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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY,OCTOBER 25,2001
APERFECT FIT
Students scramble to find last-minute costumes
BY NICOLE ROCHE
Rows of accessories line the shelves at Fun and Games — paste-on noses and beards, hats with dreads attached and even pink plastic breasts.
EN-KAE CHANG I KANSAN
Still, with Halloween less than a week away,
Annie Monfort, Iola sophomore, roamed the store,
stumped about what to be.
"I'd kind of like to dress up as a Moulin Rouge can-can dancer," she said. "That's what is so fun about Halloween. You can become a completely different person."
As Oct. 31 nears, students like Monfort scramble to find the perfect costume idea.
Sarah's Fabrics, 925 Massachusetts St., rents costumes and sells accessories year-round.
"Most people that come in don't quite know what they want to be yet," said owner Sarah Fawman. "They just want to look around."
Monfort said she tried on a belly dancer costume at Sarah's earlier this week.
"I really like the costume," she said. "I just don't know if my abs are really in shape for that."
Fayman said there were usually trends each year, and popular items this year include butterfly and angel wings, Renaissance costumes and feather boas.
"People are starting with wigs this year and their costumes are sort of evolving from that," she said.
Another popular theme is genie costumes.
Another popular theme is game "Maybe people are into fantasy because things have been so grim lately," Fayman said.
She said her store is a good place to go if people are looking for couple costumes.
"I had a couple come in earlier today that decided to be a bunny and Hugh Heffer," she said.
Fun and Games, 816 Massachusetts St., is a toy store that carries a variety of costumes and accessories.
"If you come in here with an idea, we can usually piece together something," said manager Kvle Billings.
Billings said a lot of people were going with
traditional costumes this year, such as vampires, witches and devils.
"Some of the best costumes I see each year are your normal witches, but they do something really awesome with it," he said.
Austin Powers costumes were really Jessica Strathman (right), Baileyville freshman, models a pink wig at run and Games, 816 Massachusetts St., while Becky Kockelman, Baileyville freshman, is background. Wigs are one of the most popular items for Halloween.
Billings said that similar to Monfort's Moulin Rouge idea, movie characters were always popular costumes.
"Last year Austin Powers cos-
Dana Bottenfield, looks around. Wigs are o Pittsburg, Kan., senior, said that 2000's Charlie's Angels was the inspiration for her costume this year.
"One of my roommates has red curly hair, one is Asian and I'm blonde, so we decided to go as Charlie's angels," Bottenfield said.
Bottenfield said she never spent much money on her Halloween costumes.
"We pretty much plan on digging stuff out of our closets or going to a thrift store," she said. "That's usually a good place to find stuff like that."
Brent Stevens and his friend Jeff Allmon, Wichita juniors, are dressing up as the main characters in 1999's Fight Club.
They plan on going to Madison, Wis., this weekend for some costume parties.
"For some reason Halloween is like Mardi Gras for Madison. Everyone is in costume — everyone," Stevens said. "Someone told me it
was on a list of 25 things to do before you do "Go to Madison for Halloween.""
Stevens said he is piecing together most of his costume from clothing he already has, including a leather jacket that looks like the one Brad Pitt wore in the movie.
"Jeff and I have most of our stuff already," he said. "We just need to get some makeup for scars on our hands and blood on our face."
Stevens said he plans on going to Paper Warehouse, 1441 W. 23rd St., for some last minute shopping.
Billings said the biggest rush of shoppers should start today and tomorrow, with Saturday as the busiest.
While many students end up procrastinating until the day before Halloween, Fayman from Sarah's Fabrics said waiting until the last minute might not be the best idea for costume shoppers.
"Things are picked over by then," she said.
The longer you wait, the less there is to pick from."
Monfort said she needs to get a costume for her drawing class next week.
"We are doing self-portraits in costume on Halloween," she said. "But I'm a Halloween fanatic, so I might just run around between now and then with some wild face paint on."
EN-KAE CHANG | KANSAN
Last year Monfort and her date went as a prostitute and a priest for Halloween.
Monfort said she had two other costumes last year, including Columbia from The Rocky Horror Picture Show and a head-to-toe black ensemble that she dubbed "a woodland nympho" costume.
"It was a really simple costume, but when I told people what I was supposed to be, they got a kick out of it." Monfort said. "A lot of it is just being creative with what you've got."
Crystal Reed, Burden sophomore, tries on a Marilyn Monroe costume for a Halloween party. Sarah's Fabrics on Contact Roché at 864-4810 925 Massachusetts St. offers a popular array of costumes to rent or buy.
POPULAR COSTUMES AND ACCESSORIES:
WITCHES
DEVILS
RENAISSANCE CHARACTERS
MOVIE CHARACTERS
VAMPIRES
GENES
WIGS
FEATHERBOAS
BUTTERFLY WINGS
ANGEL WINGS