Halloween Style File: Corsets, lace and vampire fangs!

   Halloween is nearly upon us; a night synonymous with ghoulish goings on, trick or treating and scary movies! If, like me, you enjoy Halloween as a good excuse to 'paint the town red', then you will undoubtedly be excited to get costume planning!

   People tend to go to varying lengths for a Halloween fancy dress party.. witches, zombies, skeletons, cat women, devils, vampires and ghosts are quite common, but you also come across some very original outfits that are more kooky than blood-curdling..

('Barbie and Ken', 'Shark Attack', 'Sexy Corn' (what!?) and 'Rubix Cube')

(Couples costume via Tumblr)

   Whilst the above costumes are a great laugh, I decided to take a more 'traditional' Halloween approach to my outfit this year, choosing to be a vampire for the 'Lost Souls II' Halloween party at the London Aquarium! Whilst there's the temptation to buy a 'pre-made' Halloween costume from a shop or online, I decided that I was going to fashion a spooky costume from my existing wardrobe, incorporating my love of lingerie.

   One of the difficulties with Halloween outfits is striking a balance between looking scary and sexy at the same time.. particularly when lingerie is involved! I wanted to channel 'underwear as outerwear', rather than 'gone out in my underwear', so keeping things classy was a 'must' for my outfit choice.

   I started with my 'base' piece which was the black 'Vintage Stitch Corset' (size medium) that I bought from Playful Promises. This overbust corset is plastic boned with metal front fastenings and it boasts glamorous Art Deco style stitching at the hip. It features a traditional lace up back, which can be tightened as much as desired to draw in your waist, accentuating your curves.

   This Playful Promises corset gives a great hourglass shape and it is surprisingly comfortable to wear on a night out (I didn't need to adjust it at all)! As you can also see from the picture, there is a pop of red and black lace peeking out from underneath the corset and Curvy Kate aficionados may recognise this bra as the 'Tempt Me' (Scarlet and Black) from the 'Showgirl Range':

   Although it's not 100% necessary to wear a bra underneath a corset, I felt like I would feel slightly more secure and supported in a bra as well..especially for a night out that involved running through a 'scare maze' and busting some vamp-tacular moves on the dance floor! 

   I chose to wear the Curvy Kate 'Tempt Me' for a few reasons, namely that it is a great plunge style that lends itself to a lovely cleavage, but also because the seductive red colour and black lace detailing just screamed to be worn by a vampire on Halloween! The flash of red underneath the corset also gave a bit of contrast to the predominantly black outfit that I chose and also complimented my red 'Dorothy's friend' court shoes from Office, red lipstick and fake blood!

   I also wore a figure-hugging black 'fishtail' skirt from ASOS which has a slightly gothic looking lace overlay. I  accessorised with black earrings, a statement necklace from Topshop, some black satin gloves from Claire's Accessories and, of course, some Vampire-esque makeup and fangs!

(Black, blue, bronze and white smokey eye makeup with black liquid eyeliner and purple under eye liner)

(Scarlet red lips, vampire fangs and a little trickle of fake blood!)

I finished off the outfit with a long floaty cardigan/shawl to keep the chills at bay:

   I certainly had fun with this lingerie-inspired Halloween look, but what do you think of incorporating lingerie into your Halloween costume? 

Whatever you're planning, have a very HAPPY HALLOWEEN, LINGERISTAS!

Love,

Kitty xo