O.T. halloween as a "lifestyle"?

a few weeks ago my job sent me into a halloween "superstore" that's open year round.

in addition to the brisk annual business they do around halloween they also have a signifigant theatrical business(make-up,wigs,masks)a section devoted to mardi-gras goodies and so on.

but more than the merchandise the store's employees struck my attention.

needless to say there was the requisite "goth" element going on.one young african-american lady had the piercings,the purple contact lenses,the dreadlock hair extensions,the antique black velvet gown.but it was more than just that.one pear-shaped middle-aged man's hair and beard were both dyed electric yellow(radical fairy?),there were a few space-age neo club kids(perhaps channeling michael alig?),a tranny or two and one lass who took her grungy workaday ensemble of ripped jeans,hightop sneakers,pink zip-up hoody,cat's eye glasses,dyed platinum hair(with de-riguer roots and plastered down with bobby pins)and accessorized the whole get-up with a ballett tutu.

so i was wondering if for some halloween is not simply a day on the calendar but more of year-round way of life?
every day an occasion for roleplay?or did i just happen upon an eccentric group of store clerks?

Wow.  That store sounds like a fun destination for a field trip!

We do have a Halloween store in Davis Square here in Somerville. It's just like a Xmas Store but open in Oct. instead of Nov./Dec.  Last year was the first year for it and they've brought it back this year.

I'm hoping to have the chance to visit it tomorrow and, if so, I'll report on whether the clientele is as colorful as the one you describe.

G.