Power ballad legend Bonnie Tyler will represent Britain in Eurovision 2013 set to be broadcast live from Malmo, Sweden!
Hosted by the very nation that gave us ABBA, the Eurovision Song Contest is as eighties as it gets thanks to the cheesy costumes, dance routines and epic hair dos .
If you’re thinking of hosting a Eurovision party this year, then why not consider making it an 80s fancy dress theme? Here at Fancy Dress Ball we have a whole range of 80s fancy dress to tickle your fancy and ensure that you have the very best costume on show!
Take after Bonnie herself with this huge blonde wig, reminiscent of the cover art on her best-selling single ‘Holding Out for a Hero’, which was featured on the ultimate 80’s movie Footloose. You’ll be a hit with this wig, so no need to worry about scoring ‘nil points’ here!
Bonnie wasn’t just any old pop star, she was a badass power ballad singer! To emphasise her power, she often wore dark, fitted clothing with lots of leather; so team this 80s pop star dress with a leather jacket and red lipstick for the ultimate costume.
For the guys to get involved, why not take on another classic 80’s rock legend costume? The only thing you need now to finish this party is the Eurovision on the television, karaoke lined up for the boring bits, and lots of neon make-up!
You can see Bonnie Tyler’s Eurovision entry, ‘Believe in Me’, here:
Confession time: hands up who watched the recent ‘Old Skool’ weekend on the CITV channel?
Classic children’s TV shows from the 1980s and 90s like Knightmare and Fun House returned to our screens once more on a nostalgia marathon that proved to be a top trip down memory lane for those of us who grew up in that era.
Reliving some of the programmes whisked viewers back to a care-free time of rushing home after another lame day at school to tune in to see Neil Buchanan make something amazing out of bits of old junk on Art Attack and Super Gran keeping the mean streets of Tynemouth safe.
The 80s and 90s was also a time when the following classic fancy dress icons enjoyed plenty of success:
Probably the most famous character from Rainbow was Zippy with his infectious laugh and general shenanigans.Anybody got any idea what kind of animal Zippy was? No, neither do we.Anyway, here’s a Rainbow episode from back in the day.
The canine crime fighter first appeared on our screens in the late 1960s, but anyone who was a kid in the 80s will fondly remember watching Scooby Doo, Fred, Velma, Daphne and the rest of the gang investigating all sorts of weird and wonderful goings on. Watch the theme tune here and try not to sing along – it’s impossible.
Superted’s trusty sidekick Spotty, who was voiced by former Dr Who star John Pertwee, was always on hand to foil Texas Pete and Skeleton in their attempts to get up to no good. Hurrah for Spotty and Superted!
Everyone at some time in their lives must have owned or at least played a Sonic The Hedgehog console game and it was also a popular cartoon. “Too fast for the naked eye” went the theme tune and he is still blazing a trail to this day.
The festive season is well underway and people everywhere are planning their Santa costumes and Elf costumes ready for a proper seasonal party, but there is another proper party around the corner.
As we all know, it’s New Year’s Eve less than a week after Christmas Day, so if anything, it’s more of an opportunity to dress up for fun!
Whatever you’re planning, whether it is a house party or a night out on the town, your night is guaranteed to be improved with a fancy dress costume. It’s often difficult to decide exactly what to dress up as, so here is some inspiration to get you started:
Themed parties are always a winner, so why not go for the classic 80s costumes? The sexy Ghostbusters costume is bound to turn some heads, but make sure you keep dancing to keep warm in the cold, cold winter!
If we’re sticking with the 80s theme, the Rubik’s Cube costume will most certainly be a winner! Even if you’ve never completed one, you can still be a puzzle if you’re out on the pull…
For more inspiration for a New Year fancy dress costume, go to our homepage and click the banner down the left-hand side or broaden your horizons and have a browse of the whole site to find what you want!
With Halloween just around the corner, it seems only fitting to dedicate this week’s iconic costumes post to one of the most memorably scary characters of all time.
Freddy Krueger is the kind of character that lives long in the memory of every movie fan, not just because of his terrifying presence, but because of his iconic red and black-striped outfit, bladed glove and fedora hat.
A Nightmare on Elm Street will long be remembered as one of the best Halloween films in film history and will, indeed, long be recognised in fancy dress form precisely because of this. Slasher movies always go down a treat at Halloween and, even considering it was released in 1984, A Nightmare on Elm Street still stands right up there with the best of them.
The movie, directed and written by Wes Craven, was the first of what became a whole Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, comprising nine movies in total, as well as a TV show and many books and comics.
The merchandise and fancy dress costumes keep the franchise alive today, unlike the ways in which Freddy slashed his victims in the movies! The Krueger costume is still so popular today that it has been extended to a couple’s costume choice, too, with the ladies Ms Freddy Krueger Halloween costume.
It’s the ultimate of all Halloween costumes, whether you’re going as a couple or not!
It’s time for our iconic costumes feature, fancy dress fans! In the spotlight this week is an outfit from one of the most critically acclaimed and well-loved arcade games of all time: Pacman.
The simple yet immensely addictive game was a massive hit in the 80s and has cemented its place in the nostalgic memory bank of many people around the world. Remarkably, though, considering its immense popularity, it did take around three decades for the official Pacman costumes to be released.
Since they emerged onto the world fancy dress scene, though, these costumes have reignited a passion for the classic game and lit up many a day and night out. It’s one of those themes that lend themselves perfectly to group fancy dress and never fails to make people laugh.
The officially licensed costumes here at Fancy Dress Ball cover the range of characters from the Pacman games, from Inky, Binky and Pinky to Clyde and Pacman himself, so they’re the perfect choice if you’re planning a fancy dress outing in numbers to, say, a sporting event or a giant birthday celebration!
The advancement of computer games since the 80s is such that we’ll probably never see another costume as iconic as Pacman – and, of course, they’re only going to become more iconic as time passes by and arcade games become even more of a thing of the past.
September has rolled around again and no matter what age you are the month is always reminiscent of the trees turning brown, the skies turning grey and the scent of autumn looming.
Along with the change of the season, September marks the back to school rush. Everyone remembers the new stationary; pencils, pencil cases and fresh exercise books, a new lunch box and ruck sack and, above all, the oversized stiff new uniform you will grow into.
If you are holding a party in September for any reason, why not pay homage to the month and its meaning in years gone by, by making it fancy dress? More specifically, a back to school themed fancy dress.
You can get everything you need from Fancy Dress Ball, from school boy caps to full on school uniforms for girls. There are even accessories like shoes and wigs so you can really look the part.
Why not peruse some old photos of yourself and your friends from your school days and recreate the styles you thought were cool?!
Be careful though, you might not want to go too far back, you might discover some styles you thought you had forgotten about…
Halloween presents a new challenge every year. It turns into something of a competition for many of us, each one trying to better the best costume from the year before and, with the immense choice we have these days, it is getting more and more difficult!
Fear not, fancy dress fans, as we now have some brand new Steampunk costumes that will go some way to making you stand out at this year’s Halloween party! These retro outfits will bring an impactful, if not rather bizarre, Victorian theme to the party, but not without a modern touch.
Steampunk, having actually originated in the 80s and early 90s, represents an interesting blend of Victorian-themed dress and sci-fi influences. It also has some allusions to the works of famous authors such as H.G. Wells and Phillip Pullman, relating to the bizarre mechanical creations found in their works.
Unsurprisingly, Steampunk was a bit of an underground phenomenon for a while, but now it is finding its way into high street fashion and, of course, many a Halloween fancy dress party. The phenomenon has even been marked with an art exhibition in the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford.
So, for a fresh but somewhat haunting look this Halloween, Steampunk will tick all the boxes – even those of the judges!
Each week on the Fancy Dress Ball blog, we will be looking at some of the most iconic and memorable costumes of all time. We are kicking it off with one of the most instantly recognisable costumes in history.
The Honey Monster has been around for decades. Interestingly, he wasn’t the first creature to front the advertising campaigns for Sugar Puffs – the cereal was launched in the 50s with Jeremy the Bear.
It wasn’t until the 70s that the Honey Monster first burst onto the scene. Since then, he’s become the true face of Sugar Puffs and is a favourite amongst kids and adults alike. For those of us who grew up in the 80s and 90s, the Honey Monster is one of the costumes of choice when it comes to revisiting our childhood!
He’s been the star of many classic adverts and the star of many children’s breakfasts over the years and continues to delight not only in the kitchen but at fancy dress parties, too. In some of his most famous adverts, he starred alongside football stars Kevin Keegan and Alan Shearer, as well as Boyzone.
Now you can be the star of the show in your very own Honey Monster costume from Fancy Dress Ball!
Music, TV, cinema, video games, comics – they’ve all provided some rather spectacular costumes over the years. From rock stars to movie stars, superheroes to super villains, there is certainly no shortage of inspiration around here.
Many of the world’s most instantly recognisable costumes are recognisable for a reason – because they’re awesome – so it’s time to pay homage to some of the most iconic costumes in the world of fancy dress. First up is Gene Simmons from Kiss.
Kiss turned the world of American rock on its head in the 1970s. It formed in 1973, rising to fame within the decade and changing the face of rock (literally) to become perhaps the most famous men in makeup in the world.
Approaching its 40th anniversary, the band is still going strong today and has recently played the likes of the Download Festival. The line-up has changed over the years as the band has been struck by tragedy more than once, but Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have been the only constants throughout the entire history of the band.
This is probably the reason that they still have two of the best and most popular costumes in rock and roll today. Our Deluxe Gene Simmons costume and Paul Stanley costume will rock your world if you want to pay tribute to two of the most famous rock stars of the past four decades.
The band has sold more than 100 million albums across the world with hits such as Rock and Roll All Night and Crazy Crazy Nights, so it’s no surprise that Kiss costumes are still so popular. Their next album will be called Monster and is set to be released later in the year.
We hope you enjoy some crazy, crazy nights in these costumes if you’re paying tribute to Kiss anytime soon!
Next month will mark the 25th anniversary of the cult classic movie, Robocop! Paul Verhoeven, who was also the mastermind behind Total Recall, directed one of the most iconic sci-fi films in cinema history in 1987. Total Recall is another classic that is in the process of being remade.
Robocop is still winning new fans today, but opinion is split over the reproduction of the original. Verhoeven is still directing movies himself according to his profile on IMDb, but that has not stopped Brazilian director Jose Padilha from reworking the original, gory masterpiece.
The remake will star Samuel L. Jackson, Gary Oldman and Hugh Laurie, with Joel Kinnaman reviving Robocop. Peter Weller was the star of the 1987 movie – some say that Kinnaman would do well to live up to Weller’s performance, while others can’t wait to see him get stuck in, but we’ll all have to wait until late next year to see him smash onto the big screen.
In the meantime, Robocop fans can mark the 25th anniversary of the classic with a Robocop costume from Fancy Dress Ball. Complete with EVA armour and a 2-piece helmet, this costume won’t quite withstand an explosion, but it will certainly make you explode onto the scene at your next fancy dress extravaganza!
