Building a Mermaid Look

Putting together a mermaid costume for a girl: dress, wig, headband and the colour choice that matters Part of the Funna wardrobe of princess dress costumes.

A mermaid costume is three decisions: the dress, the hair, and whether the look is going to be photographed indoors or out. Get those right and nothing else is needed.

The dress

Funna makes this one in pink and in purple, with a fitted bodice, a shell motif at the waist and a tail-shaped skirt. The important piece of construction is the split in the underskirt, which lets a child walk and climb stairs instead of gathering the whole skirt in both hands. The hem is cut longest at the back; that is what produces the tail line, and it is why a child near the top of a size band gets a sweeping hem rather than a dragging one.

Pink or purple

Pink reads warmer in daylight and is the better choice for an outdoor party in summer. Purple holds its colour under indoor and stage lighting, where pink tends to wash out, so for a school performance or an evening party indoors I would take the purple. If the child owns one already, buy the other one — two dresses in two palettes feel like two costumes, and two in the same palette do not.

The hair

The long curly red wig is the piece that turns the dress into a costume, and it is the one most often remembered on the morning of the party. It is cut for a child's head with an elasticated cap. Comb it from the ends with a wide-tooth comb and keep it away from any heat source.

The matching version

There is a separate mermaid listing sold in both child and adult sizes with an ears headband included. If the plan involves a grown-up in costume too, buy from that listing rather than mixing it with this one — the shades are close enough to look deliberate in person and clearly wrong in a photograph.

Finishing it

Shell or pearl hair clips, a simple pair of flat shoes, and nothing else. Mermaid costumes are already busy at the waist and the hem; adding jewellery at the neck makes the whole thing read as cluttered. The costume works because of its silhouette, and the silhouette needs room to be seen.