How do you dress up as a clown?

Welcome to the Funidelia circus! If you like to get dressed-up and “act the clown”, you’ve come to the right place. We’re going to help you design the best clown costume you can imagine.
Whether it’s for carnival or Halloween, clown costumes are always a good choice. We’re going to show you how to choose a good costume, how to put on clown make-up, and which essential accessories you’ll need. We’ll even tell you how to turn yourself into an evil clown murderer, for the most terrifying parties!
The circus has always been the natural setting for clowns, and all of us have a little clown inside of us (even if we don’t believe it). Nowadays it’s not hard to bump into one of these characters in the city centre, always ready to make little children, and even adults, smile.

And, of course, dressing up as a clown is super fun! Best of all, you can get away with all the clowning around you want, which you might be embarrassed to do in “normal clothes”.

Inspiration for your clown costume

We’ve got plenty of options for clown costumes. And best of all you can find costumes for the whole family- boys, men, women… Even clown costumes for babies. The main thing is to pick your favourite costume, and we’ve got a few to choose from:

Circus clown costume: The most well-known kind of clown. The circus clown dresses in multi-coloured, eye-catching clothing with wide trousers and big t-shirts. You could wear a waistcoat, suspenders, a bow tie, a hat, and of course, big shoes. As well as other accessories like a coloured wig or a big red nose. This elegant clown suit or this clown suit for girls are two great examples of circus clowns.

- Harlequin costume: Harlequins were characters that appeared in Italian “Commedia dell’arte” theatre in the XVI century. They dressed in outfits made from scraps of different clothing. Little by little their clothing started to evolve into suits in black and white which prominently featured a diamond pattern.

- Jester costume: A similar concept to the harlequin, although with a slightly more fun and energetic twist. They were the clowns of the Middle Ages that entertained the courts of Kings and the noblemen of the era. They normally dressed in multi-coloured, eye-catching outfits and big hats with bells on.

- Famous clown costumes: There are many well-known clowns popularised through television and cinema, who we remember from our childhood or adolescence, like Pennywise from “It”, Krusty the Clown from The Simpsons, or the Joker.
  You can find an “It The Movie” costume, with a white and red harlequin-style outfit, or the classic Pennywise costume, with his full-body yellow suit with a black, purple and green waistcoat.
  
  The same with the Joker. We have the costume for the Joker as he appears in The Dark Knight, with his famous purple suit with green waistcoat, or we have the Joker from Suicide Squad, with his more street-wise look, and slicked back green hair.

Clown make-up

One of the main features of a clown costume is undoubtedly the make-up.

In this tutorial you can learn how to make yourself up like a clown for your next costume party. You’ll need to have a good clown make-up kit at home, with white and coloured paints, especially if you’re going as a circus clown.

The secret is to paint a base of white make-up on your whole face and then paint different colours and details on top of it: big eyes and a huge smile (an evil one if you’re going as a ‘killer clown’), or add a tear if you’re going as a harlequin.

Clown costumes and accessories

Generally, a clown costume consists of large clothing in eye-catching colours. They usually wear waistcoats, big ties or bow ties, and suspenders to hold up their trousers. These are the essentials of a good clown costume.

Clown wigs

Your costume needs a coloured, fun clown wig. Ideally it would have lots of curly hair in one or more eye-catching colours. There are loads of clown wig options to choose from, from the scariest to the craziest and most fun.

Clown shoes

You know how they say that clowns can sleep standing up? This comes from the giant shoes they wear, that allow them sleep on their feet and not fall over. We’re not sure this is true, but we know a good clown should always wear these clown shoes. They are enormous, fun, and you can choose from the classic red shoes or from some more extravagant colours.

Clown nose

You can’t forget a good red clown nose as part of your clown costume. The perfect accessory to your clown make-up. Find them in plastic, sponge, and even latex, depending on the comfort and realism you want your costume to have.

The finishing touch: clown accessories

Finish off your costume with some classic clown accessories, like suspenders, a big tie, white gloves, or a coloured bowler hat with a flower on.

You could also add some joke accessories, like a flower that squirts water, or a hooter which you can sound at the most inopportune moments…

Clown costumes for everyone

Clown costumes for men

Clown costumes for women

Clown costumes for kids

Clown costumes for babies

Terrifying killer clown costumes

To finish off our article, we’re going to show you a series of evil killer clown costumes. Whether it’s a clown, harlequin or jester with a terrifying twist, they are ideal for Halloween parties, or parties with a horror theme.

To give an authentic scary look to your evil clown costume, there’s nothing better than adding a weapon and clown mask, especially if you don’t want to get covered in clown make-up.