Costume Tailcoats

Are you looking for a fancy dress tailcoat? The ones featured on this hub are fully washable, 100% polyester and come in a variety of colours including red, black, white and blue. I hope that this hub shows you just how flexible a tailcoat can be and maybe in the future, it may be a costume you chose to purchase.

A tailcoat can be used for the following:

• Ringmaster
• Dance Shows
• Cabaret
• Rocky Horror Show
• Victorian
• Halloween

We are all familiar with the circus ringmaster. All you would need to do would be to add a white shirt, bow tie, black trousers, top hat and a whip.

Ladies, why not be a sexy ringmistress? Wear fishnets and long black boots, a leotard (or black shorts with a basque). Finish the look off with a bull whip and you will have all the men wanting to be 'tamed' by you!

A tip on wearing fishnets if you are a little intimidated by having your legs out. Put on a pair of 'American Tan' tights before you put on your fishnets. The base tights will give your legs a nice tan as well as helping to give them a nice shape.

Tailcoats are ideal for dance groups. The tailcoat should be light enough to be comfortable but heavy enough to hang properly. It is also quite important that they can be washed and dried quite quickly, in time for the next show. Dance groups are normally made up from men and women who are all shapes & sizes, so a good range of sizes is something that you should look for.

Another use for a tailcoat is at Halloween for men. Follow the following advice and you will have great Grave Groom costume.

What you will need to do is distress a black tailcoat. The easiest way of doing this is to cover the tailcoat with a dusting of talcum powder so that it looks like dust.

Do the same with a top hat and black trousers. If the trousers are old, the effect will look better if you can rip some holes in them, but please only do this if they are not going to be used again! The top hat will look better if it has been bashed about a bit as well.

Get an old white shirt, and sprinkle with a bit of fake blood. This will stain the shirt, so again, only use an old one.

Finally, get some spider web wool and spread this thinly all over to give a cobweb effect.

You can then add whatever you need to create the dead groom effect, maybe a dead looking flower in the lapel, tatty cravat and a grey 'madman' wig.

Seeing is believing!!! If you've never seen the Rocky Horror Show you just have to believe me that it is completely insane but great fun. Use your tailcoat as become 'Riff Raff' one of the main characters, wigs are available to purchase. To be honest there is a bit of an 'anything goes' policy but a popular look for both men and women would be a tailcoat over a basque, shorts and fishnets. To get you in the mood view the 'Time Warp' video - bet you can't stay still!

Although not shown in this video, Liza Minelli is often portrayed as wearing a tailcoat over a basque (or leotard), fishnet tights and stilettos. Just add a bowler hat, dance cane, heavy eye make up, huge, black eyelashes and a short black, bobbed wig.

A tailcoat is the main part of a male Victorian outfit. The requirement to dress up as a Victorian seems to be increasing. Victorian markets grow in popularity every year normally just before Christmas. If you are a teacher at Primary school, you will be aware that Victorians are covered as part of the curriculum. If you are involved in these type of activities it would probably be cheaper to purchase your own tailcoat rather than hire every year.

How to become a Victorian Gentleman:

• Tailcoat - as discussed
• Stovepipe top hat- a taller version than our modern design
• Wing collared shirt
• Cravat
• Standard pair of trousers
• Moustache (optional)

Ladies deluxe, lined tailcoats are now available to purchase. Available in 3 colours:

• Black with pink
• Red with white
• Pink with black

Hopefully, this hub has shown you how flexible a tailcoat can be. Most people do not mind purchasing a fancy dress costume if they believe that they can use an item a few times to basically 'get their money's worth'.

Using a tailcoat as a base, this hub should have shown you that it can be used in many different ways. The tailcoats that we stock are all fully washable and can even be tumble dried on a low heat.

You may also want to check out eBay to find yourself a costume...