No Halloween Outfit? Dig Out Your Breton Shirt…

Nightmare scenario: you’ve been invited to a Halloween party and you completely forgot to sort an outfit. It’s Friday, the night is upon you, and there’s not enough time to nip to your local fancy dress shop for a pair of fangs or a witch hat.

Never fear. Your trusty, beloved Breton shirt is here to save the day. Again. It’s always doing that. Of course, we realise there's still a few weeks to go until Halloween, but just in case you're desperately searching the Internet a little closer to 31 October, we've go you covered.

Here are some of our best Breton striped Halloween ideas to help you get to your party on time. Hey, you might not win any prizes for creativity, but at least you’ll be the most stylish person there! Just don’t spill any fake blood on your favourite shirt.

Picasso

Picasso loved his Breton shirts almost as much as we do. In fact, he loved them so much we paid homage with our own Picasso rage of shirts. We particularly love the Picasso II, with its stylish red stripe above the blue ones — just like the shirt he wore in many of his portraits!

Complete the look with a palette and a paintbrush. Since Halloween outfits are less about being scary and more about being creative these days (to align with our American cousins' Halloween celebrations), we thought this would be a fun dress-up idea for the art fans amongst you.

Mime

Alors, is there anyone more quintessentially French than the mime artist? The beret. The precise makeup. The Breton stripes.

Okay, so a mime isn’t exactly a fashion-forward proponent of French chic, but they are super easy to emulate on a tight time budget. Just pop your Breton shirt on, add braces and a dark pair of trousers and slap a beret on your head. Finish with white make-up or, if you haven’t got any of that, just use eyeliner to draw mime-style eyes and lips. Voilá!

Escaped Prisoner

Get into character. You were arrested for a crime you didn’t commit, but 10 years in the slammer has turned you mean. Smudge that eyeliner, paint on a black eye, pull on your Breton stripe shirt and some stripy leggings and make a 'shiv' out of cereal box cardboard and tin foil. Easy yet effective.

Sailor

All aboard! Avast ye, for the last minute halloween costume of the century! Match your blue stripes with a pair of high waisted flares and a cute little hat and you’re ready to set sail on the deep briny blue.

Extra points if you already have a sailor hat — but you can easily make one out of newspaper if not. Here’s how. You could even take your own mascot - a bear featuring a matching striped shirt!

 

Pirate

Similar look to the sailor look, but with a totally different energy. With this outfit you need to act mean, and a little bit drunk. We’re sure you can manage it.

Black or red Breton stripes work best for a pirate, and add ripped trousers or jeans, a cutlass (a cardboard one will do), and a big hat. That straw hat you bought for holidays that you’ve never worn — that’ll do. Draw on a facial scar or a curly moustache and write 'Grog' on your bottle of rum...and you’re good to go!

May we wish you a happy Halloween in advance of 31 October.

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Until next time...