While accessories and styling is critical to any costume, they are particularly critical to a poodle skirt costume. The right shoes, socks, hairstyle and makeup are all critical to completing your poodle skirt costume’s look.
Let’s start at the bottom. The appropriate shoes for a poodle skirt costume are called saddle shoes and can be found easily from many retailers via a quick Google search. The most traditional saddle shoes are black and white or navy blue and white, but other color combinations exist. You may wish to consider these other color options depending on the color scheme of your poodle skirt costume, but the white with black or blue options are always appropriate.
Next, you need the right socks. Stockings or tights should not be worn with your poodle skirt costume. If you must for reasons of weather or modest, make sure you still put bobby socks over them. A bobby sock is generally white, ankle high and has a ruffle of lace around it. The lace can be white or coordinate with the colors in your poodle skirt costume. While bobby socks were most popular in the 1940s and 1950s, they are still easy to find today, especially in child sizes. For adult poodle skirt costumes, you may need to order them off the Internet. Additionally, you can always make your own by attaching lace around the cuff of a plain white ankle sock.
The most appropriate hairstyle for a poodle skirt costume is long hair with bangs pulled back into a pony tail. If your hair can do this style a brightly colored scarf that matches your poodle skirt costume, should then be tied around the pony tail. Short, curly hair was also popular in the 1950s, although it was considered a more mature hairstyle. Women with short hair should curl their hair and had a colorful clip or headband to it to match their poodle skirt costume.
Makeup for a poodle skirt costume should be mostly neutral and pink in tone. Shiny, as opposed to matte, lips are appropriate for a poodle skirt costume and lipstick should be pink or even bright red. Purples and burgundies are not appropriate to the era.
Excessive jewelry is not necessary or appropriate to a poodle skirt costume. Small earrings in gold are fine, as is a single chain or short strand of pearls, but neither are necessary to complete the poodle skirt look. A watch or single bracelet also works for the era. Remember that the poodle skirt says a lot, and that your accessories should enhance it, not overwhelm it.
Finally, a poodle skirt costume is largely about dancing, which makes a purse unnecessary to complete it. However, an appropriate purse for the era and look would be a small hand bag with good structure that coordinated with your saddle shoes. Shoulder bags weren’t worn then.
