A Paul Stanley costume this Halloween is right up the alley of any KISS fan. KISS has always been known as one of the hardest working bands in music and also the hardest in marketing themselves. Each member of KISS, including Ace Frehley, has been created as a Halloween costume.
Paul Stanley Costume for Halloween
Why wouldn't any KISS fan not want to be the Starchild himself, the guitar thrashing, vocal God from the band that rules the world, KISS? Paul Stanley, like all the members of KISS, have several different costumes that they wore when on tour. After 30+ years there are quite a few styles to choose from. For Paul Stanley the most popular of his costumes seems to be from the 70's.
There are two ways you can go about achieving a Paul Stanley costume:
- You can buy a Paul Stanley costume but the only ones available are considered collector's items but the KISS make-up and latex masks are easy to find
- You can create your own Halloween costume that is a close replica of Paul Stanley's touring costume
Purchasing the Costume
The officially licensed costume, created by Illusive Concepts, is considered a collector's item and is hard to find. There are some memorabilia stores that may still have this costume available. There is an Authentic Starchild KISS Costume available that is probably the closest you will get to the real costume Paul Stanley wore.
One alternative is to look in your local costume rental shop. They may have the original costume available to rent or buy or, at the very least, have one they put together that you can rent.
You could also purchase the officially licensed makeup kit or latex mask from one of the many Halloween costume retailers online. Pair that with jeans and a torn top or a generic rocker costume.
Making the Costume
Making a costume yourself always seems much harder than it really is. When it comes to the Paul Stanley costume you can easily assemble it. The key is to break the costume down into its basic components then manipulate and adorn them as required.
For the Paul Stanley costume you will need the following:
- Wrestling singlet, black
- Gothic boots with buckles, tall (you can find these at retailers like Hot Topic, Torrid and Goth Shoes
- Bedazzler with a lot of small and medium sized clear jewels
- Silver fine tip sharpee permanent marker
- Star shape stencil
- Sewing machine
- Silver trim, ¼" wide
- Photos of your favorite costume worn by Paul Stanley
- Leather neck collar
- Arm warmers, spandex
Study the pictures of the costume you chose and make notes if you have to. His costume over the years has not changed all that much but the 70's version is the most remembered so we will go with that one.
Begin by taking the black wrestling singlet and sewing the silver trim around the deep neckline and up and around the shoulders then along the back. Now use your star stencil and trace, with the sharpee, three stars onto the the right leg of the spandex singlet. Start at the hip and space them several inches apart.
The costumes of Paul Stanley included such variations like lightning bolt patterns in jewels, adornments around the cod piece, a thick belt with jewels and even the boots sometimes had jewels applied to them.
One you are happy with your spandex jumpsuit you can move on to the wig. Get one that is long and black and permed. While you are at the store purchase a Paul Stanley makeup kit (or latex mask if you choose). You can also buy red, white and black grease paint and apply it in the starchild pattern by painting your lips red, making your entire face white and putting a black star over your right eye. Make sure you bedazzle those arm warmers too!
KISS Group Costume
Being the hardest working band in rock n'roll doesn't mean there is no time to party. If you and your friends want to have a little fun this Halloween season why not dress up as the other members of KISS? You can start with the Paul Stanley Halloween costume then work on Ace Frehley, Gene Simmons and Peter Criss. All of their pictures are available online and if you follow the same guidelines for the others as you did for Paul Stanley then you will soon have your own version of KISS.
