Theatrical Costume Shop in Shoreditch: Mad World Fancy Dress

Mad World Fancy Dress has been hiring costumes from 69-85 Tabernacle Street, on the Shoreditch edge of the City, for long enough that many of its staff have worked there for over 30 years. The company says it holds more than 35,000 costumes, which makes it one of the largest hire collections in the UK, and hires start from £35 for a seven-day period. You do not need an appointment, which sets it apart from most London costumiers.

The homepage tells the story briskly. Mad World was born in 1971 and has hired costumes to royalty, television companies, film stars, corporate clients and theatres ever since. Its client list names Princess Diana, Richard Branson, Harrods, Selfridges, the Bank of England, British Airways and Hilton Hotels, and the site says the business has supplied productions and organisations across the UK for more than 55 years.

The longevity shows on the shop floor. Many of the staff have been there for three decades, and the website stresses personal service as the reason customers return. For a director dressing an amateur production, that means advisers who know which Victorian gown will survive two weeks of quick changes and which wig will hold under stage lights. The hire page adds that its costumes have gone out for private parties, themed events, television productions, celebrities and high-profile clients across Europe, so the stock is built to look right on camera as well as from the stalls.

Prices start from £35 for a seven-day hire, a generous window compared with the two- to four-day periods common elsewhere. That week matters for theatre groups, because a costume collected before the dress rehearsal can stay with the cast through a short run. Every costume is cleaned, checked and repaired before it goes out, and it comes in its own garment bag to keep it in good condition.

There is no appointment necessary. The hire page says experienced staff are on hand to help you find the right look, and that choosing a costume is part of the fun. If you are bringing a whole cast, a weekday afternoon after the 11 am opening is calmer than a Saturday in October, when the Halloween rush fills the shop.

Standard opening hours are Monday to Friday 11 am to 7 pm, Saturday 10 am to 5 pm and Sunday 11 am to 4 pm, so this is one of the few hire houses in London open on a Sunday. For the Halloween season the homepage posts extended hours: Monday 19 to Saturday 24 October 10:30 am to 7 pm, Sunday 25 October 11 am to 4 pm, and Monday 26 to Saturday 31 October 10:30 am to 8 pm.

Plan around those extended evenings if your production opens near the end of October. The last week before Halloween is the busiest of the year for any costume shop, and the extra hour in the evening is the best window for a group fitting after work.

If your cast is outside London, Mad World runs a mail order hire service on a selected range of costumes. You call or email, the shop sends a measurement form, and once you return it with your choice the costume is delivered by courier and collected automatically seven days later. Delivery can go to a home, workplace, hotel or another venue anywhere in the UK.

Examples on the mail order page include a Victorian ball gown, a Madonna look and a church priest robe. The page also notes that discounted terms may be available for corporate functions, theatre productions and school plays, so mention the production when you call.

The current homepage ties stock to London's immersive theatre scene. There is a section for Secret Cinema, with costumes for its film-inspired events, and another for The Lost Estate: Chat Noir, an evening of cabaret, music and dining set in 1890s Paris with Belle Époque dress. An Oktoberfest London section covers traditional Bavarian outfits.

The shop has also teamed up with Tim Oliver, a Ricky Gervais and David Brent lookalike, for a campaign that shows him as a pirate, a vampire, a cowboy, a king, a Victorian Jack the Ripper and a wizard. It is a cheerful way to browse the genres the hire floor covers, from period pieces to pure pantomime.

Beyond hire, Mad World sells costumes for women, men and children, along with wigs for women and men, masks and party supplies, and it describes itself as one of the largest party retail shops in the UK. That makes it a practical one-stop visit when a show needs the costume on hire and the consumables, such as wigs, makeup and masks, to keep.

Contact details are simple. The old domain from the shop's early web days no longer loads, so use madworldfancydress.com for the catalogue and opening hours.

Tabernacle Street runs through the grid of former warehouses between Old Street and Finsbury Square, now home to studios and tech offices. Old Street station on the Northern line is a few minutes' walk away, and Moorgate and Liverpool Street are within reach on foot.

After a fitting, walk west to Bunhill Fields, the dissenters' burial ground where William Blake, John Bunyan and Daniel Defoe are commemorated, and cross City Road to Wesley's Chapel, where John Wesley preached. Shoreditch's bars and restaurants on Curtain Road are a short walk east for the cast's post-fitting drink.

Mad World Fancy Dress, 69-85 Tabernacle Street, London EC2A 4BD. Standard hours are Monday to Friday 11 am to 7 pm, Saturday 10 am to 5 pm and Sunday 11 am to 4 pm, with extended hours in the last fortnight of October. Hire prices start from £35 for seven days, no appointment is needed, and mail order hire is available across the UK.