Most people, when they think of people in fancy dress, picture large costume parties where everyone seems to be having a great time. Many individuals consider the holiday season and New Year's celebrations. When asked about their favorite childhood Halloween memories, some mention going door-to-door collecting candy while dressed as a witch, vampire, or ghost. After everything is said and done, dressing up in costumes is a fantastic ritual that ultimately just amounts to having a lot of fun!
Fancy dress originated in Britain during the 18th century during masked viking costume celebrations attended by the upper classes at their country manors. However, it was the creative Victorians who popularised the practice of dressing up for parties; during that time, guests would often arrive in elaborate costumes representing fictional characters or regional traditions.
Dressing up for holidays and other special occasions have become almost automatic in modern society. Halloween is the most important day of the year for the costume business. Fancy dress costumes, props, wigs, and other accessories bring in millions of dollars annually. Because of how much fun it is, Halloween has been adopted into popular culture. Small children enjoy playing dress-up as witches, vampires, and ghosts on Halloween, while adults are more likely to have a humorous or sexual take on the holiday.
Christmas is yet another fantastic time to go costume shopping and throw parties. Many people will buy Santa suits and Santa hats this holiday season because Santa is a cultural emblem of Christmas. Holiday costume parties with mulled wine and kisses under the mistletoe are a blast. For many kids, the Christmas season doesn't feel complete without seeing their school's annual nativity performance. This means that parents and educators must scramble to gather nativity costumes, such as angel costumes, animal costumes, and even camel costumes, for their children and students. Thankfully, both online and in-store, you may find inexpensive costumes for youngsters.
The costume industry has become so lucrative that characters from almost every work of fiction, whether film or print, have their line of costumes and props. The advertising is so effective and targeted at the right demographics that people start wanting to buy clothes one after the other, like a row of dominoes. For instance, the Pirates of the Caribbean movies inspired a plethora of clothing items, swords, and even real bits of Aztec gold to be used as part of pirate cosplay. Don't discount the quality of the advertising; it was created by the makers.
The ABBA movie Mama Mia! was a huge success for the fancy dress business. Fancy dress items from the 1980s and 1970s, such as jumpsuits and ABBA fancy dress wigs, have seen a resurgence in popularity as a result. The popularity of particular female costumes, such as the "Dancing Queen," has nearly reached a critical mass.
Sales of army uniforms, sailor uniforms, and even top gun aviator costumes, as well as machine guns and aviator spectacles, appear to have increased in tandem with the escalation of military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Boys' fancy dress has benefited from the overabundance of army costumes etc. just as much as adults have. Quite properly, the nation is backing our troops.
Girls' fancy dress typically focuses on princesses, angels, and witches from classic children's stories. For costume parties, little girls can feel like the belle of the ball in one of the many available high-quality and adorable costumes. Indeed, angel and fairy costumes remain the greatest sellers, and will for the foreseeable future.
Like with girls, boys' interest in dressing up stems from the stories and shows they enjoy watching. For example, due to the popularity of Bob the Builder among young boys, there is now a plethora of construction worker costumes to choose from. Always on the lookout for the most envious outfit, boys will be boys.
Costumes for adults can range from terrifying to trendy to sexual. In the eyes of society, clothing is still a means through which adults can express who they are, just as it was for children. Many women, for instance, believe they are sexually attractive, and so they choose revealing costumes like sassy devils and sexy Santas. On the other hand, males dress up as "manly" characters like firemen, police officers, and soldiers to live out their boyhood fantasies. This allows factories to mass-produce costumes and generate enormous revenues.