Hallowe'en Costumes: The Monkees

Hallowe'en is a week from Thursday, so over the next week and a half I am going to post three or four costume ideas.

Today, I am going to do the classic television show/Beatles knock-off band The Monkees. The Monkees look is easy to attain for both men and women. They wore collared shirts, trousers (rarely jeans, except Mike, and boots). I am proud to admit that as a teenager I was obsessed and replicated the look daily. I even made a Nesmith hat, or Nezhat, and wore it every day for about six months (and two of those were part of a very hot summer).

Step 1:

The first step to get a Monkees look is the hair. They had the classic Beatle-bob cut:

You see the side part on their hair? The hair is long (ish), straight, and smooth, with bangs.

For a Mike costume you would want to add the hat. The Nesmith Hat. See the one in the picture above? It is a wool hat with matching pom. That is all. Typically they are in green, but they can, really, be any color. I have seen him wear red, blue, black, white, and grey. Plop the hat on top of the bob and you have the start of your costume.

Later on Micky (second from right) sported an afro, which is also an option for variation.

Step 2:

The next step is the shirt. Sometimes in the show they would wear suits, but in general the look was a double breasted shirt, or a shirt with a loud print, as you can see above.

For a Mike (left) look you would wear a bright color with a short psychedelic tie that goes with (but not necessarily matches) your pants. And don't forget the hat!

For a Peter look (center) you would wear a tunic shirt (very hippie) with several strands of love beads instead of a tie.

For a Micky (not pictured) and Davy (right) look wear a double breasted shirt (first picture) in a solid color (red, blue, or black preferably), or a button up shirt with a loud pattern. These two would sometimes wear some love beads, but not as much Peter.

Later on for Micky, he took to wearing a tablecloth as a poncho:

Note the afro and the poncho

Step 3:

The second to last step for the Monkees costume is pants along with a belt:


For a Mike costume you could wear corduroy or jeans (he is from Texas); notice the subtle pin stripe in his pants.

For Peter, wear grey, brown, or tan trousers (a good neutral). They can be corduroy, but not denim. Lastly, buckle your belt to the side. Peter did this to be different.

Micky and Davy, again, are similar in costume. Wear neutral trousers, not corduroy or denim. Buckle the belt in the center. Micky sometimes wore louder pants, but as a rule he stuck to neutrals.

For a female variation I wore high waisted skirts with a slight A-line or a loose pencil skirt. I paired these with a thick belt like the ones in the picture.

Step 4:

The last step for a Monkees costume is the boots and shoes.

In general they wore a Beatle-boot. See above picture. The boot has a slight heel (one inch or so), a slightly pointed toe, and came up a little above the ankle. For a female variation I wore three inch heeled booties that laced up the front

However, Peter took to wearing moccasins later on the more he became involved in the hippie movement. One warning, though, if you do Peter's complete look you might get mistaken for a hippie, not a Monkee.


This is me when I was a teenager, and did a Mike photo shoot with my sister.

Hopefully you can find a good costume!