Article  Unique Costumes, Halloween, Theatrical, National and Masquerade When the opportunity arises to find the perfect wardrobe for an event, whether it is for theatrical purposes or a masquerade ball, a plethora of information can be found with a little research. Exploring the time period, era, nationality and the attributes of the event will help you choose among the available costumes. Halloween, theatrical, national dress and masquerade events all require specific types of wardrobes to be worn and the information that you find will help you make a decision to best recreate the distinctive style. Halloween is one of the most common reasons that people look for unique costumes. Young and old alike find Halloween a fun and creative occasion where they can dress in fantasy clothing. Some of the popular costume choices are dressing as a favorite movie or television characters, famous celebrities, ghosts and goblins, pirates, police officers, angels, devils or even inanimate objects like a wall socket. Costumes are a good way to have some adult fun on Halloween for parties or just going out on the town. There are many good couple costumes to choose from also, like Cleopatra and Mark Antony, his and hers sailor and pirate costumes, schoolgirl and professor and even gangster costumes like Bonnie and Clyde. National costumes are used to celebrate a legacy of specific cultures. Even for St. Patrick’s Day, some people dress in an Irish wardrobe to celebrate their heritage. A good example of an Irish costume would be a female lucky charm costume or a leprechaun hat with a beard attached. Other national costumes would possibly be a kilt, knee socks and bagpipes for a Scotsman, or a kimono, or sari for a Japanese culture celebration. Any kind of costume that portrays the heritage and emphasizes the culture of a specific region will be great for showing your national pride. Theatrical costumes are also a specific type of costume that can be very unique. These costumes help actors to portray certain characters and personalities; theatrical dress is necessary in film, theater and television production. Gender roles, professions, ages, social class and historical era can be represented by costumes. Halloween stores will normally carry theatrical costumes for sale to theater companies or there are also specialty stores that may cost a bit more. Many things go into a theatrical production and having the most stylized and exaggerated costumes will ensure that the actors can properly portray their characters. A masquerade costume is required to attend a masquerade ball where the mask is the most prominent part of the attire. Such gatherings and festivals began in the 15th century, but a new revival has taken place with the modern masquerade theme parties. Most of the costume stores will have various Venetian masks that symbolize the era of Carnival festivities. The masks were originally worn as part of a game during the ball to see if anyone could discover the identity of each guest. Masquerade costumes also play a big portion of the opera apparel. While Phantom of the Opera is one of the most famous, multiple movies and musicals have used the beautiful Venetian masks of the masquerade for their productions. Depending upon the type of costumes, Halloween or otherwise, you can find most popular designs online and sometimes in specialty shops. Research the event that you are planning to attend and use the information to guide you to the distinctive style of costume that you will use to create the perfect image. Category Media Arts & Design Author CVAdmin Add To Favorites Print This Article Email Article To A Friend Post Comments   Rate This Article (0) 1 - Poor2345 - Good678910 - Excellent Added On 2010-03-30