The Fancy Dress Fairy's Blog

Trashy by name, but not by nature…

Well my little fancy dressers, have I ever got news for you!  Angels Fancy Dress has just launched a new range, exclusive to us (that’s us, only us and nobody but us), we are delighted to announce the arrival of the New TRASHY range.  

These are hot, sorry, I meant to say HOT!!!  Indeed the staff are thinking about putting these on and then calling the fire brigade (hey-ho that reminds me of the last Christmas Party, what a nice fireman, so many of us were wanting to ask questions about a hose!  Sorry back to Trashy…)

Amongst the TRASHY range we have in stock there are nurses in latex and spandex, police uniforms,  S.W.A.T. uniforms and much more!   These costumes are beautifully made; Trashy was originally a lingerie company.  Top quality lingerie is all about finish, attention to detail and quality and you can see how this informs their costume work.  

The TRASHY costumes come with bags stockings and other accessories all packed up and ready to go, they really do need to be seen in the flesh.  These products are so exclusive that we are not selling them on the internet, they have to be seen in the flesh!  You will need to get yourselves down to our London store, Angels Fancy Dress at 119 Shaftesbury Avenue, WC2H 8AE.  For store details CLICK HERE, seasonally the hours change so do check the OPENING HOURS.

While on the subject of Christmas you have to see the new range of Football fancy dress costumes, now I can’t confess to being an avid football fan but if I knew I could wear these costumes I’d go to every game….unfortunately they are just for kids (isn’t everything) but I do think they would make a fantastic Christmas present for any aspiring Duncan Beckham’s and James Rooney’s, click here to see them all.

Until the next time, as always

The Fancy Dress Fairy

Sale of the Century – oh my poor feet!

Well, my little fancy dressers!  This fancy dress fairy is stocking up on the Christmas spirit (pass the Brandy), frankly we all need it after the weekend we had!  

You would need to have been decorated and stuck right up on top of the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree to have missed the fact that Angels had a massive vintage sale on Saturday, my feet are so very blistered that I can’t get into my special festive sling-backs!

Any-hooo, folks started arriving for the sale at 3pm the day before and they spent the night in the cold!  They were determined to get the first grab of the vintage goodies; all ex-Angels stock used in film and TV productions.  By the time we opened the doors another 3,000 had joined the line!  When we eventually shut the doors it is estimated that 5,000 people had passed through the sale.  Folks were leaving dressed in the wild, the whacky and the downright elegant!   For my full report click here

So as the dust settles over the sale folks are asking if we are going to arrange another one?  Early days here… but those of you who would like to know could send an email to sale@angels.uk.com with 'Mailing List' in the subject and we will keep you posted.

Well getting that of my chest has made me feel better, or perhaps it was the brandy.  I’m off now to pack up a lovely order of kids costumes, some Shepherds, 3 Wise Men, and a Mary costume; I just love a good nativity play.   Don’t forget to get your orders in soon for Santa costumes; we still have plenty in stock.  

Talking to our customers it appears that this year’s favorite theme for New Year is the novelty costume.  We have found the most amazing collection of strange things, so if you want see in 2009 dressed as a furry dice, a baby in a high chair (I kid you not) or a gingerbread man, we’ve got it sorted for you.  

We have had a couple of emails asking about my identity, at Angels Fancy Dress we never give away gossip or secrets (as you well know), but you will find me in the corer of the New year’s Eve party dressed in a kissing booth costume.  Has anyone seen my lip balm?

Pucker up folks!  Oh Happy Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

The Fancy Dress Fairy

Hovis, Michael Jackson and we feel like a fashion sale so quick jump in!

Hello one and all

I hope you are all well, I just realised it has been a while since I wrote what was going on here at fancydress.com which is very remiss of me, its just been very busy here and I have been distracted by several things, which I need to tell you about.

Our professional hire department works many film and TV projects from epics like Elizabeth: The Golden Age (Winner of this year’s Oscar for best achievement in Costume Design) through to crazy titles like the Ausin Powers series of films.  Last night I caught a glimpse of the new Hovis ad, in 60 seconds a young lad runs through history, covering period after period, the Suffragettes, the War, the 60’s to name but a few.  In 60 seconds there are over 800 costumes on screen!  It is amazing what we can do!

 

Talking of our professional hire department, I got a sneak preview of the items they have put aside for the Angels Big Vintage Sale and I have to admit I was blown away there are thousands of boxes full of such beautiful costumes I didn't know where to look, I could have spent a week in there and had the most chic wardrobe ever after, for a small sneak preview go to YouTube and type in Angels Sale and have a look for yourself.

There appears to be a bit of a fashion for the clothing from Michael Jackson’s Thriller, did you realize that it was 25 years ago that this was released?  We dressed the inmates on this year’s Big Brother (amongst many of their other tasks) and the costumes have hardly stood still since then.  We have also graced the pages of the london paper when they did a fancy dress special and all trick or treat costumes came from Fancydress.com, and since that was publsihed the Thank You Father Costume has been selling like crazy

 

Til Next Time

 

The Fancy Dress Fairy

Blue Tit's, a Centrefold, From Russia With Love and a very tiny car

Now that the chaos that was Halloween has finished, it was crazy the website was really busy and the shop on Shaftesbury avenue had two queues going round the block, I would know I was there (but I won't tell you which costume I was wearing). 

I am not sure if you saw but we featured in the central pages of the Evening Standard on Halloween day, also the pardon the witch campaign that we ran so many of you entered, the amount of signatures exceeded 2000 peoples, lets hope that government listen to the voice of the people…and their Fairy!

 

We are now getting ready for the fun that is Christmas.  I have to admit its my favourite holiday of the year, why I hear you ask its simple its the season of Father Christmas, Elves and Fairies....and I am the best dressed of the lot!

You probably know that besides the collection of weird and wonderful goodies that we are offering the discerning fancy dresser Angels also supply major (and minor) Film, TV and Theatre productions all around the world.

In between the meticulously accurate historical recreations that we prepare for the professionals and the zany stuff that a lot of fancy dressers ask us for there is a whole industry devoted to the slightly strange requests.  

A producer turned up in a tiny car to collect a massive tit and a rubber ducky; to be clear that is an enormous rigid foam Blue Tit  costume (as in the Bird) and a massive glossy bright Yellow Rubber Duck costume.  Unfortunately it was a very small car and the costumes were very large.  It was a bit like mission impossible but we managed eventually.  

Our Pantomime Horse was last seen galloping off into the distance, heading for downtown Moscow for a shoot for Russian Tatler, (I kid you not).  The same international courier was held up whilst we finished some costumes for New York, where a client wanted Munitions Workers Costumes.  The ones we looked out were identical; the problem was the customer could not decide of they wanted dull grey/blue ones or dull blue/grey?

Until Next time, as ever

The Fancy Dress Fairy.

Famous fancy dressers and Nudity

Well not that we are allowed to gossip (and not that this has ever got in the way)!  A few famous faces have been seen in our shop getting kitted out for something totally glamorous!  

Avid Merron, Heidi from Sugababes, Claire Sweeney and Jack Penate have all been spied getting themselves kitted out in our Fancy Dress Shop in London.  

At one stage we were so busy and a group of young ladies with very large… um… personalities, and very small inhibitions just decided to strip off down the isles, it caused chaos – but was a good laugh!  Well, part way through this fiasco a young member of our Royal Family turned up, she was very nice and our staff say that she was a pleasure to deal with (even though they failed to recognize her).  Naturally we cannot say who she was but Princess Anne must be very proud!

On another note, if you are hiring a costume please bring all of it back.  Will young is a lovely, polite, nice young man.  He came in to hire a costume for Bestival and the silly boy threw items of clothing out to the audience in between songs!   This reckless rock-n-roll lifestyle will cost him as we will charge him for the missing items. Naughty, naughty boy!

Till Next Time

Fancy Dress Fairy

Stop Kidding Around

Fancydress.com supplies the best costumes for all kinds of parties, some of our stuff is even suitable for ‘private-wear’, you know the kind of thing… “chase me around the bedroom dressed as a Banana”! (Oh so that’s only me then?)  So we have been asked for all kinds of weird and wonderful things, normally nothing phases us.

Recently we have extended our range of fancy dress to include dogs.  However we do not recommend our make-up for any species other than humans, we are against unnecessary animal testing.

A customer placed an order for a can of black hair spray, it was dispatched and the customer liked it.  They liked it so much that they came back for more this time they had a question!  “How many cans would it take to spray an average sized white goat black?”

This is another first; apparently the white goat is to appear as a black goat on a music video.   They got very cagey when we were asking who the band was, but they wouldn’t tell…  They suggest we keep an eye on MTV – so if you do spot the now famous goat give us a call!

As always (but this time inquisitive)

Fancy Dress Fairy

Halloween is madness! But is it starting early this year?

For us the crazy season starts as Halloween kicks in from early October, this gets madder and madder until everyone goes completely fruit-loop for New-years Eve!  

So… there must be something in the water because the weird and wonderful requests have already started!  A customer called up and was asking for a pot of fake bogies (I kid you not).  We don’t stock bogies; it’s snot the kind of thing we get asked for very often!  

Useful fact number 193: you can make small bogies by taking a length of clear sellotape, then you rap it around your finger, gently suck it.  When it gets wet enough it will loose some of its stickiness, then you unwind the tape and rub the glue off, hey presto!  Small Bogies.  Don’t ask how we know that.  Alternatively you can use liquid latex or rubber based glue like Copydex.  If you get this on your fingers and rub them gently together little clumps will form, the natural oils on your fingers will discolour them and bingo!  Bigger bogies than the sellotape method.

How’s that then? 2 bogie recipes for the price of one, an offer not to be sneezed at!  Now where is matron, I think it is time for my medication.

As always

 

The Fancy Dress Fairy

Names, Names NAMES!

This blog is a serious section of fancydress.com where we can discuss the serious nature of the fancy dress industry; it is not intended to fill you in on silly gossip and name-dropping.  Ahh the glamour of show business, I’m weak I can not resist….

 

I like a star sighting like the best of them and I told you all about my encounter with Gandolf last week, well this week I am keeping my eyes peeled for Quentin Tarantino, his new film is shooting soon and Angels are doing the costumes and I want to meet the man, I think he uses as much blood in his films as we sell over Halloween! Reservoir dogs has to be one of my favourite films, I’m a big fan of Mr Pink but I will explain that another time.

I have just been trumped in the bumping-into-category by a colleague that (literally) bumped into John Hurt on the way to the toilet! The woman who out-did me in the boasting competition went on to say that her department has just done a Kaiser Chiefs Video, costumes for the Bratz studio, Big Brother, Heat magazine, Family Fortunes and the Saudi Arabian royal family!

I need to get on with counting paper clips; it’s all glamour for me.  As always…

Fancy Dress Fairy
 

Images, Sweet Things and Me

We have been so very rushed improving the quality of our images on line, this is a massive task, with over 5,000 images that we think could be better and crisper.  There are several of us in this office (well a Fancy Dress Fairy does have to have minions to make them feel important) and as a reward for all the help I have had, I let all my office join the tasting panel for this year’s Halloween sweets.

 

Sweet tasting is not an easy task, but someone has to do it, and I need to make sure that only the most scary looking and delicious sweets make it through to our trick-or-treat sweet section.   This year some of the sweets are not available again so we are going to have to choose new varieties.  We take our responsibilities here very seriously, yes folks someone has to munch their way through bag after bag of delicious, mouth-watering goodies.  Tough job, but I will try to be brave.

Talking of tough (well tough with a soft centre) I have just had my hands on John Barrowman’s Torchwood coat.  We make the coat for this wonderful science-fiction TV series and frankly it is hard to work out who is tastier, the Sweets or Mr Barrowman, I think we will have to organise a quick fancydress.com poll….

 

Fancy Dress Fairy

A New Day A New Blog

Welcome to this the first of many entries to the fancydress.com blog, I am the fancy dress fairy, a name that I might explain in another entry, I work here at fancydress.com and have done for many year now.  The idea of this blog is to let you all know what is going on in the world of Fancy Dress and also Angels (our parent company)

So where do I begin, we have been working very hard this year in preparing the new website which I think is brilliant, we have finally gone wider and the imagery is far clearer and I much prefer it.  It has not been an easy task but here it is, with loads of new features including this blog, there are many more new features coming soon so keep checking back and see what’s new.

Over in the Angels side of the business life has been very hectic, they have been working on many big film projects that will hit your screens next year including Prince of Persia and also Dorian Gray.  You never know what or who you will bump into in this building, there has been a tv crew in filming an infomercial for a steamer, from what I could gather they have come to Angels to have the costume professionals review and speak about the benefits of  using  Steamers.  It was even stranger at the beginning of the week coming into work and bumping into Sir Ian Mckellen who was waiting for a fitting, its not every day you expect to be greeted by Gandalf himself in the morning, he is much bigger in person than I thought, but I was very upset that he didn’t have his staff with him, well I didn’t get to see it!

Its only September and I am already thinking about Christmas, working here doesn’t half mess your dates up, in January you are thinking about Halloween and in July you start thinking about Christmas!  New costumes are constantly arriving in fact we just put live the entire range from Indiana Jones and also from the new Batman Film, both great films and great costumes, I am amazed in the variety of range that all these films bring out, and the quality is far better than I expected.

Well I feel I have bored you all long enough, I hope you have enjoyed any comments would be very welcome so please either comment below or email me at fairy@fancydress.com, and I will try to reply to you as quickly as I can.  Till next time.

Fancy Dress Fairy