How to Create a Vampire Costume

There are a few different looks you can go for when making a vampire costume, the elegant vampire is one of them. Using elegant Count Dracula as your starting point, here's how to easily make a vampire costume that doesn't, well, suck. Sorry.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Fangs
• Capes
• Formal Gowns
• Tuxedos
• Vampire Costume
• Face Powder
• Makeup Kits
• Spray-on Hair Colors
• Face Paints

1. Streak your hair with temporary spray-on color. White is traditional, but even vampires can think out of the box.

2. Tease your hair. If it's straight, gel it back; if it's curly, exaggerate that. Vampires are also glamorous, so upsweeps or chignons are all good 'dos.

3. Powder your face dead white. No matter your skin color, powder will make you look appropriately ghoulish.

4. Darken the shadows under your eyes with dark eye shadow. Rimming your eyelids in red or pink lip liner is a very effective dead look.

5. Darken your eyebrows and eyelashes with mascara. Drop-dead red lipstick is classic vampire, but white is deadly too and black would be scandalous!

6. Button a white dress shirt to your neck, guys. A tuxedo shirt is perfect, but any black suit and white dress shirt is effective.

7. Vamp up your evening glamor, gals. Black velvets, satins, lace or brocades are extra ghoul cool, but any dressy dress will do. A black tux? Excellent with low necklines or no shirt under your jacket. The look is elegant, and for grown-up ghouls, sexy is the last word in vampire wear.

8. Create a cape. A costume shop will have them as props around Halloween, but comb vintage and thrift shops, too. Making one is easy; just get a few yards of fabric and a neat old brooch and pin it across your shoulders. Think bats.

9. Slide in your vampire fangs. Available in costume shops all over, they come in plastic, wax or even edible candy. Make fangs with tooth black-out goo. Blacken the bottoms of your incisors to make your pointy canines look longer.

10. Add a few drops of red makeup at the corners of your mouth for authenticity.

11. Speaking with a Hungarian accent makes for a good vampire gag.

12. Nuzzle necks.

Tips & Warnings

• Carrying an IV bag is always fun when dressing up as a vampire - as is a shoulder button or badge that has a silver bullet with a red slash mark through it.
• Shop thrift stores starting in September. Comb through garage, jumble and tag sales, too.

[gpcs]

on 1/5/2008 Of course, you'll want to research the role! A good start: How to be a "Dark Shadows" Trivia Meister by George Sommers.
-George

[alintransy]

on 9/2/2007 And when you are ready you can go in Transylvania and spend Halloween with Vlad the Impaler there. (a top 10 must-do adventure according to Fodor's travel guide http://www.fodors.com/wire/archives/002222.cfm)

on 11/22/2005 If you have a nice dentist, or know someone that is one, you can ask them to make custom fitted vampire teeth. The teeth look realistic when done well. No one could tell they're fake. Wear a lot of necklaces and Gothic jewelry for a sophisticated and dark look. These aren't too expensive, and you can make them yourself as well. Buy a lot of black velvet (the cheap variant) and cut out a piece, wrap it loosely around your neck, put the ends together and paste silver-like figures on them. It's mostly about details, pay a lot of attention to that.

on 11/22/2005 If you are going out with a group or friend, have one of the others play the part of your "victim." It's a cute idea, especially for husbands and wives.

on 11/22/2005 A friend of mine did this last year: She took those fake fingernails and filed them into points, then used nail glue to glue them on top of her teeth. It looked great!