Nikki Yeaman Halloween Costumes Interview

The Five Most Popular Halloween Outfits This Year

Halloween will be knocking on your door on the 31st of October this year which means it's time to start carving your pumpkins, stocking up on sweets and deciding what spooky costumes you are going to wear. Over a quarter of Australians will celebrate the annual festival and take to the streets to trick-or-treat and attend Halloween parties.

"The demand for Halloween costumes has grown over 500% over the last ten years, showing the increasing popularity," says CostumeBox Co-Founder Nikki Yeaman. "It is definitely no longer considered an 'American only' celebration."

Whether you're dressing up as your favourite movie character or classic scary villain, these five trending costumes are sure to give your family and friends 'pumpkin' to talk about:

Creepy Clown
Keep away from the drains and avoid the red balloons this Halloween because Pennywise is back! Start clowning around and terrifying both children and adults with CostumeBox's 'IT Chapter 2 Pennywise Adult Costume Kit'. The kit comes with Pennywise's signature wild orange hair attached to a white bald front. The costume also includes a white neck ruffle with two matching ruffled wrist cuffs so you can creep out anyone who is petrified of clowns this Halloween.

"Evil clowns are now our most popular Halloween category, and have truly surpassed Zombies as the preferred creepy costume choice," says Nikki. "This is no doubt spurred on by the It movies and the new Joker."
RRP: $51.99

Zombie Bride
Take your dog on a walk down the aisle this Halloween with these matching CostumeBox 'Zombie Bride Girls Costume' and 'Puppy Love Bride Pet Costumes'. The girls costume comes with a tattered wedding dress with intricate white skull lace overlay, blotches of red blood, a red rose, veil and faux bouquet so you and your dog can scare away your wedding guests by becoming the walking dead. Apply some white face paint and add some fake blood to your dog's dress to complete the ultimate matching Zombie Bride outfit. Til death do us part!
RRP: from $34.99

Handmaiden
Take a step into a horrifying dystopian future this Halloween with CostumeBox's 'The Maiden Women's Costume'. The costume includes a red robe, attached hood, a white bonnet and sleevets, allowing you to bring out your inner Offred and break all of Gilead's patriarchal rules. Praise be!
RRP: $58.99

Eleven
Tap into your psychokinetic abilities and turn up your costume game from a ten to eleven this Halloween with CostumeBox's 'Stranger Things Elevens Blue Women's Jacket.' You can discover the sinister truth of Hawkins by also wearing the 'Elevens Pink Dress', 'Blonde Wig' and 'Knee High Socks' to finish the look.
RRP: from $14.99

Zombie Mum
Mums, come as you aren't… or are this Halloween with CostumeBox's 'Zombie Mum Women's Costume.' Although most mothers already feel like the living dead every day, this costume takes it to the next level including a pink dress with a ragged hemline, a light pink floral gown and a pair of tights with purple and blue veins printed on them. This costume comes with everything you need to become a flesh eating zombie, ready to frighten your kids and neighbours this Halloween. 

For more information, visit www.costumebox.com.au

Interview with Nikki Yeaman, CostumeBox co-founder

Question: Can you tell us about CostumeBox?

Nikki Yeaman: CostumeBox is the largest one-stop destination for costumes online, with the biggest range of dress up outfits, costume accessories, party supplies, gifts, novelties, collector's items and craft materials. CostumeBox stocks licensed and generic dress up outfits for men, women, kids and pets in all styles and sizes. To date, CostumeBox has dispatched more than three million costumes and party supplies to happy customers around the world.


Question: What originally inspired you to begin CostumeBox?

Nikki Yeaman: The business idea came to Roma Burke (Co-Founder) and I when we noticed a gap in the Australian market for fancy dress outfits. Costumes in Australia were restricted to limited options in hire shops and party stores, whereas the United Kingdom and United states were spoilt for choice with the availability to purchase varying costumes online. It was the lack of options that motivated us both to create CostumeBox, an online party retailer Australia was missing.


Question: Can you talk us through the creation of the product?

Nikki Yeaman: Firstly we look through the data of what is searched for on our website to see where there might be unmet demand. Then it's a matter of doing lots of research to understand what the key elements of that look are. We put together a mood board for our designers and they get to work. We create lots of different versions of a costume idea before we settle on our favourites and then we move to the sample making stage. We can go back and forth altering samples three or four times before we sign off on a final style for production.

Question: Where do you source your materials?

Nikki Yeaman: Materials used for our costumes come from all over the world. The leather in our authentic Lederhosen costume for example, comes from Pakistan.


Question: How can we dress culturally appropriate for Oktoberfest?

Nikki Yeaman: Traditionally, women wear dirndls and men wear lederhosen. A dirndl has three elements: a skirt, apron and white blouse. Closed shoes are often most suitable considering you will be dancing around a lot. Men traditionally wear suspenders to hold up leather shorts and a checked shirt. In our new range of Oktoberfest costumes, we have included more demure styles, which were traditionally worn for Oktoberfest and our customers are loving them.


Question: What are some of the recent concerns of misappropriation of Bavarian cultural dress?

Nikki Yeaman: Some modern versions of the cultural dress are lower cut and hemmed above the knee, but the original costumes are nowhere near as skimpy as some of the younger crowds imagine. Whilst the shorter versions of Oktoberfest costumes are still in demand, we have noticed that the longer, more traditional form of the dirndl has become more and more popular over the last few years, and it's not surprising, a traditionally styled dirndl is incredibly flattering on everyone.


Question: What other costumes and events do you cater for?

Nikki Yeaman: You name it! We cater to all kinds of celebrations. For example, Halloween is a huge season for us, as well as book week for kids and teachers. Popular party themes year round are the 20's and the 80's.


Question: Overall, what has been the biggest lesson you've learnt since starting your own business?
Nikki Yeaman: It's a lot harder than people think, but it's also a lot more fun. Coming up with a great idea is the easy part, but consistent great execution, day after day, is what leads to long term success.


Question: Do you have any advice for others hoping to start a thriving business?

Nikki Yeaman: Just do it, dive in and learn along the way because you can never be ready. Also, don't let naysayers talk you out of it. One of the most common things I heard from people I spoke to when I was in the planning stages of my own business was: "90% of all small businesses fail within the first 2 years." I don't know if this is even true but at the time I would think to myself "well that's your reason for not doing it then, but it's not going to be mine". You have to be comfortable with the idea that it might fail and I think that's what sets entrepreneurs apart from those who say they would like to have their own business, but never actually take the first step.


Question: Can you talk us through a typical day for you?

Nikki Yeaman: It usually starts around 6 am with a run (=slow jog) along Manly beach with my sister. We find it a great stress relief and debrief session before we start our day. Then I head back home to check a few emails while I have my first coffee and try to be around when my young adult kids get up to touch base with them before they head off.

I generally get to the office between 8.30 and 9.30. I start by checking our operating dashboards which are always ready to view by 9.30 am. I then walk around the office and warehouse and chat with the team. The rest of the day could be meetings with suppliers, working on new costume designs with our buying team, planning a marketing email with our digital designer, and seemingly endless emails. I usually call stumps between 5.30 and 6 and head home to have dinner with my husband and family. I check our website analytics platform a few times during the evening to make sure everything is running ok, and read through any emails and have a think about that come in, but I try not to answer them until the next workday. I don't think it's very professional to be answering emails at all hours of the day and night and it's an example Roma and I try to set for our staff also. Then there's usually a bit of Netflix or reading before bed. Most of what I read is non-fiction because there are just so many fascinating things to learn about in real life.


Question: What's next for you and CostumeBox?

Nikki Yeaman: We are forging ahead with developing our own brand of costumes and accessories, which will always represent fantastic quality and a great price. Just this week have released a range of over 60 gorgeous premium quality wigs. These wigs can be styled with straightening tongs, be washed and blow-dried and will look as good when they come out of the packet as they do in our website pictures. We developed these wigs in response to customer feedback that the quality of costume wigs was often very poor and that the wigs never actually looked anything like the images on the website. So we set about sourcing our own wig factory and by cutting out the middleman we have been able to produce a range of high-quality wigs at half the price they would otherwise be. We also have a really fun 1980s costume range about to be dropped too, which includes 80's ski suits and the ultimate 80's emerald green ball dress with a matching cummerbund and bow tie for guys! CostumeBox will continue to grow and be Australia's number one platform for all things costume and party-related.


Interview by Brooke Hunter