Halloween is almost here, and the holiday's finest house parties bring the right blend of recreational drugs, candy corn, inappropriately intimate conversations in a stranger's kitchen, and, most importantly, the visual splendor of costumes flung hastily together from combinations of trash, nudity, and other low-budget items. For those who prefer to wear clothes and need shopping direction, Sodo's pay-per-pound Goodwill Outlet offers frowsty piles and unbeatable savings. Red Light and Value Village are also popular choices, but go now before the stores are teeming. If you've got at least $50 to spare, head to Roosevelt's Vintage Costumers—a rental store that's been in business for 35 years and rests in a converted three-story house embedded with creaky wood and residual cigarette smoke.

Vintage Costumers' garment racks are everywhere and crammed real tight, so use the binders with images of lightly run-down and stunned-looking mannequins wearing apparel categorized by decade. The 1970s-era looks are heavy on sparkle, with wet-looking synthetics and assorted Frederick's of Hollywood gowns.

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