Luvyababes Fancy Dress

Just a quick review for this place as my experience was literally an in and out job but I was impressed with the personal service from one of the store members who guided me around a number of different pairs of fangs (I was going to our party dressed kind of like the original Michael J Fox Teen Wolf — more like an homage maybe as our photographer Lucas coined)
This place is tucked around the edges of the Arndale, upstairs and close to the bridge going over to Boots — it literally is like walking into an Aladdin’s cave with costumes everywhere (to buy and hire). I can see why they had quite a few staff working as if you were there on your own you’d seriously be lost if you didn’t know what you were looking for!
Overall a great experience even if my teeth didn’t work (I think I rushed their prep) and it’s a handy shop to know for if you find yourself heading to a party or need a city centre solution to your costumed problems…

As an English graduate I’ve come to turn my nose up at text talk, especially in texts. So you can imagine how unimpresed I am with a shopfront consisting of love spelt luv, you, ya and what’s this babes business?
It’s a wacky, pushing the boundaries, all colourful, anything goes fancy dress store. So who needs to dress up its name with anything fancy. Luvyababes has everything a fancy dress party would pine after. Let your imagination run wild, pick up some inspiration. If you’re out of ideas probe the staff, they’re all too enthusiastic about bringing happiness to the masses through fancy dress partying.
I still have a real issue about the name however.

Luvyababes is so frightfully garish that it’s actually quite stupendous. It wouldn’t be amiss in Royston Vasey. (The setting of cult show ‘The League of Gentlemen’ for those of you who didn’t immediately get the reference to the fictitious setting of the macabre comedy.)
From the outside it looks like a cross between a Japanese supermarket and a travelling fair ground ride and the contents can only be described as circus dressing room. It’s exceedingly good at what it does and if you’re after face paint, false eyelashes, a plastic axe, fishnet tights, body glitter, wigs, rubber spiders, tacky goth makeup, fluorescent tutus, attachable tails, ‘monster hand’ gloves, itching powder, fairy wands, Elvis Presley sunglasses or inflatable bouffants this is the place to go.

What a name! I think it the name that attracts half the crowd to this place. With all the ‘loving to the babes’ that they’re aiming to spread! Well it does seem to work I guess, cause’ babes are reciprocating their love as well!
Luvyababes is the home of great fancy dresses! Anything and everything you want to dress up as! Want slutty army girl? the usual nurse or you want to go jungle? Or maybe a bunch of honeybees! Luvyababes also has make up to give you the perfect edgey look that you’ve been wanting to flash!
Wigs, shoes and even props, this place will get you ready and up in no time!

I actually think this fancy dress shop is pretty good. It’s the place to if you’re feeling lazy about dressing up, but want to go as something slightly better than Men in Black (i.e., suit, black tie, shades: jobs a good ‘un). If you can’t be bothered to fashion and paint an entire Buzz Lightyear costume out of cardboard, just go to the annoyingly titled Luvyababes instead.
There are so many different ready-​made costumes here, it’s quite amazing. They have full size costumes so you can as Spiderman, a sailor, someone out of Top Gun and loads of stuff besides these examples. The costumes can cost anything between a £10 and £40, depending on what you’re going for.
They have lots of accessories too. Basically, Luvyababes is perfect if you’re in a last-​minute fancy dress fix.

This place is always completely deserted… apart from at Halloween. At Halloween, they have queues out the door and all the way to Prague (crappy shoe store, not city, cordoned off with red velvet rope.
That’s because it is a fabulous costume shop where you can buy pretty much everything you need for your get-​up. It’s a welcome addition for people like me, who love dressing up but lack the forethought and usually end up cobbling something together because they’ve missed the order deadline on the website they wanted to order from. In those cases, never fear, Luvyababes is here!
As well as being able to just pop in and buy, you can research what you want online, buy it online and then collect it that day (after 2 hours, I think) which is very reasonable.
The prices here are great. With wigs starting at less than £5 and accessories starting at £1, you can put together a costume for next to nothing.
Horrendous name notwithstanding, this is one of the best shops in the Arndale, for sheer usefulness in a costume crisis!

First of all, it’s ‘babe’, not ‘babes’. Even I’ve found myself making this mistake, when did we start calling singular people ‘babes’ instead of ‘babe’? Good God, it’s like ‘schnuckums’. Not that I’d ever say that. Not at all.
I can’t think of a fancy dress store with a more off-​putting name, except perhaps ‘Swingyapants’. But get past the crap-​tastic cartoon writing and the dreadful colloquialisms your archetypal hen-​party-​at-​Printworks types might use, and you find yourself in a darn fine and inexpensive shop. Now, we’ve all dressed up. It’s not something you leave behind in your youth like a breaking voice or an addiction to popping candy (although some of us still have those…). No, adults the nation over find cause to don ridiculous togs, whether it’s Halloween, a themed birthday, a fancy dress party or an attempt to recapture the magic in the boudoir.
And Luvyababes (*shudder*) has everything you could want for all of the above. It might not be the most pleasant of experiences, but when exactly is fancy dress shopping pleasurable? It’s great at first until it becomes stressful because you can’t find that elusive Indiana Jones hat, and that line is pointed directly at my other half. But with this shop, items are arranged by theme, character, there’s a gargantuan supply of wigs and they even have club and rave gear if that’s what you’re into. Plus, and it’s a big plus, and a pun, because they sell plus sizes up to 22, which I’ve never encountered before. Brilliant! You can piece together a costume with accessories or grab a pre-​made and be good to go.
So next time a friend organises a fancy dress shindig, don’t reel in horror at the thought of it, reel in horror at the word Luvyababes. Then walk into the shop itself and grab yourself a spectacular little outfit that’s bound to beat the rest. After all, what are these parties if not highly competitive with built-​in excuses to trounce your nearest and dearest?

So I ended up in here yesterday in a bit of a mad panic. I depended on a shop to have a Christmas costume for me as I’d bought one from there last year. They didn’t have any. Damn it!
So off to Luvyababes I went. I was INCREDIBLY sceptical. I mean come on, the name is ridiculously off-​putting isn’t it?! And if it wasn’t just the name, I found myself walking past here on Halloween to find three security staff and a two hour queue… for a fancy dress shop?!
When I got here yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to find the shop not all that busy, enough people milling around but not half as bad as I expected! The Christmas outfits were all set out at the front of the shop so easy to find and all available to try on too. They had a huge range and they also had extra sizes hidden in the back which was very helpful.
The staff were really friendly and helpful, they actually seemed happy to be at work which was a nice change to the shops I’d been in so far that day!
They stock everything from full costumes to any kind of accessory you could need, wigs to every design of tights you can imagine and a huge range of masks. Great for hen parties and stag dos!
Prices aren’t cheap but fancy dress isn’t. They have a website which is worth a look before you head down to the shop.

What I like about this fancy dress store is they have SO many costumes that you’re bound to find something you can work with. Whilst other fancy dress stores might have more props, sometimes it takes up a lot of you spare time trying to get a complete outfit together. This store is packed to the rafters with everything you could possibly need, and accessories starting at just £2.
There are more tutu’s a spandex here than you can shake a stick at. There’s wigs, masks, hats and shoes, even lingerie. But the real draw is the myriad of off the shelf packages, many of which you won’t find anywhere else.

I chose the wrong time to come in here: Halloween. It was busy, oh my it was. Bigger than nearby Hidden Corner but with the same tendencies towards the bizarre — elephant heads on mannequins — shudder.
Luvyababes’ garish shop has loads of costumes in packets for quick fix costumes. Accessories too, it was a bit of a free for all. Come here if you’ve got £5– £30 to spend on a costume and don’t want to do any glueing or stitching yourself. Problem is you might end up in the same zombie dress or whatever it is, as someone else. That’ll kill the mood.
Good selection of film, TV, historical and jobs related costumes so if you’re not sure what to go as have a look in here.