, as today also marks the 81^st birthday of actor Sean Connery. Or what about stick to the firm favourite of films or Movies.

To be honest, there is so much choice for film costumes you should be able to find a lovely costume and put it into a film context. We have completed many other film costume ideas blogs, so why not take a look?

Movie Idols Fancy Dress Theme

Posted on August 7, 2011 by admin

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Movie Idols fancy dress theme is our costume choice for the day. It is easier dressing up as one of these movie stars in a recognisable character from one of their major films. We’ve tried to give you a varied list, to get your own inspiration going, for example roger Moore is down as The Saint, and yes, we know, he was also James Bond.

Some of our Movie Idol Costume ideas include:

Marilyn Monroe – Decide between the pink evening dress or the white halter neck costume
Audrey Hepburn – Breakfast At Tiffany’s
James Dean
Judy Garland – Dorothy from The Wizard Of Oz
Marlon Brando – The Godfather
Harrison Ford – Indiana Jones
Keira Knightley – Pirates Of The Caribbean
Tom Cruise – Top Gun (Maverick)
Angelina Jolie – Lara Croft
Uma Thurman – Kill Bill
Richard Gere – An Officer & a Gentleman costume
Christopher Reeve – Superman
Johnny Depp – so much choice, Captain Jack Sparrow to name just one!
Gywneth Paltroe – Shakespeare in Love
Heath Ledger – The Joker
Catherine Zeta Jones – Chicago
Roger Moore – The Saint
Sean Connery – James Bond
Leonardo DiCaprio – Titanic
Sylvestar Stallone – Rambo
Whoopi Goldberg – Sister Act
Brad Pitt – Grim Reaper
Greta Garbo – wear a glamourous 1930s gown
John Wayne – wear a cowboy costume
Halle Berry – Cat Woman or The Flintstones
Julia Roberts – Pretty Woman
Nicole Kidman – Moulin rouge – take a look here for loads of Moulin Rouge costume ideas
Reese Witherspoon – French Maid from Bridget Jones

To be honest, this list could go on and on, who would you dress up as?

Having mentioned a 100^th birth anniversary yesterday we could not let today pass without mentioning another. That of film director Ray Nicholas. Who? Well, only those over a certain age might know the name, but chances are there are many more people who might know the most famous film he directed, which was the significant 1955 movie ‘Rebel Without a Cause’ featuring James Dean. This film, along with ‘East of Eden’ and ‘Giant’ seemed to set Dean up for a major acting career but, as we know, he died in an auto accident in 1955, before ‘Rebel’ was released, but became a movie legend nonetheless. Now when it comes to Movie Idols here at PNF we can offer a wide selection from the timeless characters portrayed by Marilyn Monroe or Clark Gable through to the newer creations such as Black Swan, Green Lantern and the Smurfs!

Cult Films Fancy Dress Theme

Posted on July 26, 2011 by admin

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Today we give you Cult Films as our fancy dress theme. Well, it’s time to get a bit highbrow as we celebrate the work of two film directors, whose films have produced some memorable characters (even if not all of them have been immortalised in costume!). Firstly, we have Blake Edwards who was born this day in 1922. He is probably best known for his comedies, some featuring his wife Julie Andrews, but many showcasing the talents of Peter Sellers, notably the Pink Panther series in which Sellers played Inspector Clouseau.

The Pink Panther (originally the name of a diamond but also a cartoon character in the film titles) took on a life of his own. Edwards also brought us ‘The Great Race’, from whose characters The Great Leslie (Tony Curtis) and Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon), the Wacky Races cartoon series was apparently developed.

On the more serious side, today in 1928 Stanley Kubrick was born. Kubrick believed in quality not quantity and was famed for his meticulous attention to detail in his pictures. These included ‘Spartacus’, ‘Dr. Strangelove’, ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ and ‘A Clockwork Orange’. We sometimes get requests for Alex de Large, the anti-hero of Clockwork Orange, but there is often a dispute as to who’s going to be Spartacus. Kubrick also did wonders for the Venetian mask market thanks to some of the surreal scenes in ‘Eyes Wide Shut’. Our theme of the day is ‘Cult Film Characters’.

Here are just some of our costume ideas for Cult films…

The Rocky Horror Picture Show – we stock the full range of licensed Rocky Horror Costumes
The Pink Panther
Star Trek
A Clockwork Orange
Quadrophenia – 60s costumes
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory
Barbarella
The Sound Of Music
Evil Dead – bring out those Zombie Costumes again
Blues Brothers
Planet Of The Apes
Ben Hur

The word ‘cult’ has different meaning to different people, so we have tried to stick with a list that doesn’t just rely on the more mainstream types of film that you all know, and if you feel that they are in fact a ‘cult’ then please go ahead and dress up as a character in one of them. If you need more great film costume ideas, check out our website selection.

Have you other ideas as to what Cult films should be on our list – why not drop us a line so we can add them on?

Fantasy Films Fancy Dress

Posted on July 23, 2011 by admin

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Fantasy Films is today’s fancy dress and narrows down the ‘normal’, but massive, film theme that you’d normally hear about.

The word fantasy is really open to your own interpretation, as you may think of Marilyn Monroe as being your fantasy, so therefore you could chose to wear a Marilyn costume from one of her famous films.

Most people would tend to go down the sci-fi film route with this one, but you may get the odd porn star turn up (we are just warning you, especially if children are going to be attending!). Take a look at our range of sci-fi costumes

So let’s have a look at the most common costume choices for a Fantasy Film fancy dress…

Avatar – a great range of costumes are now available
Lord of The Rings – Gandalf, Arwen, Frodo, just some of the characters you could use
Star Trek – we stock mens shirts and ladies Star Trek dresses
Star Wars – we stock Princess Leia, Darth Vader and kids costume kits
Batman – we stock all the main characters from the range of Batman films including The Black Knight
Superman – superman & Super Girl costumes are always in stock
The Incredible Hulk
Wonder Woman
X Men costumes including Iron Man & Wolverine
The Matrix – Trinity & Neo Costumes
The Watchmen – we stock all The Watchmen Costumes Silk Spectre, Night Owl & Rorschach
Freddy Krueger from A Knightmare on Elm Street

We mentioned the release of the final Harry Potter film last week and today it’s the 22^nd birthday of Daniel Radcliffe, the eponymous hero of all eight movies. Having literally grown up as Harry Potter, and unlike some childhood actors who fell by the wayside and did not make the smooth transition into adult stardom, the question is whether Dan and his fellow actors will be forever associated with the characters that made them household names? Aside from the Harry Potter franchise, we did start looking at other potential childhood stars that offer costuming opportunities but aside from the legendary Shirley Temple, most of the other ones that we came up with, tended to be down the fantasy route, with Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia leading the way.

Film Costume Ideas

Posted on April 7, 2011 by admin

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‘Film’ is the costume theme of the day as today, we celebrate the birthday of Francis Ford Coppola. Born in 1939, Coppola has directed, produced and written a wide range of movies, from the major masterpiece about Vietnam ‘Apocalypse Now’ through the Godfather trilogy, to other projects such as ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’ and ‘Peggy Sue Got Married’.

With the possible exception of Dracula in its Gothic-Victorian context, few of the films mentioned would generate costuming opportunities, especially for females. More precisely, there are many film genres and themes where females feel rightly short on choice. For Star Wars costumes it’s down to Princess Leia and Queen/Padme Amidala, whilst the epic Lord of the Rings series features just Galadriel, Arwen the Elf Princess, or Eowyn, the daughter of the King of Rohan, who virtually had to disguise herself as a man to get involved in the climactic battles. And as for the ever popular James Bond, it’s either arm-candy or gold-body paint (well actually it isn’t, as here at Props n Frocks we have come up with a few other suggestions – see Bond Fancy Dress). The bottom line is, when choosing your costume theme think through the costuming potential with a view to equal opportunities for all!

We have given you a lot of film costume ideas in previous blogs, so take a look for plenty of great fancy dress inspiration.