Designers unwind imaginations to create Halloween looks

There are Halloween costumes and then there are Halloween costumes.

The former come in a plastic package and cost something dollars and 99 cents. The latter require thought, attention to detail and massive creativity. Which explains why fashion industry types are very good at crafting them.

This time of year, local stylist Christie Moeller is supposed to be unwinding from the hectic fall fashion events. If only her phone would stop ringing.

"I'm always scrambling, helping friends with costumes," she says, "and not making any money from it."

Her friends know by now, she can't turn down the opportunity to assemble an unforgettable costume. A couple of ensembles she styled in recent years include a male duo Sonny & Cher that included an audio purse that played "I Got You, Babe" and another look she coined "Sexy Cotton Candy."

She painted a Marge Simpson wig pink, stuck her pal in a snug white dress and let her get creative with the makeup. Voila, Sexy Cotton Candy.

For Moeller, Halloween costumes are similar to red carpet looks in that duplication is the ultimate faux pas. A lesson she learned the hard way after dressing as Little Red Riding Hood and discovering a slew of other wolf-befriending, basket-toting women at a costume party she attended. Where Moeller put authenticity first, the others prioritized scantness.

Since then, she's established prerequisites. Her costumes must be different, funny and/or current. She's particularly proud of last year's costume, Sam from the horror movie "Trick R Treat." To get the details exactly right, she started work in June and made trips to Michael's, Lowe's and Bass Pro Shops.

For fashion-lovers who haven't spent months planning a costume look, Fashion Show stylist Gail Ashburn has a couple of quickie costume ideas. "Audrey Hepburn is always popular and easy to pull off," she says.

Start with a closet staple, an LBD, little black dress. An updo, plastic tiara from a party store or Claire's, long black gloves and some pearls all pay homage to the famous "Breakfast at Tiffany's" look.

Ashburn says famous fashion stylist-turned designer Rachel Zoe and Lady Gaga are equally simple to put together in a pinch. For the former, a furry vest from Forever 21, oversized sunglasses and a boho dress or wide-leg pants complete the look. Of course, a head of long blond locks doesn't hurt. And, using terms all night like "bananas" and "I die" will put you in full Zoe character.

Gaga just requires larger-than-life randomness. Take a shift dress and pin paper cupcake holders all over the skirt, Ashburn recommends. Use not one, but two wigs. Rat them into something that looks like a fabulous cross between glamour and garbage. Bobby-pin to the wigs items you might find around the house. A teacup, baby bootie, toothbrush - they all make perfect Gaga sense.

Taylor Fendell works in costume design on the Strip and just graduated from the International Academy of Design and Technology's fashion design program. Her love of costuming and fashion make Halloween her "favorite time of the year."

One of her costumes she's most proud of was for IADT's annual Halloween Couture project that enjoys a debut on the runway at Fashion Show mall and exhibition there, too. It was a knight in shining armor that took inspiration from Alexander McQueen.

Fendell hand-sewed 700 soda can tabs to a skirt, made a corset from duct tape, used chains for draping and old silk sheets for a vest. Even though it made sitting down a fine art, she wore it with pride to several Halloween parties that year.

"I always just do whatever I have to for my outfit," she says. "Comfort isn't important."

This year's IADT Halloween Couture project will grace the Fashion Show runway at 2 p.m. Oct. 28.

Aside from her school projects, Fendell's costumes are usually ordinary things that she added a fashion touch to. Last year she dressed as a raccoon. She had a black-and-gray dress, black and gray-striped cardigan. She cinched the dress with a belt and attached a tail. Took old gray gloves and glued premanicured black fake nails to them for claws.

A raccoon hat, the smokiest of smoky eyes, red lips and black heels completed that costume.

For a quick, fashion-forward vampire, she recommends an inexpensive black or red lace dress ("They're everywhere right now."), black cloth draped over the shoulders for a cape, cheap fake fangs, a spider necklace and stockings.

There's also the Mad Hatter route. For this, Fendell says to head to a thrift store and search for loud, clashing prints. If you're going as a character, always "look at an image of it and try to be accurate but throw your own creative twist on it," she says.

That's what she did when she went as Alice in Wonderland, a ladybug, a bumblebee and Mother Earth.

"Since I want to be a costume designer, I just really love the idea of Halloween. I love that for one day out of the year people are finding costumes that are important to them," she says. "For this one day, pretty much every person is looking to be someone else."

Contact Xazmin Garza at xgarza@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0477. Follow her on Twitter @startswithanx.