Soho Costume Accessories Shop With £26 Masks: So High Soho

So High Soho is the fancy dress and styling shop at 7 Berwick St, London W1F 0PQ, a few doors from the fruit and vegetable pitches of Berwick Street Market. It describes itself as Soho's eclectic emporium for all your fancy dress and styling needs, a one stop shop for a million disguises, and the stock backs that up: rails of costumes, walls of wigs, hand-finished masks, stage make-up and special effects. If you need one accessory that pulls a whole outfit together, this is the shop to try first in the West End.

The shop has built its reputation on being the place stylists, drag performers and last-minute party guests send each other to. On its own site it quotes The Guardian calling the team the Conrans of Counter Culture, a line that sums up the mix of theatre, club wear and joke-shop fun on the shelves. The useful thing for a visitor is range: you can match a wig, a mask, a set of lenses and a tube of fake blood without crossing town.

Berwick Street itself is part of the appeal. So High Soho grew out of a stall on the Berwick Street market and has traded from more than one Soho address over the years. Some London guides still send readers to an older shop on Peter Street, but Google Maps now marks that Peter Street listing as permanently closed, and the live listing, is No. 7 Berwick Street. The street runs north from Peter Street up towards Oxford Street, so the shop is an easy walk from Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Circus stations, and the market's food stalls on the same stretch make a lunch-break visit realistic.

Wigs are the backbone of the shop. The current wig range includes Fever styles such as the Fever Wig Emily in two-tone pink at £38.00 and the Fever Wig Sienna in pastel pink at £48.00, two very different pinks that suit different characters. Compare a few colours side by side and look at the fibre in daylight by the door before you decide, because shop lighting flatters synthetic hair.

The mask wall is where So High Soho stands apart from a general party shop. The site talks about handmade Venetian masks, from Joker and Plague Doctor faces to the beautiful plumed Colombina, and the prices are clear: the Rilievo Venetian mask in silver is £26.00, and the embossed leather cat mask in black is £40.00. Leather holds its shape far better than plastic over a long night, which matters if you plan to wear it from dinner through to a club.

Novelty contact lenses are the other big draw before Halloween. The Lunar Eclipse three-month lenses sell for £18.00, and they turn a simple black outfit into something properly unsettling. Lenses are a personal-fit product, so ask the staff how to wear and store them, read the leaflet in the box, and give yourself a practice run at home rather than putting them in for the first time in a pub toilet.

Plenty of costumes fail at the face, and the make-up and prosthetics section is built to fix that. Moon Pro face paint costs £8.00 and gives you a solid base colour for skeletons, zombies or a full green witch. For gore, the FX Transfers Slashed 3D tattoo is £24.00, a pre-made wound you press onto the skin, which is far quicker than building a cut from wax and much easier to remove at 3am.

If you are planning a group look, buy the face paint in one go so every shade matches, and pick up a setting spray or powder while you are at the counter. A face that has been set properly survives a crowded dance floor. Describe the character you want and how long you need the look to last when you ask for help at the counter, and you will usually leave with a shorter, cheaper list.

The shop keeps Google-listed hours of Monday 11am to 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday 11am to 7pm, and Sunday 12pm to 5pm. Central London costume shops get crowded on the weekends right before Halloween, so a weekday visit soon after opening gives you the most room to try on wigs and masks without rushing. If you are working, a Tuesday or Wednesday early evening visit, before the 7pm close, is the sensible compromise.

Bring a photo of the character or the outfit you already own, and know your rough budget before you start. It is easy to walk in for one mask and leave with a wig, lenses and paint. Check that the wig colour works against your skin tone in natural light near the window, and keep the receipt in case you need to swap a size. The website is handy for browsing the range, but the Berwick Street shop is where to buy.

Once you have your bag, walk north along Berwick Street past the market stalls, then cut east to Soho Square, where the mock-Tudor garden hut in the middle makes a good spot to check your purchases. The square's lawn and benches are one of the few quiet patches in central Soho.

Heading west instead takes you to Carnaby Street, which is worth a pass if you still need shoes, jewellery or a jacket to finish the look. Walk down through the lanes off Broadwick Street and you will be at Oxford Circus in about ten minutes, which makes this an efficient loop on the way home.

Nearest Tube stations are Tottenham Court Road on the Elizabeth, Central and Northern lines and Oxford Circus on the Central, Bakerloo and Victoria lines. Prices quoted here come from the shop's own website, including £38.00 and £48.00 Fever wigs, the £26.00 silver Rilievo mask, the £40.00 leather cat mask, £8.00 Moon Pro face paint, the £24.00 Slashed 3D tattoo and £18.00 Lunar Eclipse lenses. For more Soho ideas before or after your visit, ask Karpo in the Karpo APP.