Everyone loves dressing up – especially students heading for a crazy night out. Fortunately for us, Bristol boasts a vibrant array of costume shops, each offering its own unique blend of creativity, quality, and flair. Whether you’re preparing for Halloween, a themed party or a cosplay event, our list of the best fancy dress shops in Bristol has you covered. Check out our recommendations below for help finding your next costume!
1. Chaplin’s
Dress to impress with Chaplin’s, one of Bristol’s most iconic fancy dress shops. Whether you’re shopping for Halloween horror, masquerade outfits or 1920s themed fancy dress – you’ll be sure to find it here. Chaplin’s has a treasure trove of trinkets hidden away on its shelves. As well as selling entire fancy dress outfits, this shop also sells wigs, hats and an impressive variety of moustaches.
If you’re looking for a fancy dress outfit for a one-off event but have limited wardrobe space, Chaplin’s also has an array of elaborate costumes available for hire. They even have a Rocky Horror Show themed fancy dress collection, why not grab a few friends and make a group costume? If you go along to their shop in Bristol city centre you can nab a life-size cardboard cut-out of iconic figures, including Elvis Presley, Captain Jack Sparrow and (for some reason) a buffalo.
Address: 9 St Augustine’s Parade, Bristol BS1 4UT
2. Poppers the Party Shop
Located on Gloucester road, Poppers the Party Shop offers a range of fancy dress costumes to suit all occasions. You’ll enter a mere student and leave as Luigi, a Roman Centurion or perhaps as the Queen of Hearts (hopefully not all at once, though that might be an interesting costume idea)! If you’re planning to throw a birthday party, why not also pick up some decorations along the way? After all, who wouldn’t love a giant Happy Birthday banner taped to their bedroom door?
Check out their website for a glimpse of the fancy dress outfits on offer. You can even give them a call for help looking for a specific item. But if you want to see the full range of goods and accessories on offer, make sure to visit Poppers the Party Shop in-person.
Address: 151 Gloucester Rd, Bishopston, Bristol BS7 8BA
3. The Costume Store
Those on the hunt for more ornate fancy dress costumes must take a look at The Costume Store. Although they’re a mail order business rather than a shop, the Bristol-based Costume Store offers a variety of eye-catching outfits and accessories. If you’re unsure what to wear or need help building your fancy dress outfit, use their online inspiration look-book to create your perfect costume. You can order custom-made hats that arrive in 4-5 weeks along with loads of unique treasures, like lace parasols and feather fans. You could even be the proud owner of your very own pocket watch! Have a search through their website to unearth even more exciting treasures, and sign up to their newsletter to receive the latest news, offers and styles.
Address: M7, The Bottle Yard Studios, Whitchurch Ln, Bristol BS14 0BH
4. Thrift stores
If you still can’t find what you’re looking for, why not build your own fancy dress costume by checking out Bristol’s amazing thrift stores? The Thrift Store on Park street, Fabulous Vintage and Loot Vintage are surefire ways to find unique and trendy items to create the perfect fancy dress costume. Not to mention the best bit – which is reduced and affordable prices. Thrift shopping is also an ethical, sustainable way of finding new clothes. Some of Bristol’s thrift stores offer student discounts, so keep an eye out for those! Let your creativity run free and create your own stylish and one-of-a-kind fancy dress costume – who knows what you’ll come up with?
5. Sparks Bristol
Visit the fashion department in Bristol’s famed ‘department store with a difference’ dedicated to sustainability and ethical clothes shopping, and build your very own fancy dress costume. If you’ve found what you’re looking for but it doesn’t quite fit, or you’re old fancy dress costume is a bit worn down – worry not! Sparks runs a clothes mending workshop which teaches the traditional Japanese mending technique Sashiko, which is all about embracing the art of repair and prolonging the life of clothing. All materials are provided and you only need to bring along your outfit for repair. Not only will you learn a new skill, but you’ll get to wear your fancy dress outfit for loads of occasions to come! Visit their website to learn more about when these workshops are happening and to book your place.
Address: 78 Broadmead, Bristol BS1 3DS
That’s it for our list of the best places to find a fancy dress costume in Bristol. Did we miss any? Now, go forth and create the perfect costume! Whether it’s popping into Chaplin’s, ordering online from Costumes R Us, or building your own outfit using Bristol’s vast array of thrift stores – there’s plenty of places to find a fun costume in the city.
Why not create a group costume and see what you can come up with? If you’ve got your outfit sorted and are looking for where to go on a night out, check out our top picks for the best clubs in Bristol.
