OK, I admit it- I'm a cheapskate when it comes to Halloween costumes. I'm thinking of being Marie Antoinette, but I need to know how I could get a dress similar to one she would wear for like, less than $30. Is that possible? Where would I look? And it needs to be school-appropriate and church-appropriate.

Why don't you get an off white empire waisted dress (those are popular right now) and maybe alter it or add ribbons or lace to get the style you want. Check out the vintage stores or maybe your mother or grandmother has an old formal dress that you could work with. An old wedding dress would work. Make a pleated fan to hold up to your face, then you could get a blonde wig with drop curls and add pearl ornaments to make it stand out, powder your face in a very pale shade, wear lots of rouge and a red lipstick and you'll be in business. Sometimes it's better to improvise.

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Okay, so I know this sounds a little weird, but I'm already planning my Halloween costume for next year. I love to plan ahead, and get ready really early. Besides, since I'm being something so elaborate, I better get started. I've found a couple of dresses I like, but most of them are the sexy kind (I don't like them that much...). And the floor-length ones look like trash bags. I'm having a bit of trouble finding accessories. I think I'm just going to buy a ribbon, and buy a jewel-embellishment thing and glue it on. Then I'll just tie it around my neck like a choker. I also need earrings and a bracelet, I am a queen for a night or two after all. I've found some wigs, but a couple look really fake...grr. I'm looking for an ash-blonde, or a light brown. I also would like to carry a folding fan, so please gimme a link. You can attach links to shoes, but I'll probably just wear my converses, no one will see them, anyways. I would love to put decorations in my hair like flowers, feathers, and maybe even a ship on the top. Links would be nice, thanks for the help and suggestions! (Also, I'll probably be wearing this costume about three times, so good quality on a budget would be amaazing-ful.)

Honestly, I think the absolute coolest Marie Antoinette costume ever is this:

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2006/10/homemade_headle.html

I don't know if scary/gory is what you're going for. There's a link on there to a how-to. That dress is fairly simple, but I'm pretty sure it was made by the costume wearer. If you do this sort of Marie Antoinette, you really won't need anything too elaborate since she didn't dress up for her execution. On the other hand, you could do this set up minus the gore and do a pretty Marie Antoinette look with it. Just as something a little different.

If you do regular Marie, I think you'll run into a bit of a problem in terms of cost. Unless you sew (or know someone who does) you will be looking at about $100 for a cheap Marie dress that looks good. There are some cheaper, but they're the sexy type you mentioned. The first source is a list of Marie costumes from multiple stores and will give you an idea of prices, some of which go up to the $400s. The second source links to a pretty nice Marie costume that is much cheaper, but doesn't have the big skirt. The third source links to fashion plates from the era so you can get an idea of how women dressed at the time. (And the site has lots of other good resources.)

The same problem goes for wigs...the lower the price the lower the quality. If you are using the costume a few times, though, it might be okay to splurge a little bit on some elements. So here are a few wigs that I think look alright and aren't terribly expensive:

http://www.costumediscounters.com/cd/prod/108823/i/1/product.web?code=CSENextag&mr:referralID=156b768a-af9d-11dd-8132-000423c27407

http://www.buycostumes.com/Marie-Antoinette-Wig/17465/ProductDetail.aspx?REF=SCE-nextag

http://www.shopwiki.com/detail/?q=Marie+Antoinette+Wig&s=58763&o=165493515&d=Marie+Antoinette+Blonde+Wig

Don't forget if you like a wig but not the color, you can always spray it with a light brown color. Finding a ship light enough to put in your hair might be a challenge. Not to mention holding it secure. You may want to go for something more simple like this:

http://s66.photobucket.com/albums/h247/alohagirl11482/?action=view&current=0marieAA.jpg

You might be able to find a broach made of fabric that would be very easy to pin into your hair. You should be able to find large feathers at a craft store if you're going that route. Depending on your dress color, I'd use a black feather to make it as striking as possible. You can try using a model ship for your hair, but I don't honestly know how heavy these are. Not only will this make it hard to attach, but you'd be surprised at how much added weight on your head can affect you (headaches, neck ache, etc.).:

http://www.genericgifts.com/prod-26187.htm

I would buy a fan at a Halloween store because otherwise it will probably be expensive. Most regular stores don't carry fans and to buy one online and pay shipping doesn't seem worth it. Especially if you get the rest of the costume done ahead of time. One last thing to pick up won't be so bad. Thread a piece of ribbon on the end so you can carry it on your wrist. It looks nice and you won't have to worry about actually holding it the entire time.

For shoes, I would just go with the Converse. Nobody will see them and you'll want to at least have comfortable feet because wearing a giant wig and dress will be awkward enough already. I wore my wedding dress (it was a Victorian reproduction that weighed about 25 pounds) with some wedges. It worked well to make me a little taller so I could walk more easily in the dress but it wasn't as bad as wearing regular heels.

I like your idea for a choker. I might even do a plain black velvet ribbon as a choker though. I think this would accentuate your neck better. (I'd just use a piece of ribbon and some stick-on velcro to fasten it.) Any dangly earrings would be good to offset your high hair and neck. I'd use something from the store that is cheap but looks like small stones or jewels. And I'd skip the bracelet because you don't want to over accessorize the look. Plus any bracelet you wear will probably snag on the costume fabric and create a mess.

Anyway, hope this helps!

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