Masquerade

Masquerade is what fancy dress shops should be: an adventure into a different world of colours, feathers, masks and make-​up.
They have a decent selection of all the standard cheapie fancy dress items, to instantly transform (well, partly) yourself into a pirate or a wizard. They also have a wide selection of costumes to hire — rack after rack of them stretch away at the back of the shop.
There is also a good range of accessories — glittery eyelashes and bright coloured wigs, for example. It is probably a little overpriced, but even if you’re not buying, it’s worth a look around just to marvel at the sheer range of costumes on offer.

I remember when this little shop was a bit of a down-​trodden but friendly place to buy cheap accessories for your home-​made fancy dress costume. Now it seems to be doing a roaring trade as it looks fantastic and organised and has a really attractive and inviting frontage.
There’s everything you want here to dazzle your fellow party goers when you arrive in your chosen costume but it does come with a price. A decent costume can cost £50 before you start attaching accessories and that seems like a lot of money before you even go out.
Ideal if you have the dosh but I’m going to stick to my Casper the friendly ghost costume involving a sheet and a pair of scissors!

Masquerade is an absolute treasure trove of dressing up fun and many peoples, whether it be an open or repressed, dream come true. This is because it has packed into this quite little store, most things your likely to have seen at a dressing up party, and if it doesn’t, most likely, they will be able to order it in from their warehouse a few miles away within a day or so.
Masquerade caters to Nightclubs for special nights, as well as film, T.V. and local theatre groups. If you are having a wedding or a party, you can come in for a consultation with one of the dressers to talk about the theme and get yourself, and your guests suited and booted. The staff re incredibly friendly, and look as though they are enjoying themselves in the eccentric and fun environment they work in.
Hire costs from around £10 up to about £60 for something a bit more special. This is undoubtedly the first place I’d go to if I really wanted to make an effort to a dressing up party and needed something specific.

I always get nervous about fancy dress parties. I don’t want to look like an idiot, but I want to make an effort and have fun. I want to be comfortable and fully enter into the spirit of pretending to be someone else. So you can see… a minefield. Masquerade is the saving grace. They are the go-​to-​place for small fancy dress items– wigs, stage make-​up, fake mustaches, hats, glasses… All items I can buy, wear, feel comfortable with and enjoy. The real fun of Masquerade though is their full costume department. If you can afford it they can kit you out with the full regalia– you can be Napoleon, Marie-​Antoinette, a pirate, a clown, Freddie Kruger… a head to toe gorilla… whatever you can dream they can bring out of their collection. You can rent any outfit for one night or several nights– should you be going to a string of parties! There are several fancy dress shops in Brighton but this one undeniably has the best selection and the best staff to provide advice. They always help smooth out my neuroses! They have a brilliant website where you can check out some of their stuff.