The best costume shops in Melbourne

This Reservoir-based costume shop has worked with and hired to shows like So You Think You Can Dance and Australia's Got Talent. Now's your chance to hire costumes seen on famous Australian celebrities for your next costume party or for Halloween. There are costumes available for kids, teens and adults across themes including famous heroes and villains, Disney movies and book series like Harry Potter. 

Huge and colourful, Creative Costumes is a one-stop-shop for all your costume needs. Offering a wide variety of novelty costumes, masks, wigs, hats and accessories, the team have got everything from sci-fi get-ups to Santa suits and giant carrot costumes. The service is great and the prices are red hot too.

Originally known as Costume Bazaar in Moorabbin, Costume Wonderland is now located in a much larger space in Bentleigh. The shop offers a wide range of products for hire or sale but it specialises mostly in fancy attire perfect for high-end functions and masquerade-themed events. On top of attire, you can also pick up accessories like eyelashes, contact lenses, beards and mo's or balloons. 

If you love pastels, glitter and fairy-themed items, Miss Kitty's Costumes will be your new one-stop shop. You'll find the same classic costume attire here as you will at most other costume shops, but where Miss Kitty's sets itself apart is with its selection of sequined corsets, tulle tutus and gorgeous crinoline petticoats. 

Siren Doll is the Mardi Gras of lingerie boutiques, but many of its pieces also make for great costumes. Here, you’ll find PVC superhero onesies, pink wigs, glittery nipple tassels, french maid costumes, body-stockings-in-a-packet and fishnets galore. This Richmond institution is held dearly in the hearts of performers, dancers and hens parties, and also stocks Marlies Dekkers lingerie for the showy-but-practical-minded.

Open seven days a week, Masquerade Costumes has been hiring and selling costumes for Melbourne’s kids and adults for more than 50 years. Always up-to-date with the latest in pop culture, Masquerade has its own resident costumier, who will fit you with the perfect costume for your next fancy dress shindig. The best part of Masquerade's service? You get to choose whether you want to rent or buy your selected costume. Because you never know – that Chewbacca costume could come in handy again someday.

There’s a real everything-including-the-kitchen-sink feel to this place with its massive collection of classic and somewhat more unusual costume possibilities, make-up, masks and an impressively comprehensive selection of fake facial hair for the hirsutely minded masquerader. With thousands of costumes to choose from, this Brunswick East costume shop has graciously catalogued all its wares online so you can do some searching before you even leave your house. Browse through the comprehensive party theme list (which includes everything from steampunk to superheroes) to find costumes, matching accessories and makeup.

A vibrantly window-dressed Victorian corner terrace has been home to this Fitzroy institution for more than 25 years. With ten colourful rooms of wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling costumes, wigs, hats and accessories, you’re pretty much guaranteed to find what you’re looking for and have a ball searching for it. The stock is imaginative and unusual, and the savvy staff members, all poached from an art and design background, are passionate about helping customers build their outfits from the ground up and then tweak them to get them spot on. Being able to bookend your costume hunting with visits to a couple of the many excellent nearby cafés is a nice bonus.