Angels

ok … so … I have been here a few times to nab the odd costume… I wont lie, they are over priced for the quality of some of the stuff. Its like a lucky dip really. it may be a keeper or you may end up with a wrinkled bin bag! but life is rull of risks so go on take one and get your next costume here haha

This is a brilliant costume place, great for if you need first class help from first class people. They have both sales and rental departments.
Their rental costume stuff is amazing, really professional.
They have been around for 175 years, they also have another outlet that does serious costume supplies for film and television.
If you are wanting cheap value, they do sell the cheap basic costumes, you may get them for a lower price on Amazon, but of course without their advice and guidance.
I needed to rent a costume for a party with the theme of 1930’s decadence. The lady was like a theatrical professional and knew exactly what to fit me out with from their incredible range.
So for first class help and advice this place is great. Also they really get customer service and are very friendly.
This is one of those special places where they are experts who really know what they are doing with a great pedigree. One of those places that makes London special and interesting.

Mehhhhhh.
I’ve been here a few times now and feel myself throughly ready to review it. Angels is an awesome concept, you can hire and buy costumes in one place. Amazing, right? Well, not so much.
My biggest gripe is that they close at 6pm most days and are not open at the weekend. Are you having a laugh? Who can get there after work for 6pm? And why would you not be open on a Saturday?
It’s also pretty pricey for some cheap looking and not very inventive costumes. I do still drop in here to grab some accessories and they have the best false eyelashes selection that I’ve seen anywhere in London. It’s well worth a look if you are costume shopping.

Great costumes but expensive. If money is no object then this is as good as it gets. I forked out just over 100 quid, but did end up with the best ringmaster outfit I’ve ever seen. the boots belonged to Jeremy Irons!

I love this shop! I’m not particularly one for packaged costumes but I came here because I heard they were good for costume makeup, and are they ever!
I did have a look at costumes and there’s a huge range on offer. You look through their multiple catalogues and ask an assistant to get the style and size you want behind a desk. One bad thing is that there aren’t permanent changing rooms to try on your costume, you should probably wear leggings and a vest top if you want to try on. The staff at the costume bit weren’t super friendly but it WAS incredibly busy at the time.
What really stood out to me was the special effects makeup. I’m more of a gore fancy dresser myself, and I was looking for some ways to get a really realistic zombie look. The gentleman helping me was great, and he showed me different techniques with different products on how to get the best look. I came out with lots of stuff that I used that Halloween and I got lots of compliments on how scary and realistic it looked! Best thing is I have loads more of my materials so I can use it again if I’d like.
Beware as it does get very busy, especially coming up to Halloween, though I’d wager it’d be busy every weekend at least, and most things aren’t cheap. But if you have a very specific need you’ll most likely find it here, and if they don’t have it, I believe they will put an order out for you.

It’s fancy dress heaven.
This place is way bigger than I thought it was. I kind of assumed it was your normal shop — walk in, some costumes in the back and props up front. Oh how wrong I was.
There are multiple floors of costumes here, one for guys for rental, one for girls for rental, one for costumes for buying, one for props for buying and everything in between. It’s actually a little insane — but then again, so is fancy dress.
I actually needed a Mario costume for a company outing (yes, Mario, like the video game. Why, what kind of parties does you company throw) and figured they might have? They did indeed and even held it for me for the day, so I could run down and pick it up. And sure enough, it was behind the counter waiting for me when I got there. Always love some great service like that.
You take your costume down to the first floor to pay, which was a little annoying since I had to wait at the counter to pick it up and then wait again to pay, but ah well. The guy behind the counter did comment on my incredibly geeky but lovable TARDIS iPhone case that is hugging my phone, so that was solid too.
Overall, a great experience and I would head back without question for my next fancy dress outing.

This can possibly be the only place in London to buy halloween costumes. The one and only time I’ve stepped into this establishment was on HALLOWEEN. That was a HOT MESS… first of all we had to wait in a long long line to get into the store. That was okay… then we were herded into the FULLY PACKED STORE. The employees were helpful especially the make-​up guy. After walking around downstairs which has the make-​up and men’s costumes. We had to wait again in line to go upstairs to pay. After waiting in that line, I was basically kicked out of the upstairs area because I wasn’t purchasing anything. After that I was asked to wait by the door on the second floor and then the bouncer told me I had to go downstairs. Once I was downstairs, I didn’t go outside and I had to wait a bit longer for my friend, then another bouncer to me I had to stand in the cold.
All in all, my first and only experience at Angels made me want to only buy those types of things ONLINE.

My 100^th review is for my spiritual home, the inspiration behind my drama degree and the granddaddy of fancy dress shops. Regular shoppers and costume enthusiasts will tell you: Angels is no place for the fainthearted. If you need a polyester mankini, go online. If you desire to dress as a miniskirted air-​hostess, get thee to Ann Summers. If you want the real deal — if you believe in authenticity, visual mastery, and exquisite attention to detail — then Angels, my friends. .. Angels is for you.
I’m of the firm opinion that if you’re going to do something, do it properly. If not, don’t even bother trying, lest you taint the artform with your paltry efforts. (I also used this argument re: not doing my GCSE physics coursework. Mr Yee, if you’re reading, I stand by it). And if you want to do it properly, this is where you go. Angels aren’t your bog-​standard fancy dress shop flogging ill-​fitting fangs, cheerleader pompoms and masks of Justin Bieber. They are the public arm of Angels the Costumiers: suppliers to the film and television industry, and previous employers of most Oscar-​winning costume designers busy clothing A-​listers on set today. If you arrive on the hunt for a pair of light-​up bunny ears then you will be met with derision. It’s a bit like sitting down at the Ritz and asking for a bowl of Special K. And ok, it’s grubby, musty, the layout is mystifying, and if you turn up on the Friday before Halloween then their door policy is stricter than Buckingham Palace. But when you need an expert who understands the difference between Tudor and Elizabethan codpieces, or using a petticoat versus a crinoline, or precisely when nylon became commonly used, or why that particular shade of blue was popular during the Egyptian era, or the subtleties of class in Roman togas, then frankly it doesn’t get much better than this.
They also do the most realistic fake blood and best wound wax in the whole world. I have actually researched this. FYI: do not practice with your new kit by creating a massive bleeding laceration on the back of your hand and stumbling into your mother’s study mumbling «I think I hurt myself». It will take a while to repair your relationship.
Ok, I admit it: I’m a massive costume snob. But if you can dress up as the Tree from the Garden of Eden, arrive in the pub, discover that nobody else is wearing a shred of fancy dress, and spend the whole night feeling smug rather than embarrassed, then you win the right to be so. And yes: you will like Angels.

I’m really not sure what is going on in the world. However, you know things are bad when a fancy dress shop has nothing fancy about it!
Angels is probably the biggest disappointment in my life to date. We went in, in search of a Sexy Santa outfit, but there was absolutely nothing to be found. There was lots for Sexy Santaette bits, but not a thing for a guy.
The sales team were not particularly helpful and the place looked like Next on sale day! I would like to say it was an organised mess, but I’m really not sure there was any order to it at all.
In addition to that the ‘for sale’ items were on the top floor and I jokingly asked if there was a lift as I had a bad knee, the sales assistant nonchalantly said something like ‘no not really’, to which I was obviously taken back. Not cool.
Needless to say I will not be returning in a hurry.

Such a disappointment! I have often perused the Angels website for inspiration and/​or to look for accessories but have always thought their costumes were overpriced so can’t say I’ve ever made a purchase.
Popped in as needed some bits and pieces for a certain Sexy Santa, and as I was just around the corner I thought this would be the ideal place to pick up some bits. I was so excited about visiting and the 5 minute wait for the store to open was almost equivalent to waiting for Christmas morning to arrive.
We burst into the store with all the enthusiasm you’d expect from 2 excited CMs and a slightly wary Santa-​to-​be. I had to ask 3 different store attendants the same question as they all kept pointing me to the next floor. My question was «Do you have any novelty Christmas boxer shorts?», I may as well have asked if I could buy a honey roast ham from them considering the confused and disdainful looks I got! Sorry, I thought this was a fancy dress shop?
The customer service was so poor. They all seem to avoid eye contact and want to look ‘far too busy to help’, then when you did catch someone’s attention they simply didn’t want to help. You work in a fancy dress shop for goodness sake, do you not have a happy or creative bone in your body to help out people in need of an outfit?
Anyway, we decided to head off to good old Primani or Debenhams to try for some red boxers. I briefly considered purchasing a Santa’s hat but was reluctant to spend money and the quality was pretty rubbish anyway so I didn’t bother.
A real disappointment. I doubt I’ll be bothering them again.

So of course I procrastinated and decided to buy my Halloween costume-​on Halloween.
For being there, on what I assume is one of their busiest if not their busiest days, I only had to wait about a half an hour to get in. The store was smart enough to have two lines going, one for those who wanted female costumes and one for those who wanted male costumes and/​or accessories.
Of course the store was crowded, but they were surprisingly in stock of all of the things my friends and I had picked out online and still had a lot of items and sizes left to choose from. The smaller accessories seemed reasonably priced. However, I will agree with Aleksandra B. that a lot of the larger items and costumes were not in my price range for something I would get little use out of.

I am the Queen Of Fancy Dress I am, give me a theme, some newspaper and some sticky back plastic and I’ll turn myself into Ariel the Mermaid in minutes.
After such a statement as this you should not take lightly my review of Angels «party» store. Firstly, there is no party here. It is only where you go if you are too lazy or to rich to be creative and turn yourself into a dice with a cardboard box and a felt tip pen. It’s a lot like you’re fancy dress box as a kid with cheap plastic noses and old 70s clothes that your parents use to wear. The problem is that, it’s over priced. That also removes the «party» from this party store. But saying that, if your heart and lungs can handle the struggle to clamber up the 300 stairs to the top floor, the selection of costumes is awesome.
You can buy stuff, rent stuff or just go in there and play with stuff (although they won’t let me do that any more and I think there is a picture of me behind the counter next to the forged bank note!). So this place to be is actually 2 stars but the mind blowing window displays score it another gold star from the Queen Of Fancy Dress! (that’s me btw)

GIANT FAIL!!!
My friends and I went last year for a costume about 3 weeks before halloween and it was completely disorganized and a madhouse. The workers were rude, all the costumes were behind a counter and you had to choose out of a catalog the one you wanted… only thing was, none of the costumes behind them were in any semblance of order and half of the costumes weren’t available.
You also couldn’t try them on, even over your clothes, so that resulted in several people returning costumes in the same place that we were trying to get one.
The prices were absolutely ridiculous as well. Some were obviously worth the £50+ as they had several parts and were serious business reinassance costumes but seriously… I found the perfect witch costume that for sure cost all of 25p to make at £60. It was heartbreaking and irritating.
All in all, go to the Camden store on Chalk Farm to avoid the rude service and chaos from being only better than PRIMARK for store organization.

If it’s the 31^st October and you still have not got it together to find a costume for the party you are going to tonight, then a quick trip to Angels fancy dress hire shop is a bit unlikely. I walked past this year and the queue going into the shop went halfway down the street with a bouncer on the door counting people in and out.
If you are slightly more organized, Angels is one of the best places to pick up costumes. There is nothing half hearted about it, expect full blown, perfected down to the very last fake moustache and wig costumes.
Whether you are looking to be a giant hot dog, Little Britain character, Snow White or just your typical priest or nurse, Angels will do all the hard work for you but at a considerable cost.
If you want to spend your hard earnt money on being a hard boiled egg for the night then this is the best shop for you. As for me, I will be sticking to make up and DIY costume.

Angels is a fabulous fancy dress shop in an easy to find Central London location. They have a huge selection of products and outfits to buy, and they also have a hire option.
The staff are very helpful and will take their time to advise you on your options. If you need a theatrical or professional looking outfit this is one of the best stores I know.
If you cannot make it to the store, they have a great website you can order from.

Angels is a renown costume shop which as well as supplying the public with fancy dress items, also supplies the film & TV industry with outfits.
There is a huge range of costumes upstairs to choose from, from full on costumes to small ones for those who don’t like to throw themselves into fancy dress full on. Downstairs there are a host of accessories and masks to add finishing touches to costumes. There is also a catalogue with all pictures in so that you can see everything which is available. Alternatively you can see their full range on their website, pick an outfit and then visit to save time and hassle.
Space can be a bit tight in the shop, especially during times like Halloween or Christmas when you can barely move. If you have a party coming up around these times it is worth popping down a few days before to miss the rush. Staff are very helpful and if you tell them what kind of costume you are after, they can show you what they have to match your needs.
Parking is not available outside the store as it is based on a main road but the shop is a 10 minute walk from a number of tube stations.

Angels must surely be one of the most world renown fancy dress shops in the world. With a link to genuine theatrical and film hire, this store in Covent Garden has a massive range of costumes you can try on or hire alongside lots of stuff you may wish to purchase for yourself,.
Particularly good around Halloween, this place stocks everything from feather boa’s to vampire teeth and fake blood. The staff are extremely helpful and don’t go for the hard sell but will actually advise you on what goes best with what and truthfully tell you if you look a complete dick in an outfit.
One to remember for those awkward party times!

So, I’m in a play and I need to be in a lion suit. Actually, any animal but this was the only one I was able to find in Angels, which was not over about £50 or otherwise hideously ugly and tacky. Come on, we want at least a bit of class, even when dressed as an animal.
This place is so over priced and ridiculous. Who seriously spends £94 AT LEAST to hire a costume. Who cares so much about a fancy dress party. I just don’t get. If it wasn’t in the name of theatre, I would never have stepped into this place. It smells wierd, you know that wierd musty costume smell, but the store is disguised as some sort of up market place, with about 6 floors of tack, for stupid people who care too much about how they appear to other people. Perfect place to get some angel wings for your god awful hen night. The assistants were quite rude aswell, dealing with me as if I was asking for an animal costume in a bakery. not a costume shop.

Its always a fun night when its a fancy dress night and this place is full of all sorts of costumes. There are old fashion style huge dresses that you see in movies and all the classics in a catalogue such as Spartan and homer simpson. I recommend going in advance as they may be out of stock on the costume you want.
It is the only place I know in London with such a good variety and you are sure to get inspiration when you start looking through the costumes.

OK, so Angels has its merits. It is very central, right on Shaftsbury avenue, near to Covent Garden. It stocks a wide range of classy looking as well as not so classy looking fancy dress products and costumes. However Angels is hideously expensive! I know you get what you pay for, but seriously.
I do like the layout of the store and the array of fascinating bits and bobs that is stocks. However, unless you are having a costume emergency, look but don’t touch, is a good rule of thumb for this place.