8 Halloween Costumes With a Red Dress You Already Own
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A red dress is already halfway to a costume. Red is the color of devils, queens, vampires and fairy tales, which gives you more options than almost any other dress in your closet.
Every idea below keeps the dress as the base and adds one to three pieces. A few of them work with any length, from a mini to a floor-length gown.
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1. Devil
The most obvious red dress costume is also one of the best. A devil takes about five minutes and looks great in photos.
How to do it: Add a headband of red horns, a pointed tail pinned at the back and red lipstick. Black heels or boots and a pitchfork if you want a prop. Glam or cute, it all works.
Worth buying: devil horns and a tail.
2. Little Red Riding Hood
A red dress plus a hooded cape is instantly a fairy tale. It’s one of the few costumes that works for a kid’s party and an adult one.
How to do it: Put a red hooded cape over the dress, braid your hair, and carry a wicker basket with a checked napkin. A white apron or a black lace-up corset belt makes it storybook.
Worth buying: a red hooded cape.
Full guide: our little red riding hood costume guide
3. Queen of Hearts
Off with their heads. The Alice in Wonderland villain is red, black and dramatic, and a red dress gets you most of the way there.
How to do it: Add a high stand-up collar (or a black cape with a big collar), a small gold crown, and heart-shaped details. A playing-card prop or a flamingo croquet mallet is the perfect finish.
Worth buying: a heart crown and scepter.
Full guide: our queen of hearts costume guide
4. Vampire Queen
Red and black is classic vampire territory. A long red gown with a black cape looks straight out of a gothic castle.
How to do it: Black cape with a high collar over the dress, pale foundation, dark red lips and a single painted drip of blood. Add a choker and fangs. Hair down and dark works best.
Worth buying: custom-fit vampire fangs.
5. Flapper
If your red dress is short, loose or fringed, you’ve got a 1920s flapper. Red fringe is one of the most eye-catching looks at any party.
How to do it: Add a sequin headband with a feather, long pearls knotted at the chest, T-strap heels and a dark lip. Finger waves or a faux bob finish it.
Worth buying: a feathered flapper headband.
6. Ladybug
Cute, fast and great for group costumes. A red dress plus black dots is a ladybug in about twenty minutes.
How to do it: Pin or tape black felt circles across the dress, wear black tights, and add a headband with black pipe-cleaner antennae. Small black wings are a bonus.
Worth buying: ladybug wings and antennae.
Full guide: our ladybug costume guide
7. Cartoon Bombshell
A sparkly red gown is the most famous cartoon look ever drawn. Long side-swept red hair and long gloves make it unmistakable.
How to do it: Floor-length red dress (sequins if you have them), long purple or lavender opera gloves, a dramatic side part with big waves, and heavy lashes. Red lipstick, always.
Worth buying: long opera gloves.
8. Strawberry
Sweet and simple, and it’s one of the best group or kids-with-mom costumes out there.
How to do it: Pin small white or yellow paper seeds across the dress, and wear a green leaf collar or a green beret with a felt stem. Green tights finish it.
Worth buying: a green leaf headband.
Making a Red Dress Read as a Costume
Add one piece that only belongs to the character: horns, a hood, a crown, antennae. Without it, you’re just a person in a nice red dress.
Match the accessories to the length. Short dresses suit the flapper and ladybug; long gowns suit the vampire queen and the cartoon bombshell.
Pin instead of glue. Felt dots, seeds and patches go on with safety pins and come off the next morning without hurting the dress.
Short on time? Our 10 last-minute Halloween costumes all come together tonight, or browse the full costume encyclopedia from A to Z.
Red Dress Costume FAQ
What can I be for Halloween with a red dress?
A devil, Little Red Riding Hood, the Queen of Hearts, a vampire queen, a flapper, a ladybug, a cartoon bombshell or a strawberry.
What’s the easiest red dress costume?
A devil. Add horns, a tail and red lipstick, and you’re done in five minutes.
What red dress costume works for a work party?
Little Red Riding Hood or the Queen of Hearts. Both are fun, recognizable and office-friendly.
What couples costume goes with a red dress?
Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, a devil and an angel, or the Queen of Hearts and the Mad Hatter.
Free: The Last-Minute Costume Cheat Sheet
Ten costumes you can make tonight, mostly from your own closet. One page, printable, plus a short email before each costume season. No spam.
