Freddie Mercury Costumes

Posted on September 5, 2012 by admin

As you might have noticed, in between running our busy costume emporium and making

Freddie Mercury Style Costume

dreams come true, we often use this section of our website to alert you to anniversaries and celebrations relating to a given date (usually with reference to the costuming potential). Today is actually the anniversary of the birth of rock legend Freddie Mercury in 1946. To celebrate this fact, a major supplier is producing new Freddie-related outfits in time for the ‘Freddie For A Day’ charity events in aid of the Mercury Phoenix Trust being held in many locations today.

Look to Queen videos for lots of costume inspiration including the iconic ‘I want to break free’ French Maid costume, or just wear a Freddy Mercury moustache

Meanwhile we have something that is just downright strange, has nothing to do with costumes but is apparently something of an internet sales success – we just cannot figure out why: If you type today’s date into your Google search engine, chances are you will get reference to the ‘On this site on 5^th September 1782 nothing happened’ plaque, an apparent must-have artefact which serves no real point. However, in addition to being sold out on some sites (at time of writing), also seems to have spawned a picture gallery of locations where it has been posted. It is right up there with the ‘Please Do Not Throw Stones at This Notice’ notice and the ‘Please Do Not Read This Badge’ badge. So to sum up, it is 230 years to the day since nothing happened at a number of locations, many of them in South-East England. If you know different, please let us know. Meanwhile, it’s the middle of the week – we will have a rest, normal service will be resumed tomorrow.

Pop Video Costume Theme

Posted on August 1, 2012 by admin

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Today’s fancy dress theme is all about music videos. Over the years there have been some iconic videos made to accompany songs with some fantastic (and some truly weird) costumes. So why not base an entire fancy dress party exactly on these videos? You could have the iconic videos playing all night, providing the music as well.

Here are just some of the music videos we think would make a good costume opportunity…

Madonna – Vogue – 20 & 30s glamour & Georgian (Marie Antoinette)
Adam Ant – Stand & Deliver – Dick Turpin costume
The Bangles – Walk Like An Egyptian – Cleopatra costume
Michael Jackson – Thriller – Zombie Costumes
Madonna – Papa Don’t Preach / Like a Virgin – Bride Costume
Britney Spears – Baby One More Time – Schoolgirl outfits
The Rocky Horror Picture Show – wear any of the Rocky Horror costumes
Boy George
Bryan Adams – Everything I Do, I Do It For You – Robin Hood outfits
Survivor – Eye Of The Tiger -Boxer costumes

31 years ago today MTV opened with ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’ and changed the face of pop music as we know it. Of course nowadays, the pop promo video has ceased to be so much a staple of TV entertainment (MTV is no longer end-to-end pop music) and has moved into the mainstream, with the world and his wife (and their dog) being able to put stuff up on YouTube and the like. A recent development relevant to costuming is the cosplay compilation video in which attendees of events such as a ComicCon or Sci-Fi/Fantasy Fan event are involved in lip-synching to a well-known tune. (For a sample see ‘It’s My Life’ at http://www.youtube.com/user/CosplayFeverBook (but you can skip the first 45 seconds)).

Pop Icons Fancy Dress

Posted on July 31, 2012 by admin

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It’s time for a Pop Icons fancy dress party. With our ever growing range of celebrity masks, it is becoming easier to become one of your pop icons and is perfect if you are not too keen (or your budget allows) you to purchase an entire costume. Props & Frocks does have some great Pop Icons Costume Ideas for men and women.

In the course of the next few weeks there is a good chance that a fair few world records will be broken, mostly at the Olympics. There are, however, still people pushing the envelope in other fields of endeavour. Take the record for ‘Most Costume Changes in a Pop Video’ (No, we didn’t know the category existed either). Anyway, whilst you would have thought that the likes of Lady Gaga or Jessie J. would be a dead cert (or should we say ‘shoe-in’?) for this, a group called Eytan and the Embassy have recently seized the accolade with a total of 18 costumes in one video, the trick being that they (or a least their leader singer) managed it in one continuous take during the song ‘Everything Changes’, which lasts around four minutes. Obviously the results are not perfect, but there are some recognisable pop icons portrayed (including Gaga) and the video can be viewed on YouTube.

Pop Star Fancy Dress

Posted on June 30, 2012 by admin

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Pop stars is still one of the most common costume themes that we are asked for at Props & Frocks. In our new costume & theme ideas section of this website, you will be able to find a huge range of potential costume ideas, below we have listed just a few of them to get you going…

Pop star Costume Ideas:

Abba – stock some fantastic ladies 70s jumpsuits
Bucks Fizz – this costume set is only to hire
Tina Turner
Village People – a great costume idea for a group
Britney Spears – wear a schoolgirl costume, or red catsuit
Christina Aguleira – wear a belly dancer costume

Lady Gaga
Cheryl Cole
Showaddywaddy – wear a Teddy Boy outfit
Amy Whinehouse
Elvis
Spice Girls – we have some lovely Union Jack dresses for Ginger spice
MC Hammer – Rapper costume
Madonna – Vogue & Like A Prayer are great videos
Adam Ant – wear a New Romantic costume or a Dick Turpin style costume for Stand & Deliver

Earlier on this week we were speaking about Michael Jackson, and today one of the pop celebrities of the noughties, Cheryl Cole (born Cheryl Ann Tweedy) will be celebrating her birthday. From her first sortie into the world of TV stardom back in 2002 on Pop Stars: The Rivals (where she became a member of Girls Aloud) Cheryl Cole has not been far out of the limelight. A new single ‘Call My Name’ and album ‘A Million Lights’ were released earlier this month and from our perspective it is always interesting to see what she is wearing. A few years ago the red & black military style costume she wore for ‘Fight for this Love’ caused a sensation and at Props & Frocks we are always looking for the next big thing!

Pop Stars Fancy Dress Theme

Posted on May 20, 2012 by admin

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Most Eurovision songs disappear into the unknown, however throughout the years there have been a few songs (and groups) who have gone on to bigger and better things.

Today’s costume theme could be just that, but you may find it is a bit limited, or why not use song titles from Eurovision or, why not broaden it out to Pop Stars as the easiest option?

Here are just some of our Pop Star costume Ideas:

1950s – Buddy Holly
1960s – The Beatles
1970s – David Bowie
1980s – Duran Duran
1990s – The Spice Girls
The Noughties – Christina Aguilara

And, here are just some more of our fabulous pop star costume ideas:

Madonna – Vogue & Like A Prayer are great videos
Noddy Holder
Freddy Mercury
Boy George
Kiss
Katy Perry – blue wig
Meatloaf

The Bangles – think video, Walk Like An Egyptian (Belly Dancer or Egyptian costumes)

Abba – stock some fantastic ladies 70s jumpsuits
Bucks Fizz – this costume set is only to hire
Tina Turner
Gerri Halliwell

Lady Gaga
Cheryl Cole
Amy Whinehouse
Elvis
Spice Girls
Madonna – Vogue & Like A Prayer are great videos
Adam Ant – wear a New Romantic costume or a Dick Turpin style costume for Stand & Deliver
Sid Vicious - punk costumes & accessories
Michael Jackson – think Thriller, think Zombie costumes
Meatloaf
The Beatles
Madness – wear black suits, Pork Pie hats and dark glasses (don’t forget the white socks!)

Here are the answers from yesterday’s Eurovision mini-quiz.

1967 – Sandie Shaw – Puppet on a String

1969 – Lulu – Boom-Bang-a-Bang (One of four joint winners)

1976 – Brotherhood of Man – Save Your Kisses for Me

1981 – Bucks Fizz – Making Your Mind Up

1997 – Katrina and the Waves – Love Shine a Light

The entry by Bucks Fizz may have been 31 years ago, but the girls skirts being ripped off by the lads to reveal the shorter skirts can still be a popular foursome request, particularly when it comes to 1980s parties. Other memorable entries and costumes from Eurovision are of course the 1974 Swedish pop group Abba, with ‘Waterloo’, whose countless hits have spawned a fantastic selection of 1970s style costumes and the UK’s 1968 entry with Cliff Richard (now Sir) with ‘Congratulations’ – whose velvet suit is strangely reminiscent of the Austin Powers look (or should that be the other way round?). But when dressing for Eurovision, you do not necessarily have to go for a specific look, over the years there have been some interesting, strange, and sometimes weird selection of costumes, from Belly Dancers through to heavy rock groups, to traditional European costumes.

Pop Stars Fancy Dress Theme

Posted on February 25, 2012 by admin

We just had to have a Pop Stars Fancy Dress Theme today as this’ll be the day in 1957 when Buddy Holly and the Crickets record ‘That’ll Be the Day’. Also in today’s pop calendar we have the Beatles releasing their first single ‘Please Please Me’ in the United States in 1963. Furthermore it was on this date six years later that the Fab Four began work on the Abbey Road album, so we are detecting a bit of a music theme coming on.

The music/pop idol-based party has evolved in recent years, largely aided and abetted by the vast range of TV talent shows. We have also noticed an increased enthusiasm for distinctive costuming amongst the newer pop talents: Lady Gaga undoubtedly still leads the field on innovative outfits, and we are sure she still has a good many tricks up her highly fashioned sleeve. When it comes to trying to recreate looks at ground zero here at planet PropsandFrocks we have to look at practicality and potential popularity. Early Gaga is still popular, of course, and there are several suitable outfits and accessories on the market, but recently others such as Katy Perry and Jessie J have been attracting the attention of wannabes. The problem is nailing the definitive distinctive look as these girls are developing a disturbing habit of going through multiple costume changes in their videos and some of the more interesting looks are getting lost in ‘blink and you miss it moments’!

1950s – Buddy Holly
1960s – The Beatles
1970s – David Bowie
1980s – Duran Duran
1990s – The Spice Girls
The Noughties – Christina Aguilara

And, here are just some more of our fabulous pop star costume ideas:

Madonna – Vogue & Like A Prayer are great videos
Noddy Holder
Freddy Mercury
Boy George
Kiss
Katy Perry – blue wig
Meatloaf

The Bangles – think video, Walk Like An Egyptian (Belly Dancer or Egyptian costumes)

Abba – stock some fantastic ladies 70s jumpsuits
Bucks Fizz – this costume set is only to hire
Tina Turner
Gerri Halliwell

Lady Gaga
Cheryl Cole
Amy Whinehouse
Elvis
Spice Girls
Madonna – Vogue & Like A Prayer are great videos
Adam Ant – wear a New Romantic costume or a Dick Turpin style costume for Stand & Deliver
Sid Vicious - punk costumes & accessories
Michael Jackson – think Thriller, think Zombie costumes
Meatloaf
The Beatles
Madness – wear black suits, Pork Pie hats and dark glasses (don’t forget the white socks!)

There have also been some ‘tongue in cheek’ pop stars such as The Wombles & Bob The Builder (now I bet that has got you thinking!!!)

Music Icons Fancy Dress Theme

Posted on January 8, 2012 by admin

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Music Icons is today’s fancy dress theme as two pop legends celebrate their birthdays today. Today’s the anniversary of the birth of both The King of Rock n Roll himself, Elvis Presley (1935) and David Bowie (1947). Between them they have influenced the music and musicians of successive decades. This gives us a chance to mention in passing that should you choose to use their anniversaries as the basis of a Decades or Pop Icons event, we’re currently offering some really good deals on retro fashion costumes. Details can be found elsewhere on this site.

What is not in doubt was that to this day Presley retains records for the most hits at every cut-off point (Top 5, Top 10, Top 20, etc.). Needless to say, true Elvis fans need no excuse to celebrate his music and films but this is an opportunity for the rest of us to get involved.

Props n Frocks stocks a great range of Elvis accessories, including wigs, sideburns, chest hair, medallions, rings, and of course, Elvis Glasses. We also stock a range of Elvis fancy dress outfits, including a fun joke Fat Elvis costume.

Now Elvis also starred in many films, so broaden out your costume search to include possible a character from one of his films, or celebrate his army career.

We have written many blogs on Music/pop idols so we will not repeat them all here again, but if you need music idol costume ideas, just follow the link.

Meanwhile we thought we’d also focus on the fact that we’ve recently seen the 25^th anniversary of the fantasy film ‘Labyrinth’, in which Bowie starred as Jareth the Goblin King. The film involved other major talents such as George Lucas, Terry Jones (of Monty Python) and, possibly most important in giving the movie its unique style, a massive array of characters from Jim Henson’s Creature Workshop. The film was a masterpiece of fantasy and although Jim Henson himself has passed on, his greatest creations, the Muppets continue to live on, returning to our movie screens at the end of this month (and there are actually some Muppet costumes becoming available!).