Theatre Costumes: 500 Interesting Words to Describe Them

by Justin Cash · Published September 26, 2019 · Updated July 17, 2021

Here’s a list of over 500 words that will assist drama students in describing costumes seen in theatre productions. Most senior students go to the theatre as part of their studies and come back to class to prepare a written analysis or evaluation of the show.

Costumes worn by characters on stage can be everything from graceful and elaborate to slovenly and tacky. Sometimes costumes in the theatre are snappy or austere, at other times they are modest or even wispish. This list will help you decide!

If you’re not sure of the meaning of a particular word, then click the dictionary link at the bottom of the table. There is also a list of similar word tables posted elsewhere on the Drama Teacher describing everything from sets and movement, to characters and gestures.

Words Describing Theatre Costumes

acceptable	forced	scholarly
adequate	formidable	scrappy
adorned	formless	screwball
aesthetic	foxy	seductive
airy	fresh	seemly
alluring	frightful	sensible
alternative	frivolous	sensual
amazing	garish	sensuous
amiss	gaudy	serviceable
amusing	gay	severe
annoying	genuine	shabby
apparelled	glamourous	shabby
applicable	glittery	shapely
appropriate	glitzy	sharp
apt	gloomy	shoddy
arrayed	glorious	showy
arresting	good	significant
artificial	gorgeous	simple
astonishing	graceful	sinful
astounding	graceless	sleazy
attractive	grim-looking	sleek
audacious	guache	slick
austere	handsome	slight
authentic	happening	slim
avant-garde	hard	sloppy
awkward	harsh	slovenly
bad	heavenly	small
balanced	heavy	smart
bare	hip	smooth
beautiful	historic	snappy
becoming	ho-hum	soft
befitting	hopeless	solid
beguiling	horrible	soothing
benign	hot	sophisticated
bewitching	hued	spartan
bichrome	huge	specked
bicoloured	humdrum	speckled
big	hypnotising	spectacular
bizarre	imaginative	spellbinding
bland	important	spiffy
bleached	impressive	spiritual
bleak	improper	splashy
bold	in	splendid
boring	inappropriate	spotted
brave	inconsequential	spruce
breathtaking	inconspicuous	square
bright	indigenous	stained
brilliant	innocent	stale
calculating	innovative	stark
canny	insignificant	stately
captivating	interesting	stereotyped
charming	intolerable	sterile
cheap	intricate	stiff
checkered	intriguing	stirring
cheesy	irksome	straight
chic	ironed	straightforward
chromatic	irrelevant	strained
civilised	irritating	strange
clam	jaded	streaked
classic	lace	striped
classy	lacklustre	structured
clean	large	stuffy
clear	learned	stunning
clownish	light	stupid
coarse	little	styleless
coloured	loud	stylised
colourful	loutish	stylish
colourless	lukewarm	stylistic
comfortable	mainstream	suave
common	majestic	subdued
commonplace	marbled	substantial
compact	marvellous	subtle
complex	masculine	suitable
complicated	masked	summery
conservative	meaningful	super
conspicuous	meaningless	surprising
contemporary	mellow	svelte
contoured	mesmerising	swanky
contrived	messy	swish
conventional	minimalist	tacky
cool	minor	tame
correct	mismatched	tantalising
cosmopolitan	modern	tasteful
couture	modest	tasteless
crafty	monochromatic	tawdry
creative	monochromic	tawdry
crinkled	mottled	tepid
crude	multicoloured	terrestial
cultured	multihued	terrible
curious	muted	terrific
curvaceous	mysterious	thin
curvy	na√Øve	thoughtful
daily	naked	thrilling
dandy	natural	tidy
dapper	naturalistic	tinged
dappled	naughty	tiny
daring	neat	tolerable
dark	negligible	toned
dazzling	neutral	toned-down
debonair	newsworthy	transcendent
decent	notorious	trashy
deceptive	obscure	trendy
decorated	odd	trichromatic
desirable	old-looking	tricoloured
dichromatic	oppressive	trifling
dim	ordinary	trimmed
diplomatic	original	trivial
dirty	ornate	two-tone
discreet	orthodox	ugly
disguised	ostentatious	ultrachic
dishevelled	other-worldly	ultracool
distinguished	outmoded	ultrasmart
doggish	outstanding	unacceptable
dotted	overdone	unadorned
dowdy	overstated	unattractive
down-market	pale	unbecoming
drab	palish	unchic
drag	patterned	uncivilised
dramatic	peaceful	uncool
dreadful	peculiar	uncouth
dreary	pedestrian	undecorated
dressy	perfect	underdone
dry	period	understated
dubious	pertinent	undistinguished
dull	plaid	undramatic
dumb	plain-vanilla	unearthly
dusty	pointed	uneducated
dyed	pointless	unembellished
educated	polished	unexciting
effectual	polychromatic	unfashionable
elaborate	posh	unglamourous
electrifying	posh	unimportant
elegant	powerful	uninteresting
embellished	practical	unkempt
embroidered	pretentious	unobtrusive
enchanting	pretty	unoriginal
engrossing	problematic	unpolished
enormous	prominent	unpretentious
enthralling	proper	unreal
entrancing	provocative	unrealistic
ethereal	psychedelic	unseemly
everyday	purposeful	unsophisticated
evocative	purposeless	unspectacular
exaggerated	questionable	unsuitable
exciting	quiet	untidy
exhilarating	ravishing	unusual
exquisite	raw	upmarket
extraordinary	real	upscale
extreme	realistic	useful
eye-opening	refined	veiled
eye-popping	relevant	vibrant
fabulous	remarkable	voguish
faded	respectable	wacky
fair	restrained	warm
fake	right	washed-out
fancy	risky	washed-up
fascinating	risque	weary
fashionable	ritzy	weighty
feminie	riveting	wintry
fit	robust	wispish
fitting	roughened	wonderful
flamboyant	routine	wondrous
flashy	royal	worldy
flattering	rude	wrinkled
flecked	rugged	wrong
fleshy	satisfactory	young-looking
foppish	savvy