Petaluma woman’s one-of-a-kind creations are more than costumes

Zombies and ghouls will roam the streets of Petaluma in just a few weeks, but Heidi Rose Wright knows there’s more to Halloween fun than blood, guts and gore. How about some swashbuckling, or perhaps a step back in time to the Viking Age?

The local costume designer has everything party goers can imagine – and more – at her Petaluma Boulevard North costume rental shop, Custom Costumes. Wright transforms adults into pirates and princesses; wizards and warriors; saloon girls and sorcerers; vampires and voodoo practitioners; and so much more, all accessorized to the tiniest detail.

She’s been in business since 1981, and at her present location for the past eight years. In all, she’s worked from 17 locations in Petaluma, Penngrove and Cotati. Even when she took a hiatus for two years, customers tracked her down.

Her one-of-a-kind creations are more than costumes. They are vehicles for making memories and having unabashed fun, more important than ever in the era of COVID-19.

“I get to be a part of a business that’s always fun,” said Wright, 63. “People make the most fun memories. It’s a party atmosphere here and I want to be excited about it.”

Business came to a near halt in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic curtailed most gatherings. Last year things began to pick up and this Halloween season activities are expected to see a considerable increase. As a safety precaution, everything “that touches the body” is cleaned between rentals. The washer, dryer and steamer are on-site and get plenty of use.

Crafting a new world through costumes

Although Custom Costumes is a year-round business, Halloween is particularly busy with parties, workplace costume contests and revelers heading to special events, bars and anywhere they can to showcase their alter egos.

Stepping into a costume “is healing,” Wright said. “It’s magical and it reminds them of happier times and better times. They need it and we need each other. We need to socialize.”

Joe Pelleriti recalls the Halloween trick-or-treat events in downtown Petaluma when he owned Maguire’s Irish Pub on Kentucky Street. He and his wife dressed their young daughter in an ice-blue Cinderella outfit, while decking themselves out in ugly stepsisters costumes created by Wright.

The bearded Pelleriti wore an oversized bow atop his wig, a choker necklace and a ruffled, floor-length floral frock lined with lace.

“What a fun little shop with amazing people,” he said. “Great times.”

Not all of Wright's customers have something in mind when they walk into her costume shop and work space. Racks of hanging costumes and well-organized displays of accessories can be deceiving. Wright wants customers to see how an entire costume is put together, complete with hats, headdress, shoes, sashes, scarves, jewelry, armor and accessories – whatever is needed to finish the look.

“We spoil each and every person,” she said.

She and her staff walk customers through the showroom, pulling together full costumes so customers can get a precise look at what they’re renting.

Every costume needs to be “complete and beautiful and done” before it goes out the door.

“I like mixing all the parts and pieces,” Wright said. “I just have a love for the arts. It’s like painting with accessories.”

Unique outfits for parties, fairs

A fairy costume is pretty enough with a flowing ethereal dress, but add wings and it becomes magical. A panderer outfit has to be decked to the nines with a shimmering jacket and pants of lycra and metallics, a long pink-and-black zebra print overcoat, white feather boa, wide-brimmed hat and oversized pendant necklaces. “And how many rings do you need?” Wright asked with a laugh.

Her selection runs from sweet to risqué, with period costumes from the Renaissance to the Roaring ’20s and the far-out 1960s. Costumes can trend with movies and the news – “People like to be something shocking” – but some attire is timeless. Cowboys, pirates, mermaids and period costumes are among the most popular rentals.

“Very rarely do (customers) leave here with nothing,” Wright said.

She doesn’t carry anything that’s trademarked like anything Disney-specific and shoppers won’t find mass-produced costumes in plastic packaging. Her costumes are unique.

Although she’s done some research to bring authenticity to her costumes, Wright allows for some creative interpretation. She’s warned more than one person heading to Renaissance fairs that queen costumes with purple fabric are a no-no: that hue is reserved for the actual queen.

“You may get hassled,” she tells them..

Although Wright can’t begin to estimate the number of costumes she carries, the variety is seemingly endless.

“If you haven’t been to her shop, you will be amazed,” said Sonoma Valley resident June Johnson Sainez. “Creative is an understatement.”

Sainez has worn several memorable costumes from the shop, including an elaborate African queen outfit and a madam costume. Both were head-turners.

Wright studied interior design and also attended the Academy of Intuition Medicine. Her abilities help her determine which costumes might appeal to customers who come in without a specific idea. She enjoys matching people with the perfect costume.

She also runs the Kaleidoscope Cabaret from an adjacent room at her business, hosting variety shows, belly dance presentations and children’s theater. She sometimes taps entertainers who come in her shop for their stage costumes. During the pandemic, Wright wrote and filmed a movie set in Viking times, with 78 volunteers wearing costumes she created. She hopes editing will be complete this month.

Appreciating the art of it all

She’s been perfecting her costuming skills for much of her life. Wright grew up in Novato as the youngest of five children in a “really creative” family. “Everybody is creative,” she said.

She made her own Halloween costumes and by the time she was 19 was renting a room in a costume shop complex, doing sewing and alterations.

“If I didn’t have money to pay my rent, I made costumes for the rent,” she said.

Custom Costumes grew from there. Growing up in a creative and inventive family and learning to sew through the 4-H Club provided her with an ideal foundation for her business, she said.

Today she welcomes creative challenges and, finally, she said, “just in the last year have I been able to call myself an artist.” She recently fielded a phone call from a man about to be married. He was uncertain what to wear to complement the metal leotard his bride will wear at their wedding in San Francisco. “Game on,” Wright said.

She enjoys outfitting couples for themed weddings, most of them fantasy-style themes. She officiates at weddings, too, “an offspring” from her costuming business. She’s united 10 couples – and counting.

Wright loves looking beyond the obvious. She views fabrics and accessories with a sense of possibility: she once beheaded a doll with eyes that open and close to top a jester’s scepter, and crafted three hula hoops into Marie Antoinette attire. Elegant table runners, antique curtains and a colorful, boldly patterned skirt that belonged to her mother are among the many items that have been repurposed into costumes.

“It’s fun for me to appreciate the art and color and majesty of it all,” she said. “It’s just fun making this stuff.”

Wright searches through yard sales and flea markets to find fabrics, jewelry, wigs and other accessories to assemble her costumes.

She has a sewing machine in her work space, plus another designed for leather work. She’s been gifted with all sorts of fabrics and craft items, and has traded with customers as well. During a visit to New Orleans she scored top hats from the French Quarter and “fabulous bustiers.”

A typical rental fee is about $90 and someone shares that they can’t afford the rental fee, Wright will give them tips for assembling a costume at home.

“I’ll give them ideas all day long,” she said. “I don’t need to hoard ideas in my brain.”

Some of her greatest rewards come from customers, who return their costumes with reports of enjoyable, memorable celebrations. One woman, dressed as a Renaissance wench in a billowy blue dress and hat and detailed with accessories including brass keys, a leather belt, a dagger necklace, pouches, a pewter goblet and a whip, told Wright, “I’ve never looked this cool in my entire life.” That, Wright said, “was the biggest compliment.”