1950's Costumes For A Halloween With A Vintage Flair

Halloween party goers and those who just love going out trick or treating each and every Halloween go with 1950's Halloween costumes. This is an extremely popular choice and there are several reasons for this. Consider these as great motivators for you to get out there and dress up in 50's garb, as T-Bird Danny from Grease or in a black-trimmed pink poodle skirt, complete with classic black and white or brown and white saddle shoes.

Here's the deal with dressing up in the fashion style that is distinctly 1950's America. In a lot of ways the 1950s were the beginning of modern fashion, and haute couture became more than just a realm of the uber-rich or uber-connected, or French. Because of this, 1950's costumes, reflect their importance down all the way to the clothes most people wear today, be it to work or to play, and this is something to keep in mind when picking out your own outfits not only for Halloween, but for your day-to-day life in general.

Shop for 1950's Halloween costumes now...

But back to Halloween... One of the great things about 1950's costumes is that they were so heavily influenced by the films of Alfred Hitchcock, probably the most stylish and stylized filmmaker ever to get behind the camera. Hitchcock used colors, patterns and lines in his films - not just the 1950's costumes that his actors wore, but in the way he framed entire shots, the buildings he chose to stage his plots around, all the way down to waving, mazy fields of corn or wheat - in a way no one else had previously. Hitchcock's films are unique, and the best of 1950's costumes come from the master filmmaker himself, as does so much else in the world of art and cinema. Just think, you could be dressing up 1950s style this Halloween in an outfit either inspired by or made popular at the time by a Hollywood movie making legend. Pretty cool.

Take, for example, the film North By Northwest. It is one of Hitchcock's later films, one of his greatest films, and one of his most famous films. In it Carey Grant plays a New Yorker caught up in international intrigue, theft and murder. And, since it is hitchcock, romance as well. Sex was always the subtext in Hitchcock's films, and North By Northwest ends very famously with a shot of a train entering a tunnel as Grant climbs into bed with Eva Marie Saint (signifying, of course, that they're about to have sex. A brilliant way to get around the censorship of the time).

Here's the trailer of the film:


Even better, though, is the opening shot of the United Nations building, perhaps the epitomy of modern architecture at the time. The United Nations building is slightly curved, made up of thousands of windows and bars that provide it a machine-like sameness. Hitchcock uses that shot to create a sense of individualism being lost in the machinery of the modern - 1950s modern - world. It's stunning, and you can see 1950's costumes and costumes of today reflecting that shot equally.

So, consider it right now. If you are stumped by what you should wear to that upcoming Halloween party, dance, or trick or treating, guys get your Greaser jacket, ladies get your tart shoes and build yourself a spectacular 1950s Halloween costume you won't soon forget.