Titanic Ghost Costumes for Halloween

I'll admit that costumes based on Titanic's ghosts never occurred to me at all. I was too caught up in the actual history to consider the possibilities there.

Plus it takes a certain kind of dark humor and/or a requisite amount of distance to clad yourself in costumes based on a real life disaster. 

Over a century down the line, the survivors and their close family are all safely passed away. Though adult children of child survivors, and grandchildren too, are all still out there. So be careful with your Halloween guest-list.

My lack of imagination on the subject of Titanic ghost outfits was more than covered by those searching for the same, and winding up at my article on Halloween ghost costumes for adults. In it I mentioned that one outfit in particular made the model look like she'd just stepped off Titanic.

That was enough for the search engines to direct interested parties towards it. I felt guilty that they hadn't found quite what they were looking for. 

Let me rectify that now!  I've done my best to uncover all that you might need to create a Titanic related costume for your Halloween event.  Now all that remains is for you to choose your style and put it all together.

Incidentally, the film advertizement is a spoof.  But the trailer was very well put together! You can see it on YouTube here.

Good luck!

For those not too worried about your Titanic costume being white (thus traditionally more ghostly), then a whole range of new possibilities open up.

You could always wear these with ghost white make-up and a few dark rings under your eyes.  Or, if you're anything like me, not wear make-up at all for much the same effect. Then you'd be a specter returned from the deep, or a mourner who never recovered from their shock, even when their own demise meant that their loved one could hopefully be located on the other side.

Not all hauntings involve spirits either. Some are the memories of the place itself, feelings etched into the landscape by the tensity of the emotions wrought by the moment. Those scenes replayed over and over again for those with the sensitivity to see.

The Titanic newsboy costume would work well for that. Though you would have to persuade your little boy to keep re-enacting the sale of newspaper bearing the bad news. He might not be too amenable towards doing that all evening long.

And said possibilities include some beautifully reproduced Titanic outfits, that will be instantly recognizable by all who've seen James Cameron's movie.

There are three replicas of Rose's costumes in Titanic, which would fit the bill very nicely. But also require payment of a rather steep bill, before you can secure them for your wardrobe. That said, the price reflects the attention to detail in these hand-stitched Titanic Rose cosplay dresses. You're not precisely buying off the peg here!

However, it does occur to me that we've veered a little too far into the Titanic era costumes remit, and ended up quite far from the ghost aspect of it all.

It might take a little creative thinking to explain why, say, Rose's Boarding Dress costume relates to a Halloween ghost, when there's no Earthly reason in the storyline why it should.  Her departure dress maybe, but she did manage to survive the first day of sailing.

What do you think?  Back to the drawing board?

Above there are some accessories which you could employ to create or complete a Titanic crew-member costume.

The White Star Line t-shirt could be finished with flared navy pants and some ghostly make-up. You would soon transform into the apparition of a crew member. For that more subtle touch, there's a pewter Titanic button.  Just stick it to your Edwardian era ghost costume and wait for people to make the connection.

Or, if you fancy aiming for the highest rank aboard the stricken ship, there's a Captain's hat. I wish you better luck than Captain Edward Smith.

Are you handy with a needle and thread or sewing machine?  If so, then there is nothing stopping you creating a unique Titanic ghost outfit.

There are plenty of patterns for the era. There were many different fashions on board. It's not like you have to confine yourself to one uniform style here, as you can be sure that someone amongst the passengers was wearing something similar.

I would recommend using a white material - to give that ghostly aspect - and, if you are particularly talented, introducing water-stains.  This apparition is supposed to look frozen to death and/or drowned.  It's definitely supposed to appear wet.

The only limit here is your own imagination and skill.  Though I respect you for both. I couldn't sew this to save my own life!