Let’s look at some of the Back to the Future costumes in more detail.

Marty McFly Costume

Marty McFly costumes are a great choice of costume for an 80s party or for a movie themed costume party. Not only is the Marty costume easy to put together, but it is easily to recognise and usually goes down really well. A few costume manufacturers do produce a Marty McFly outfit, but this Back to the Future costume is easy to assemble yourself. You will need the following items: a red body warmer (sleeveless jacket), a pair of faded blue jeans, a plaid shirt, a pair of braces, a Walkman and headphones (with Van Halen cassette) and a skateboard. For added Back to the Future authenticity add a pair of white Nike sneakers with red swooshes.

Doc Emmett Brown Costume

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A Doc Emmett L Brown costume is also an excellent fancy dress choice. It too is very simple to piece together. You will need the following items: a white lab coat (complete with pens and notepads), mirror glasses, a crazy Einstein style wig and a silver briefcase. The Emmett Brown costume is simple, but easy to identify. If you wear this and a friend of yours attends in the Marty McFly fancy dress costume, the effect is considerably enhanced. Marty and Doc costumes in conjunction look fantastic and create a massive impact at fancy dress parties.

Take from this post what you need. But, remember, the best 80s costumes are the ones that strike the perfect balance between being original and nostalgic. You want the other guests to recognise the subject of the 80s costume, but to be kicking themselves because they didn’t think to wear your costume themselves.

So, here follows a list of 80’s fancy dress ideas. I’ve broken them down into various sections to make it easier to navigate.

80s cartoon costumes

Lots of characters from 80s cartoons can be turned into great 80’s fancy dress costumes. Lots of these costumes are available ‘off the shelf’, but the others can be made at home quite easily. All of cartoons that follow would make great fancy dress costumes: Bananaman, Batfink, Captain Planet, Count Duckula, Dangermouse, Defenders of the Earth, Dogtanian, Dungeons and Dragons, Ewoks, G-Force, Garfield, He-Man, Henry’s Cat, Inspector Gadget, James the Cat, Mask, My Little Pony, Mysterious Cities of Gold, Pigeon Street, The Raccoons, Roobarb and Custard, Sharkey and George, She-Ra, The Shoe People, The Smurfs, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Thundercats, Transformers and Wuzzles.

80s TV costumes

The 1980s gave rise to some classic TV series. Lots of these ideas could be used to create some classic 80s fancy dress costumes.

Take a look at some of these 80s costume ideas: A-Team, Airwolf, ALF, Baywatch, Blackadder, Cagney and Lacey, Cheers, Doogie Howser, Fall Guy, Family Ties, Golden Girls, Knight Rider, MacGyver, Miami Vice, Murder She Wrote, Quantum Leap, Red Dwarf, Robin of Sherwood, The Simpsons, T. J. Hooker, The Young Ones, CHIPS, The Cosby Show, Dallas, The Dukes of Hazzard, Dynasty, Fame, Hill Street Blues, Taxi and The Wonder Years.

80’s movie fancy dress costumes

I love 80s movies. These suggestions, whether from cult movies of blockbusters, could lead to some really great 80s fancy dress costumes: A Fish Called Wanda, Airplane, Annie, BMX Bandits, Back to the Future, Beetlejuice, Beverly Hills Cop, Big, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Blade Runner, Blues Brothers, Breakdance, Crossroads, Dark Crystal, Die Hard, E.T., Elvira, The Empire Strikes Back, Flashdance, Footloose, Ghostbusters, The Goonies, Gremlins, Heathers, Highlander, Karate Kid, Labyrinth, Lethal Weapon, The Lost Boys, Mad Max, Naked Gun, Neverending Story, Nightmare on Elm Street, Overboard, Police Academy, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Rambo, Robocop, Stand By Me, Supergirl, Teen Wolf, This Is Spinal Tap, Top Gun, Tron, Twins, Wall Street, War Games, Weird Science, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Willow, Withnail and I, Youngblood and Young Guns.

80’s music costumes

With the advent of MTV and CDs, the 80s was a decade of varied and flamboyant music. Lots of the artists and bands performing during the 1980s would make a great subject for 80s fancy dress costumes.

Check out some of these recording artists to give you some great fancy dress ideas: A-Ha, Adam Ant, Aerosmith, Alison Moyet, Bananarama, Bangles, Beastie Boys, Billy Idol, Blondie, Bon Jovi, Boomtown Rats, Bob Geldof, Bucks Fizz, Chris De Burgh, Cliff Richard, Cyndi Lauper, Def Leppard, Duran Duran, Extreme, Europe, Enya, Grace Jones, Gloria Estefan, Guns ‘N’ Roses, INXS, Ice T, Kylie Minogue, KISS, Kate Bush, Madness, Madonna, MC Hammer, Michael Jackson, Milli Vanilli, Morrisey, New Kids on the Block, Bros, Paula Abdul, Prince, Public Enemy, Richard Marx, Pet Shop Boys, Run DMC, Salt and Pepper, Sinitta, The Police, T’Pau, U2, UB40, Van Halen, Wet Wet Wet, Wilson Phillips and Whitesnake.

80s fancy dress inspired by 80s toys

These are some of the best-selling games of  the 1980’s. Reading through this list might help you to come up with an original 80s fancy dress costume, as others will choose a fancy dress costume based on a character or person: Atari, Amiga, Battle Beasts, Mirco Machines, Transformers, Go Bots, Garbage Pail Kids, Cabbage Patch Kids, My Little Pony, Thundercats, Rubick’s Cube, Pound Puppies, Hot Wheels, Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Mario Bros, Nintendo, Sega, Dungeons and Dragons and Sylvanian Families.

80s Costume Ideas: Trends

This list of 80s trends and crazes might help to inspire you to create a unique 80s fancy dress costume: graffiti, break dancing, skateboarding, neon, Coca-Cola shirts, banana clips, tight jeans, polka dots, cycling shorts under skirts or shorts, ripped denim, spandex, scrunchies, jelly shoes, leotards, leg warmers, shoulder pads, mullets, fringed jackets, perms on men, reversible jumpers, Sony Walkman and shell suits.

I’m going to leave it that for the time being, but this list is in no way exhaustive. That’s the great thing about the decade, because it was so varied, outlandish and flamboyant, there’s almost a limitless supply of great material for 80s fancy dress costumes.

1. The 1980s was a loud, fast, brash and bold decade. The stars of the 80s were larger than life and the fashions and trends were outlandish. As a result, the 80s fancy dress costumes are expected to be outlandish too. This allows the guests of an 1980′s costume party to be creative and prevents them form holding back with their 80s outfits.
2. The music of the decade was varied and often inspired by the fashions of the time. There’s a massive range of music-inspired 80s fancy dress costumes to choose from. Here are some ideas: Madonna, Michael Jackson, Wham, Queen, Bruce Springsteen, Duran Duran, Kylie, Pet Shop Boys, Bon Jovi, Guns ‘N’ Roses, Cyndi Lauper, Prince, George Michael, Annie Lennox.
3. There were some massive political characters in power during the 80s. Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev could all inspire great 1980s fancy dress costumes.
4. There was an explosion of movies in the 80s. Lots of these have gained iconic status and lots of them are keenly associated with the 80s. I have seen the following movie-inspired outfits at 80s fancy dress parties: Ghostbusters costumes, Teen Wolf costumes, Back to the Future Costumes, Rambo costumes, ET costumes, Empire Strikes Back costumes, Blade Runner costumes, Indian Jones costumes, Pretty Woman costumes…and many more.
5. The new romantics movement was big in the 80s. Check out bands like Adam and the Ants, Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet for inspiration.

I’ve been to several great 80′s parties in the last couple of years and the range of 80s fancy dress costumes really amazed me.  Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised given the fact that there are so many options available. You will always be able to find great 80s fancy dress costumes for an 80s themed party.

80s fancy dress accessories can come in a number of forms. First, there are the accessories that are aimed to replicate an object actually worn or used by the subject of the 80′s fancy dress costume. An example would be a skateboard or walkman for a Marty McFly, Back to the Future costume, or a toy machine gun as part of a Rambo costume. These 80′s fancy dress accessories enhance the costumes by adding detail to the look. They make it more realistic and give other guests at an 80s party additional information and clues as to the identity of the character. Anything that helps to make a fancy dress costume more recognisable is worth looking at. After all, there’s nothing worse than attending an 80′s fancy dress party, only to have other guests asking, “Who are you?”

The second type of 80s fancy dress accessory are those that would never actually be worn or used by the subject of the fancy dress costume, but still make an excellent (often amusing) addition to the outfit. Examples would include, button badges or pins that display slogans or quotes of the character (‘ET phone home’, ‘I pity the fool’ (for an A-Team costume), ‘Wax on, wax off’ for a Mr Miyagi costume). Slogan T-shirts can also achieve the same effect.

If you are going for a general 80s themed costume, which isn’t based around a real person or character, then there are also lots of accessories that you could incorporate into your 80s outfit. Accessories such as, Rubick’s cube earrings, neon socks and rubber braclets would enhance most 80s fancy dress costumes.

1. Madonna fancy dress costume. The Queen of Pop was massive in the 80s, and in her early videos in particular she was very typically 80s – with bangles, leggings, chuncky necklaces, net skirts and leg warmers.
2. Yuppie fancy dress costume. The Yuppies were big in the 80s. Mirror their image by wearing a grey suit, carrying a fiflofax and massive mobile phone. Finish this 80s costume by talking about stocks and shares in a booming voice.
3. Dynasty fancy dress costume. This is an easy 80s fancy dress costume to put together. Think power suits with big shoulder pads and big hair and you can’t go far wrong.
4. Karate Kid fancy dress costume. This 80s fancy dress outfit is a piece of cake. Simply get a karate suit, add a black belt and a head band and you’re done. Wax on, wax off!
5. Michael Jackson fancy dress costume. This is another fairly straightforward 80′s fancy dress costume, but you have to get the basics right. A Jacko costume is all about the accessories. A hat, a twinkly glove, white socks, slip-on black shoes (for moonwalking) and a chunky belt are essential. The rest is optional, but military style jackets, aviator sunglasses, band aids on the fingertips and trousers that are too short really complete the look.
6. Back to the Future costumes. A massive movie in the 1980s, Back to Future features two characters would be great subjects for 80′s fancy dress costumes: Marty McFly and Doc. The Doc costume is probably the easier of the two to do well. For a Doc Back to the Future fancy dress costume you will require: a lab coat (complete with pens in the front pocket), a clipboard, a metal briefcase labelled radioactive, and a toolbelt with lots of weird looking gadgets and equipment. Colour your hair white and walk around shouting ‘Great Scott!’, and ’88 miles per hour!’ and everyone will know who you are.

These six 80′s fancy dress costume ideas are just a half-dozen of hundreds of great costumes that could be worn to an 80s cotume party.

The great thing about 80s fancy dress costumes is that you can’t be too outrageous. The 1980′s were a big, bold and ostentatious decade. The more you can draw attention to yourself with your 1980s costume, the better. The best way of coming up with 80′s fancy dress ideas is to think back to what you did during the eighties. What were you into? What music did you listen to? What movies did you go and see? If this doesn’t inspire you, or if you weren’t alive in the 80s, then here some of my 80s fancy dress ideas.

1. 80′s fancy dress costumes inspired by the decade’s trends.  Think about what was big during the 80s. Off the top of my head: Rubick’s cube, video games (Space Invaders, PacMan), filofaxes, the first cell phones, yuppies, cocktails, shoulder pads. All of these could lead to great 80s outfits.
2. 80s fancy dress costumes inspired by bands and music. There are lots of singers and bands that would make fantastic 1980′s fancy dress costumes. Here is a list of some of the decades biggest pop stars to get you thinking: Michael Jackson, Madonnna, Prince, Tina Turner, Queen, Wham, George Michael, Duran Duran, The Police, Bon Jovi, Iron Maiden. The list could go on and on.
3. 1980s fancy dress costumes from 80s movies. Lots of blockbuster movies came out in the 1980s and all of these would make a good subject for an 80s fancy dress costume. A few examples are: ET, Top Gun, Cocktail, Return of the Jedi, Back to the Future, Karate Kid…
4. 1980′s costumes inspired by 1980′s TV shows. Lots of TV shows were aired in the 80s that typified the decade. Think Cheers, Dallas, Dynasty, Airwolf, He-Man, Knightrider, Chips and The A-Team. All of these are solid 80s fancy dress ideas.

If you don’t want to base your 80′s fancy dress costume around a specific person or object, you could always allow your 80s outfit to be inspired by the general fashions of the decade. For example: neon, power dressing, yuppie culture, new romantic style, heavy metal look…

With so many options (and I’ve only scratched the surface with this post) it should be relatively easy to come up with ideas for lots of fun and original 80s fancy dress costumes.