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First off, I am a big proponent of planning a character with a costume in mind. One you already have. It's all well and good to make that scruffy, uncivilized French-Canadian trapper, or that exotic, smoky-eyed odalisque, but unless you have the costume to back it up, you're just a kid in blue jeans pretending to be a trapper or an odalisque. You don't feel it, the people you are playing with don't feel it and it brings the whole game in general down (as my favorite ADST would say, injecting a bunch of banality into the situation!). Now I know that most people don't have several closets filled with possible costumes, so here are a few easy ideas.

The Thing in the Closet

You know what it is. You've been hanging onto it for years. God knows why. It could be a prom dress, an old band uniform, a clown's outfit from two Halloweens ago, that stupid pink sweatshirt and pants combo with the applique butterflies and the glitter and the jewels that your grandma gave you for Christmas (umm...not that I'm speaking from experience), whatever. The main point is, use it. It may have looked stupid in the mainstream world, but in the World of Darkness, it can be turned into something altogether more dark and sinister. Pennywise was a scary character. Band is always cool. Some Rit dye or fake blood can transform that prom dress into something out of the Addam's Family and admit it, even the thought of a matching sweat combo with applique butterflies gave you the willies.

In other words, thrift stores. Now of course, there's the Aardvarks and the Aardvark knock-offs, but frankly I find those places over-priced and over-retroed. Unless you are playing a beatnik or a hippie, you're going to have to shell out some serious cash to get a decent outfit together. My suggestion would be to devote a serious day or so going REAL thrift store hopping (see some suggestions at the end of this article). You might have to look harder, and you'll definitely want to wash your hands several times daily, but chances are you'll find at least one affordable and unique treasure to inspire you. The main thing is not to go in with expectations. You'll never find what you want. Just go with an open mind and a desire to see what the universe offers you. Going with a group of friends helps, cause it makes it like a party day. Enter, split up, bounce your possible treasures off one another and have a good time.

Fabric, Glue Guns and You, oh my!!

Because I'm a costuming whore, I'm also a fabric whore. When I go into a fabric store, this fey trance overtakes me. I start to drool. I could wander for hours. Faaabriiiic . . . so much potential. Potential you can harness. Just because you don't sew (assuming you don't) doesn't mean you should be scared by it. A few yards of some beautiful deep purple satin wrapped around you makes the ubiquitous bedsheet toga into something worthy of a Roman Senator, A slit in the center of two yards of a rough woven gives you a ready made serape, and if you want to splurge, the "whole nine yards" of wool (and a belt) gives you a really nifty and entirely authentic Scottish kilt (kilting instructions upon request). If you want to get a little more adventurous, the glue gun is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Take a few lengths of white bubble gauze glued together to make a square, put a few holes in the center for your head and arms, wear some kind of flesh toned or white body suit for decency's sake, and you've got a wonderful ghostly looking kaftan. There's an endless list of things you could do with a glue gun and some interesting fabric. (Important tip: don't glue gun the costume while you are wearing it. Seems pretty obvious, I know, but I had a friend who was doing a mummy costume and glue gunned the strips of gauze while he was in it. Made for some interesting burn patterns!)

Pick and Stick

In other words, pick one costume and stick to it. There's no need to have a whole closet of costumes for one character. In fact, it may even make it more confusing. We may all mock the purple suit, but we know that when we see it that it means that Joel Wyland, Brujah Primogen extraordinaire, is present. Von Kohler never goes anywhere without his cane (well, he did once, but that's another story) and the shapely Maia Alexander could stop traffic with her red chiang-sam (I'm purposely not mentioning any close friends of mine who I think do incredible costuming, because I'm leery of favoritism). In character, we all know that your character has more clothing than this, but out of character, it's like a much nicer version of the nametag. It serves to tell us who your character is and a few things about them.

There is no way to go into all the facets of costuming. I haven't even begun to expound upon the subjects of make-up, hats and wigs, but for a first article, I think this will suffice. I will leave you with this. Clothes have defined us since the beginning of civilization. It is only within the last half century that a universal fashion has begun to evolve. I have to admit that I find this very sad. Diversity is interesting. This is a concept that we as a society have embraced, so why is it that when we as a smaller society go to what is, for most of us, our main creative outlet, we all look like we're wearing a uniform. Black. Suits or evening dresses. Maybe jeans for the anarchs and Brujah. It's depressing, not inspiring. I'll tell you, right now I'm kind of hoping to see a matching pink sweat combo with glitter and appliqued jewels and butterflies. At least it would be different.

Alyc Helms is a (semi) professional costumer who has worked on several productions, including Dracula, Sleeping Beauty, the Nutcracker and Cabaret, as well as doing historical costuming for many different eras.

For costuming advice, she can be reached at arachnaesweb@hotmail.com.