Somewhere between an Amy Winehouse beehive making it as acceptable Saturday-night headgear and groups of grown men dressing up à la Little Britain for cricket matches across the land, fancy dress became a national pastime. A party dress code these days is as likely to include random references to Andy Warhol as it is white ties and tiaras.

Escapist and non-elitist, dressing in costume is, after all, the perfect antidote to the hard-core designer-frock flaunting that has dominated the party scene recently.It’s not as simple as kitting yourself out in a polyester cowboy suit, however. Fancy dress — or, rather, dressing fancy — has moved on, and the trick is to create a party persona with your costume. When it comes to dressing up, irony is out and avant-garde is in.

Along with Johnny Vercoutre from Time for Tea (a tea-shop-cum-cocktail-lounge in Shoreditch, London), Polly Betton runs the White Blackbird party series, where guests are invited to indulge multiple alter egos. She describes the new fancy-dressing mood as “creating an occasion out of dressing”. Betton says the narrow perception of fancy dress has given way to “a bleed between vintage finds, high-street and home-made pieces”. At her parties, where recent themes have included English Eccentrics and Colourscapes, it’s all in the interpretation. “You see some people in complete period costume and others in T-shirts and neon stockings,” she says.

So, how to go about finding your inner dresser-upper? For many die-hard fancy-dressers, it means investing in an arsenal of potential outfits. Alice Temperley, a designer famous for her fantastical party themes, says she “collects costumes along the way”. She has built up her fantasy wardrobe on her travels, and managed to acquire “quite an extensive collection of wonderful headdresses and hats”.

George Francis, who helps decorate the nuptial-themed White Wedding parties currently taking London’s clubbing scene by storm, and who runs the bespoke fancy-dress service The Dressing Up Box, says that she sees the high-street fancy-dress chains as “a bit like Topshop — overpriced and worn by everybody”. Francis, who has recently created dressing-up boxes for Clacton-on-Sea- and Club Tropicana-themed private parties, says that all her best bits have been found in “charity shops, at street markets or car-boot sales”. Take, for example, the white tail coat she recently picked up at Church Street market in London for £7. “It’s meant for a seven-year-old,” she says, “but it was perfect for the most recent White Wedding.”

Temperley says the finishing touches are important: “I think it’s great to get some serious make-up done in keeping with your look.” Betton echoes this sentiment: “I’ve been at parties and turned heads with just a crazy hairdo,” she says. “Or else invest in some custom-made hairpieces.” She recommends the drag queen and wig-maker Shelly Would, who has created pieces for Jodie Harsh. “Hats are always hugely helpful, too,” she says. “At the last party we did, Johnny stuck a bed on his head.”

When it comes to getting dressed up for a party, the old rules have gone out the window. We meet three fancy-dressers for some more tips on how to go through the looking glass in style.

The Laughing Cavalier, dressed by Costume Boutique

For our shoot, the stylist Tamar Zaig, who runs Costume Boutique, dressed party planner Kaja Wunder as a saucy version of the Laughing Cavalier, an outfit Zaig first created when she was commissioned to dress up a bunch of revellers as famous paintings. Wunder is one of Zaig’s regular clients. As founder of the social-networking site The Button Club, she organises fancy-dress balls on a regular basis, including her annual Halloween do, the Bloodlust Ball (at which Princess Beatrice made an appearance as a goth last year).

“When I’m planning a costume, I think about the character I want to become, and Tamar will come up with a load of options for me to try on,” says Wunder. “I love the fantasy of dressing up. It brings an element of liberation to any event.” Zaig has been working on her 3,000-piece collection (the bulk of which was Monty Python costumier William Baboo’s legacy) for the past 14 years, and also works as a stylist for film and television.

”Unlike your standard fancy-dress shop, I provide a styling service too,” she says, “so you can mix and match pieces with your own clothes until you find a look you’re happy with.” Zaig also makes things to order, and recently created her take on Björk’s infamous “swan” dress, and a “huge, Dior-style ball gown” for Wunder. “One of my favourite themes was the fall of Rome,” the society dresser-upper remembers. “There were lots of gladiator costumes and even live horses.” One of which would accessorise this number quite nicely. (image 1)

www.costumeboutique.co.uk

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