Laurent Guinci Talks Top Tips For Nailing your Halloween outfit

Laurent Guinci

Sure, this year’s Halloween will be a little different with restrictions in place – but we might as well have some fun, dress up and look as good as hell! Laurent Guinci (LOLO) has designed and dressed a variety of characters on numerous high-profile films and projects including Harry Potter. He knows what really makes or breaks an outfit. Here are his 5 top tips to help you nail your Halloween costume this year

Laurent Guinci

  1. Don’t overdo it

Loads of blood, scars, distressed clothes etc. are all great but a lot of people go wrong when they decide to throw everything in together. Try to focus on one thing and base the entire outfit around that, that’s the first step to success. It’s better to have one really amazing element rather than too much ‘meh’ stuff going on. For instance, if you want to go for a scar really get into it, look up the prosthetics process, find the right materials and techniques and immerse yourself into that particular element. 

  1. Trashy not Slutty

It’s fine for Halloween to be a bit trashy sometimes but is it just me or has Halloween suddenly become way too sexualised? I get it you want to look good but sexy doesn’t really come and kill you in a horror movie. And don’t get me started on the popular ‘sexy cat’ – what even is that? We’ve all seen our fair share of these at Halloween. Let’s not fall into this last-minute trap – we can all do better… trust me the universe will thank you #avoidthesexycat. 

  1. Black doesn’t mean Scary 

All black everything seems to be the default go-to for this spooky season, but black doesn’t necessarily mean villain. I’m sure you’d agree Voldemort is pretty evil, but he doesn’t wear black, his robes are actually dark green (a detail a lot of people overlook). Also, Pennywise the clown’s outfit from It is the opposite but it is freaky for sure. Think about how the colours go with your skin hue and make-up for instance light green reflects well on the skin and an all pale, beige monochrome colour scheme can help create a psycho ambience. Try to use colour and patterns where you can to be quirky and stand out as well as build out the mood you want to create.

  1. Be clever with it

Think about the time period and research the styles they wore. If you’re going for a ghost create a dusty feel and think about the ageing process to add dimension. A really fun project we worked on was the Harry Potter ghosts collection, like Nearly Headless Nick. We made sure we featured costumes very rich in details with paint effects, embroidery, period details and shredded lace fabrics (once again, not in black but a very pale grey!) This is just some inspiration you can use to create a ghostly look.

  1. The devils in the details

Accents and details are what really make a costume and it all falls back to being selective. A pointy collar or hat help give away a witchy vibe but it’s ok to opt for one detail over another to be subtle in places (although we know it’s easy to get carried away). You want to really know the secret behind a good witch or wizard? Its normal things put together in an out of the ordinary way. For instance, Ron was wearing a Dolce & Gabbana jumper, a normal garment, but its works because of the way it was paired to make him out of this world and magical, the same technique goes for the ministry of magic crowds. A mixture of texture and the use of pinstripe fabrics was used in different directions to create a visual wizarding business look.

Another great example is one of my favourite designs to date the costume for the HULK ride for Universal in Orlando – I absolutely love the character. I used the set for inspiration with it mainly being grey and metallic and the only touches of green are with the lighting so I reflected this in the costume by creating a grey overall with outlines of green only: rubber printed strips, zippers, popper buttons, decorative stitching, but no major flash of green fabrics! I believe that it’s all in the details and when thinking about your Halloween outfit try to think about the setting and lighting too (especially if you want to take tonnes of pictures) to make the most out of your Halloween look this year.

So … “HAPPY LOLOWEEN “!

Laurent Guinci is the founder of Lolo Creative

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