Let’s face it: not all of us have the time, energy, or enthusiasm to create an elaborate Halloween costume. Thank goodness for rock stars and their outlandish egos – and alter egos. We can glean endless costume inspiration from the Gene Simmons, Elvis Presleys, and Princes of the world. Our choice this Halloween? David Bowie’s iconic Ziggy Stardust.

All you need for this costume is make-up. Take a trip down to the ol’ Dollar Store and get some orange spray hair-dye, some blue, white, and red face paint, and some glitter. Five dollars, tops.

First step: prepare your base. A little primer goes a long way and will help keep your make-up from fading away while you bump n grind with masked strangers. Next, paint your face white. Mix a bit of foundation in with the white paint so that you don’t end up with a Bozo the Clown pallor.

The trickiest part is drawing the lightening bolt down your face with a red lip liner, but if you can put on eyeliner you can do this. Failing that, enlist a willing friend. Fill the bolt in with the red paint and add a blue stripe to one side. Spray your hair completely orange before applying glitter – on your bolt, hair, and everywhere.

Whatever you wear will be secondary to your make-up so go as flashy or as neutral as you’d like. Take it one step further and con your friends into dressing up as the Spiders from Mars. Who said rock stars are the only ones with egos?

~ Caitlin Agnew