Making a Costume Your Own

As a disclaimer, you don't have to make every costume piece from scratch.  There's nothing wrong with buying ready made pieces for your costume, and sometimes it works to wear those ordinary pieces as part of a costume (exception, not the rule).  But if you want your costume to look like it's more special than a $40 Leg Avenue special, it's going to take a little work.

Here's what I've done with ready made costume pieces to customize them:

1. Fasteners and closures.  Alter the piece to suit your needs so you can get out of it in an entertaining way.  I bought this dress at Nordstrom Rack.  To get into the dress, I had to open the flimsy zipper and crawl through the halter and into the dress.  Removing the dress in the dressing room presented a more awkward picture, and that's wholly inappropriate for the act I was doing.  When I got home, I split the seam at the center back of the halter and attached a large and fancy hook and eye.  If I'd had more time, I would've replaced the zipper with something sturdier.  When I took off the dress, I was able to undo the halter like a necklace. (Photo by John Nelson)
2. Embellishments.  Add fringe, rhinestones, sequins, patches, ribbons, appliques, tinsel, tassels, flashing lights or whatever to your ready made pieces to make them your own.  The green dress in the photo had tiny beaded accents.  I needed more sparkle so I added two colors of rhinestones all over the dress.  For my school girl costume, I took a Leg Avenue skirt and added a rhinestone inside each pleat so the audience would get a nice little surprise as the skirt moved.
3. Mixing and matching pieces.  If you buy a complete costume, change out some of the pieces.  I wore a Leg Avenue school girl costume for a pole show a few years ago, and it had to match the other dancers.  Once the show was over, I pulled the skirt for my school girl number and embellished it as above.  I ditched the white collared shirt and black cardigan that came standard with the costume and replaced them with a black hoodie that I embellished.

It doesn't take a ton of time or money to turn something from a clothing rack into a personalized costume.  Give it a try and let me know what works for you.