Four Finishing Vintage Touches for Your Halloween Costume

October 29, 2016

With Halloween just around the corner, finding the right finishing touch for your costume can be a bit of a head-scratcher. Fortunately, whether you're dressed as a mummy, a mermaid, or your favorite pop star, vintage and antique jewelry give you a variety of options that can add authenticity, glamour, and charm to your ensemble.

Vintage Jewelry Turns "Meh" into "Memorable"

Why vintage jewelry? Aside from its timeless appeal and flexible integration with even the most modern looks, a vintage piece can give the most popular and ubiquitous costume a unique touch that sets it apart from all the other ghouls, ghosts, and Gagas.

So when you're putting together your costume for the big bash, check out our last-minute tips for bringing vintage awesomeness and appeal to your Halloween habiliment.

Let Your Costume Orbit around a Single Star

If you're still stuck for a strong costume idea at the eleventh hour, why not choose a ring, bracelet, brooch, or pin that you really love, and build a costume around it? A piece from the Arts & Crafts era could form the foundation of an Andrew Lang-inspired Faerie, while a classic Stick Pin could provide the basis for a look borrowed from Victoria-era royalty.

Of course, building your perfect costume with antique jewelry can take a decidedly modern tack as well. Dazzling pieces from the Art Deco, Art Nouveau, and Arts and Crafts eras are all perfect places to start for a steampunk adventuress, latter-day enchantress, or high-stepping heroine.

Ring-a-Ding-Ding!

What's better than one amazing vintage ring? How about five? It's easy to picture a fairytale princess or silver-age starlet dripping with rings, but you can mix and match variety of antique rings to just about any costume for a unique look that's full of light, color, and pizazz.

The art of ring stacking is incredibly popular this season, and you can slip a stack of rings onto a single finger, or spread out your sparkle across multiple fingers for a coordinated, coruscating collection of crazy cool for your costume.

Create a Cooler Costume with Color

Halloween might be more closely associated with monochrome monsters and the occasional splash of gory reds and oranges than a rainbow palette, but incorporating colorful gemstones will give any ensemble a devilishly dazzling distinctiveness that's impossible to miss-or resist.

Coordinate your colors with your costume for a polished look, or add some sassy and striking contrast to your costume by choosing complementary colors (e.g., reds and yellows for greens and purples, blues and pinks for oranges and yellow-greens). And if you're sticking mostly to black and white for your ghastly get-up, add a multi-colored brooch, pin, or necklace to add a lively bit of light and luster.

Avoiding the Agony of Anachronisms

If you have a detailed and period-focused costume, such as an historical figure or character from a specific era (e.g., "The Roaring '20s," "The '50s" or "The '70s", etc.), vintage jewelry can give you that extra bit of authenticity that can make all the difference.

Understanding the trends that were popular during a specific era gives you access to a slew of specific pieces and assembled looks that can add some historical heft to your costume. A quick search can help you find the ne plus ultra of twentieth-century trendiness or make it easier for you to reach back to the Victorian era for some regal regalia that's era-appropriate.

You've got the costume-now take it to the next level of spook-tacular style! Whether you choose to dress up your dress with a classic diamond brooch or add a touch of gothic glamour with a vintage cross, antique jewelry can give you the perfect finishing touch for your Halloween "boo-toure."

Halloween photography by Royce Rumsey.

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