ANYONE who decides to dress as a vampire this weekend for a Halloween party will not be alone.
The glamorous undead in all their many guises are among this year’s most sought-after choices for fancy dress – particularly characters from films and television series such as Twilight and The Vampire Diaries.
“A lot of Halloween dressing up is now film-based,” says Voirrey McDonald, who runs costume hire business B Authentic in Milnsbridge. “But classic Dracula-inspired costumes are still the most popular.”
“The thing about vampires is that you can be a vampire from any period so there’s lots of choice. But I’d say that the traditional Victorian or Edwardian vampire is the one most people go for. You can be quite glamorous as a vampire and people like that.”
Helene Fallows, whose town centre fancy dress shop Revival on Westgate also caters for Halloween revellers, added: “Last year everyone wanted to be a ghoul but this year it’s traditional vampire costumes that are popular.
“For people who want something different we have a ‘rock vampire’ in black and silver instead of black and red, and even a ‘disco Dracula’, which is 70s inspired.”
In the run-up to the fancy dress world’s biggest annual event this weekend, Voirrey has also been kitting out visitors going to the Whitby Goth Weekend, (November 4 to 7) a biannual festival based in the town where Bram Stoker’s Dracula was based.
The Gothic horror and music festival began in 1994 and now attracts thousands of visitors to the seaside harbour resort.
There are, of course, similarities between dressing as a vampire and dressing as a goth. To show what can be done with face paint and the right accessories, media make-up student Abbie McDonald, Voirrey’s daughter, helped put together key looks for vampires and Goths for our Halloween photoshoot.
Abbie, 18, who attends Calderdale College, hopes to go to Southampton University to do a degree in film and stage make-up. In the meantime her services are much in demand by friends who want to head out to a fancy dress party. This weekend she has been asked to offer a make-up service to the ghouls, ghosts and vampires at a Halifax nightclub.
A top tip for achieving an eye-catching result with fancy dress is to focus on the fine detail. It’s even possible to achieve ‘evil’ eyes with disposable contact lenses.
According to Voirrey’s partner, John Whitworth, it’s all about the finishing touches.
“I go to junk shops, car boots sales and the market looking for bits of jewellery and things that pull it all together,” he said.
