Halloween revellers beseige Elliotts for scary outfits
IT has been a part of Belfast’s Halloween tradition for more than a century, helping generations of young people turn into would-be witches, ghosts and superheroes.
And Elliotts fancy dress shop has yet again seen queues out the door and down Ann Street as trick-or-treaters looked to bag their last-minute costumes.
Some customers came for the scarily-expensive, full-length costumes, including the £135 Pennywise the Clown from the film IT, or the £58 man-sized Chucky costume.
But others were after simple accessories, such as a bloody hockey mask to pair with some devilish contact lenses for a budgeted — but equally frightful — Halloween.
And some chose to avoid the traditional horror of Halloween altogether.
Ryan Millar (20), who is in his second year of Biological Science at Queen’s University, opted
for a hippy-themed get-up.
A black wig and moustache and a pair of circular shades suited the downplayed attitude a hippy would be proud of.
He said: “It was a bit of a last minute sort of job. I went for this as it was simple and I didn’t have to pay too much for it really. I didn’t want to spend like £40 on a costume just for one night.”
David Davies (41), who lived in England, but moved to Northern Ireland when he was 10, said: “I bought a werewolf costume with a mask and top part, with the hair coming out of the arms and stuff.
“I’m not sure why I chose this really, there’s no like reason for it as such. I like the werewolf ’s look I suppose, but I was going to go for a zombie corpse actually and it was a cross between the two.”
Michael Doherty (12), from Belfast, said: “I’m going as a psychopath.”
Armed with a cape and a knife — made of plastic — he chose the costume because “it has a distinct look”.
His big sister, Catherine (16), decided a vampire was the look for her this Halloween.
She said: “I just like vampires to be honest. I’m going to go to a party with some friends in it.”
Her mother, Glenda (45), said of Elliotts: “They had the contacts for the vampire and you know you’re always going to get a good selection of costumes.”
James Elliott, whose grandfather (also James) opened the shop in 1886, said: “Fancy dress is as much about fashion as the high street.
“At the moment, Day of the Dead is still very big, horrible clowns, IT the clown is back, so we have the official costume, which is expensive, but also copies or lookalikes or whatever you want to call them are available.”