The spirit of Halloween will descend upon us yet again this weekend, bringing wickedness and monsters back to the campus for round two. Still, in the midst of the Halloweekend blowout, there is a distinct chance that your creative juices have been exhausted. Whether you're looking for your first, second, third or fourth costume this weekend, or if you're just trying to find the perfectly festive ugly sweater a bit early, the Daily has compiled a helpful guide to some of the better costuming locales near campus.
Artifaktori
When most people rush out to get a last minute Halloween costume, they head straight to a costume shop, prepared to fork over a fistful of dollars for some generic, overpriced getup they'll only be able to wear once a year. They think about dressing up as the most popular movie character from the past year, or possibly as last month's biggest pop-culture faux pas. They think about the latest trends and current events, and the day after Halloween, they soon regret such thoughts.
Artifaktori wants you to think something else: vintage.
Located right in Davis Square at 22a College Ave, with another location at 121 Charles Street in the Beacon Hill district of Boston, Artifaktori provides what every college student needs, whether they know it or not, selling the perfect mix of dress-up and legitimate style. Offering an extensive, diverse line of clothing handpicked by store owner Amy Berkowitz, including '20s flapper outfits, '50s business suits and everything in between, Artifaktori is as chic as it gets.
What's perfect about the store is that it doesn't matter if you're searching for a costume or a new look - you'll find either one there. Pick a historical period and there's bound to be some piece of clothing inspired by that era at Artifakori. What's more, after you're through with Halloween, you can simply turn your "costume" into your own unique style, mixing and matching articles of clothing with the latest Artifaktori accessories.
Perhaps one of the store's largest draws, in terms of dressing up, is that Artifaktori outfits aren't catered to Halloween. Are you hosting a "Mad Men" party? Maybe attending a "Great Gatsby" (1925) get-together? Still looking for a cute dress to impress your next date? Artifaktori has you covered. With shoes, hats and random accessories that include such oddities as old cameras and classic records, Artifaktori is a chic, vintage gold mine.
As the store attests on its website, "You never quite know what you'll find when you walk through the doors of this cozy little shop."
Goodwill
At Goodwill, the adage that one man's junk is another man's treasure holds true, especially around Halloween. With rack after rack of old clothes, shoes and other items, Goodwill is a costume goldmine.
Because Goodwill garments are all pre-owned, shopping there can be hit or miss. Still, this makes finding a gem all the more worthwhile.
Tufts students flock to the Goodwill Store in Davis Square on 230 Elm Street, attracted by low prices and the store's extensive assortment of clothes. Junior Marie Schow found her Halloween lion suit in the children's section of the store.
"I bought my Halloween costume from Goodwill after being inspired by Macklemore's hit song 'Thrift Shop,'" she said. "While Goodwill's costumes require a little more creativity, there are a wide range of themes and sizes at bargain prices."
Junior Sara Hanneman, who dressed as Tinker Bell last weekend, found herself at Goodwill for different reasons.
"[I went there] because I waited until the last minute," she said. "I just needed some basic staples I could craft into my costume."
Hanneman also noted the store's layout and proximity to campus as reasons for its popularity among Tufts students. Another useful aspect is that Goodwill sorts its clothes by item type and color. For example, sections for winter jackets are separated from dresses and shirts. Each of these clusters is then visibly divided into groups by various shades and colors.
"It's helpful that they sort by color," Hanneman said. "I knew I needed green for my costume, so I just went straight to that section."
Goodwill usually promotes seasonal holidays like Halloween and Christmas by creating individual sections for each celebration.
The only downside to Goodwill is that even the best clothes are generally lumped in with the less desirable clothing.
"Goodwill is great, you just have to dig for what you want," junior Katie Miller said. "And you have to be flexible."
Buffalo Exchange
Buffalo Exchange, a staple clothing store located on 238 Elm Street in Davis Square, is unique among garment stores in the area in that it sells exclusively used clothing that has been traded in by locals. This gives customers an opportunity to get name brand, vintage or odd pieces for potential costumes.
For customers seeking last minute costumes at better prices, this will be ideal since cheaper used pieces are useful for holiday costumes that people rarely wear more than a few times.
"I got all my outfits for Halloween from Buffalo Exchange this year. I always find interesting pieces and things that just go with the rest of my wardrobe," junior Audrey Abelleira said. "I never go in looking for anything too specific. I just wander around until I stumble upon something great. The shopping in Buffalo Exchange is half the fun."
Another advantage to Buffalo Exchange is that after the holiday, if you don't like the clothing from your costume anymore, you can sell your clothing to Buffalo Exchange and make some money back.
Buffalo Exchange has recently launched its "Celebrity Zombie Invasion," in which individuals who come in and show their celebrity zombie costume get $10 off their next purchase greater than $50. This kind of incentive is a huge plus for the more frugal Halloween shopper.
Still, not everyone is convinced by Buffalo Exchange's attempts to gain new customers.
"I like [Buffalo Exchange] for buying clothes, but I'm not sure that it works for buying costumes. It's more like trendy, everyday clothes," junior Carolyn Boudreau said.
Whether or not you use it as a costume shop, Buffalo Exchange is a low-key shop that offers customers a good selection of higher quality, relatively affordable clothing options. If you look hard enough through their clothing and accessory options, you're bound to find some worthy last-minute purchases for this weekend's festivities.
The Garment District
Since 1986, The Garment District has distinguished itself as one of the best places around Boston to find fun, inexpensive clothing. Though the 40-employee shop thrives around Halloween and during the holidays, it is open all year round and boasts around 40,000 pieces of contemporary and vintage clothing. In fact, the store is one of the largest of its kind in the entire world.
The Garment District notably has a by-the-pound section where customers can buy cheap clothing, astonishingly, by the pound. The section displays the contents of one 850 pound clothing bale during week days, and the contents of multiple 850 pound bales during weekends. Men's, women's and children's clothing are all mixed together at the low price of $1.50 a pound. Sadly, this section is closed for the Halloween season, but it will resume operation on Nov. 3.
If you decide to visit, be sure not to make the common mistake of thinking that The Garment District and Boston Costume, which shares the Garment District's large building, are anything more than shops.
"People assume it's an actual district, but it's not, it's just a store," store manager Arnold Kaufman said. "All the newcomers in the city get excited because they think it's this whole strip mall of stores. But it's not. It's a three story building full of fun stuff."
Kaufman noted that while many people pulled together their own individual costumes from the store's vast clothing stash, readymade, somewhat expensive costumes like beer kegs are always very popular around Halloween. Traditional costumes, like ghosts and super heroes, are also consistent best-sellers.
Halloween also has a few extra perks for the store employees as they cope with throngs of festive customers.
"The employees munch on candy," Kaufman said. "And we get to wear costumes during our shift and all that."
Located at 200 Broadway in Cambridge, The Garment District is only a few blocks away from the Kendall/MIT T-stop on the Red Line. Need another reason to go? They're open until midnight every day!
