Clown Costumes & Makeup Ideas For Dress Up

Clowns are hugely popular at events, parties, and actually, as an occupation. I know some people have mixed feelings about clowns but I for one love them. I love seeing popular clowns at the cosplay events that I attend, I love seeing people expressing themselves and coming out of their shells whilst being dressed as this incredible character. For me, dress-up and cosplay and even Halloween are a way to express yourself and using a clown costume to do just that is glorious. If you’re new to cosplay or dress-up a clown is actually one of the easiest characters to emulate, which is always a bonus when you’re new.

The Most Famous Types Of Clown

A clown is a comic performer, who usully does this in slapstick and mime style. Obviously, not every clown wants to perform at an event but it’s good to learn and mimic some of the most popular traits of clowns so that you can perfect your overall demeanor when you are dressed up. For instance clowns like to juggle, they famously like to hop from one leg to the other, they have big wide expressions when performing any task, just small things like that make a huge difference to your costume.

There are many different types of clowns so I will just tell you a little bit about all of my personal favorites if there’s any you love aswell leave them in the comments below:

Funny: A funny clown is typically a clown that performs funny tricks and wears oversized clothing, a red nose, a wig, and has a trick always hidden up his or her sleeve.
Scary: A clown who emphasizes their evil demeanor with perhaps rubbed out makeup, tears, fake blood, and a creepy overall act. These types of clowns are popular in many horror films and books.
Sad: A sad clown can come across as quite creepy however some people just enjoy the downward smile makeup, the sad eyes and the littlest thing will make this clowns day.
Whiteface: Made popular by Bozo the clown, this clown is usually seen at birthday parties performing tricks, wearing white paint all over their face, and generally being a classic, typical clown.
Auguste: Silly and clumsy and often the victim of pranks by the whiteface clown, August generally paints white paint around his eyes and mouth and paints the rest with a flesh-colored paint. A large red nose, goofy hair, and features are what makes Auguste.
Tramp: Inspired by the homeless in the 19th century, the tramp clown can be happy or sad, with white paint around the mouth and eyes, torn and tattered clothing, and someone who performs tricks such as magic, singing, skating, etc.
Jester (or fool): Employed by the monarchs to entertain guests during medieval times, this clown would juggle, sing, story tell, make jokes, perform acrobatics, and much more. Usually wearing a large hat and bright clothes.
Mime: Mime clowns use their bodies and facial expressions to mime out a scene for their audience, their most famous being stuck in an invisible box or pulling a rope. These clowns paint their faces white and usually wear black and white stripey clothing.

The Most Popular Clown Costumes

Now you know a little bit more about clowns, I wanted to show you some of my favorite and my most popular clown costumes, whatever your reasons for dressing up as this infamous character, be sure to let yourself go and enjoying wearing the mask of dressing-up.

The Creepy Clown

man in killer clown outfit

First up we have this creepy clown that will make anyone do a double take and step out of your way. The legend goes that this clown was jeered off stage after being laughed at, someone threw a rock at your head and the laughter at this gash on your head and the cruel jeers from the audience thus morphed you into this evil-looking clown. This set comes with the black and white jumpsuit, the frilly classic clown collar and the frightening mask that tops this outfit off.

The Classic Pennywise

classic pennywise costume

If pennywise is your clown of choice, I did a whole article on Pennywise, that I recommend you check out. This Pennywise costume is seriously creepy and wherever you are everyone will instantly know you are the evil, vicious, and nightmare provoking clown that is Pennywise. This set comes with the jumpsuit, vest, collar, gloves, and mask. It’s made from high-quality materials and it is complete, which is ideal for a lot of people.

The Classic Circus Clown

classic circus clown outfit

I mention a little about the ‘whiteface’ clown above and this is it. The classic circus clown that we all know and have all seen before. Classic bright colors, mismatched patterns, varying patterns across the entire costume and even a top hat to really show the people you mean business. If you’re going for a classic clown look, one that we all know and love, one that can you can interchange between happy and sad and one you can make look scary if you change your makeup (with tears, fake blood, sad face), a classic clown costume is ideal.

Jaw-Dropping Morphsuit (Perfect For Halloween)

scary clown morphsuit

This morphsuit to put it quite frankly is horrifying. Imagine that thing standing at the end of your bed or walking into your home uninvited. That terrifying aspect is exactly why this warped clown costume is ideal for an event and for halloween, it’s not a classic killer clown look, it’s different than that with the elongated mouth, sharp teeth, bleeding eyes, tattered and blood spattered, this costume is really out of the ordinary and if you want to be a scary clown this halloween this one will make people shudder in fear.

Happy Clown

happy circus clown

This costume fits in with the ‘Auguste’ type of clown, an all in one suit that boasts bright colors and eccentric panelling, ensure you use white paint around your eyes and mouth, and use a flesh colored paint for the rest of your face and you will transform yourself into a classic looking clown that everyone will be happy to see. I like this face paint, it comes with lots of colors and it helps you to really create something wonderful.

The Giggles The Clown Costume

giggles the clown

This halloween or at your next event make people run from you with this seriously creepy costume. With elongated arms to create a non-human experience, a scream worthy mask that boasts tired, scary eyes, red nose and cheeks this mask really comes alive when you take a closer look and realize the features are most definitely not human. This costume can make Pennywise look friendly in certain lights.

The Heartbroken Woman Costume

womans clown outfit

Some say she broke up with her clown boyfriend, some say she is just sad and evil and whatever you choose, is up to you. Make this costume one to remember by using fake blood and scary makeup to frighten everyone or keep her nice and happy by painting your face all nice and happy, even if your charcater is still sad underneath all of that and just needs to do some party tricks to cheer her up. This set comes with bloomers, a hat, collar and the top so it is already filled up with possibilites.

Little Miss Killer

woman in sexy clown outfit

A clown with a female deviant twist, this little miss killer costume shys away from the bright and bold colors of our usual clown costumes, this one features black and white stripes, polka dots, lace ruffles, and a typical clown girl gone bad vibe to it. The tights (pantyhose) are footless so you can pair this black and white outfit with your favorite shoes, maybe a bright red shoe for a shocking contrast or a biker boot to really add onto the seriousness of this costume.

The Sadist Clown

woman in scary clown costume

Hidden away behind the frills and usual happy subtlety of a clown costume, this one holds a dark secret. Look closer and you will see small rips in the fabric and a costume that witholds a very dark secret. Though she may make you laugh, it won’t be for long as this sadistic clown has special plans for you and none of them are good. This costuem is complete with frills, pompoms and puffy shoulders, how you wear it is your choice, will you be good girl gone bad? or will you instantly make people tremble when they see your face?

The Sexy Mime Costume

womans mime costume

Mimes are a specific type of clown with their white face paint, black and white striped outfits, and mute routines. This costume has a twist, it’s not generic, it’s not something anyone could just pull out of their closet, it’s a mime with a sexy twist. Black and white stripes, suspenders, a beret and much more await you. There is also a male version of this outfit so you can team up with a partner to be the ultimate miming clown duo.

Cute Evil Killer Clown

woman in evil outfit

This cute killer clown is a walking contradiction and I love it. With a jester inspired large eccentric hat that has pom poms that dangle on each side, a black and white romper that flatters and hints at your clown profession, this clown outfit wants you to decide if you’re good, if you’re evil or if you’re evil-ish. Does scaring children with your smile make you laugh or does making them fun balloon animals make you happy? What about making them balloon animals and then popping them all?

Tickles The Clown

tickles the clown

Tickles is a happy, vibrant clown who just wants to make people laugh and make people happy. With her eccentric, bright and bold dress, fluffy pantaloons, incredibly friendly scrunchies and classic look, this female clown couldn’t be more friendly and all she wants to do is make your day. On another note if you did want to wear this for a halloween party, paint on a sad clown face, splash yourself with some fake blood and see how much tickles the clown laughs now.

Making Your Own DIY Clown Costume

Part of dressing-up and cosplaying is doing some DIY, not always, and not once you have a nice collection but there will always certainly be an aspect of DIY whether that’s sewing, using your own accessories, doing your makeup or making your full costume. I know cosplaying and costume play can get quite pricey, especially around Halloween, and when all of the events start surfacing and so below I have created a little list on the best ways to DIY your clown outfit and how you can save a little cash by doing this too.

Clown Paint Option:

Using clown paint is 100% correct and something you need to try out with your costume unless you’re wearing a mask for the whole time. Experimenting with the make-up before the big day makes a huge difference, practicing the lines, the exact look you want, and perfecting the tiny details such as smudges and teardrops if you are going for the sad clown/killer clown look.

I love this paint, this is the clown white paint which is the most important as you will be using a lot of it and it creates the silhouette to your clown and this is the palette I like to use to create other things like dark eyes, teardrops, smudges, cute little things like love hearts and even a DIY red nose.

Shoe Options:

These are the shoes I love to wear with my outfits, some don’t come with shoe covers so it’s nice to complete the look with something that really ties your outfit together. You can also always re-use shoes and if you like the feel of them and they don’t particularly go with your next outfit, invest in shoe covers to make them more versatile.

  • Funny clown shoes: These shoes are a classic clown shoe, one you will have seen on clowns old and new. They are bright, eccentric, bold, and really good fun to wear in order to bring your outfit together.
  • Anime clown shoes: With bold stars, paneled colors, and an emphasized size these anime clown shoes will make the perfect addition to any outfit. Scary or not, these shoes are really great and will bring your clowning to life.
  • Amazing female shoes: These shoes can be worn again and again for different outfits, they are really cute yet have an interesting clown/joker aspect to them, the little heel gives them an edge and the lace up front and little pom pom really brings this shoe to people’s attention.

Nose Options:

Besides painting on a red nose with the paint I mentioned above if you are going more for the DIY look you can also buy a red nose to wear with your costume, this is what more modern clowns do however some clowns like to just paint their nose red so depending on the style and type of clown you are going for you may prefer a fake red nose there or just a spot of paint.

Wig Options:

If you don’t want to buy a wig you can experiment with your own hair by backcombing it, putting it into pigtails (try these cute scrunchies), tying it up nice and tight or curling it. Depending on the style of clown you are going for, experimentation is the key. However, I always like to wear a wig with my clown outfits and these are the wigs I find are really great quality and you can get so much wear out of them.

  • Classic wig: This classic wig is multicolored as classic clowns like it, it’s comfy to wear and it instantly shows people who you are what type of silly or sad clown you are cosplaying, it’s great quality too so it will be used again.
  • Balding clown wig: Some love this wig as you can match the balding to your own face and the balding of it adds a nice little twist to it. Is it balding because he is a clown getting old now or is it a vicious, demonic clown who is trying to dress as one of us?

How To Do Clown Makeup

Practice makes perfect this is something you truly need to remember, no cosplayer or Halloween enthusiast is perfect at makeup the first time. It’s all about trial and error and practicing when you get the chance. Below I have left you some videos on some great makeup tutorials for you to follow depending on the clown look you are going for and the tools you have available, remember you can make these your own by combining them all, using the just the template or just practicing your application techniques. I like to use FX makeup, this is the kit I use and it has helped me to branch out and really step up in my cosplaying game.

Scary:

This scary yet glam Pennywise makeup is easy to follow, the artist is great and very throrough and detailed in her detail. I recommend watching it and then putting your own spin on things as it will make it easier, if not just remember practice makes perfect and the more you do it and get used to it the easier it will become and you will be able to transform into the best ‘IT’ there ever was.

Sad:

If you’re going for a sad clown look this sad clown tutorial is amazing and really easy to follow. The detail looks hard but it is fairly easy and really allows you to do your own thing and experiment. Sad clowns are really popular and if you can master a look like this one, you’re going to be so impressive.

Easy:

If you want something fun and easy and something you can build upon by then transforming it into an avil clown with blood and fake teeth this tutorial is really easy and a great way to start out. The artist creates a classic clown look with simple tools that anyone can follow. By completeing this tutorial it should also help you to get some confidence in creating the other looks too as they will look far less intimdating once you have just started.

Mime:

Being a clown mime is also an extremenly popular makeup look and this tutorial really breaks it down and allows you to re-create that look with a simple tutorial. Some of the details on this tutorial can be a little tricky to master so feel free to skip out the eyebrows and the teardrops at first but overall it’s a really good tutorial for you to follow.

Clown Magic Tutorial

I mentioned at the very start how much I always emphasize really getting into the character you’re going to play, finding the attributes and the traits that they do and mimicing them to really make your character more believable. Clowns are pretty easy to copy, you just need to let loose, be silly, emphasize your movements, be clumsy, have lots of face and body gestures and do what clowns do best, make people laugh or cry.

If you really want to impress or if you are dressing for a particular event or party below are some magic tricks for you to master to really blow the socks off of your audience and convince them you are the best clown in town.

The Famous Balloon Twisting

Balloon twisting is what a lot of modern-day clowns are known for, making little animal figures for children and handing them out with a smile on their face. Balloon twisting is actually really straightforward you just need the right balloons:

and if you follow you go and take a look at this channel you will soon be able to master this really interesting and classic clown performance.

Wether you make people happy or sad with your balloon routine is up to you and your act and the costume you have chosen. Let me know how you get on!

Love, Mia.

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