feel free bro i had the vest specialy made tho....... but go ahead..... if notin else you dont gotta wear a vest i suppose... just slacks black shoes and a white button down shirt would look good together with a tophat.... but the collapseable tophat just grabs the kids attention when it springs to life kinda


Fat Boy

I wear black shoes, black slacks, dark red shirt with bright red suspenders and a bright red necktie (depicting lots of white sheep with one black one in the middle), topped off with a black bowler. (I carry a red bowler in my bag.)

Keeps it professional, but fun.

A word of advice - keep away from face paints, if you can. It freaks alot of kids out, really badly.

I think a bright colored suit is a good bet. You look professional, but the color helps get kids attention. I agree though that it depends on your character. I've done kids shows in the traditional tux and top hat and then I've done magic dressed like a pirate, so whatever the situation requires.

Im thinking of rainbow suspenders and dress pants with a white dress shirt and a cool looking tie. Hows that?

Fine if your character is like PeeWee Herman the geek.

than again my buddy chad crews wears a solid black outfit , black t shirt , slacks, and black shoes check out some of his pics..... his website is www.birthdaypartyexpert.com no selling stuff here mods just his b day party site !


Fat Boy

wearing nothing at all is GREAT!!!i made a few extra bucks with the lady that hired me. trust me , wear NOTHING!!!! it really works.

My look has evolved during the time I have been performing. In an effort to be "real" with myself I once wore a gray tank top, jean shorts, and to add the magic touch an Orlando magic hat turn to the back to the audience just saw magic, which was printed on the back. ( I thought it was pretty cool it still doesn't sound to bad )

No, but now I wear black pants, black shirt, white tie (sponge bob for the kids), white top-hat, and I’m looking for white suspenders. Yea, I'm a pro now

If your like a teen, I suggest you wear a tie without the knot all the way up, and some decent dress pants and then a nice button up shirt or something. Dress like Oz, lol. But really, you should try that.

I, myself wear Black dress pants with nice dress shoes (black) and a black T-shirt. I top it all off and add color with a bright red Tail Coat.

Note: I am a teen.

Dour suit: Easier to control the kids ,harder to make them laugh
Crazy costume: Easier to make them laugh ,harder to control

Pick somewhere in between that works for you.

i wear a colored tux.

i have my dad's bright orange tux from the 70's. it works like a charm.

Even with a kids show, I would be careful with anything too weird. You will do better to wear a conservative pair of causal slacks, a button down shirt and tie--nothing too outlandish. You can still be silly and funny. Bill Malone doesn't wear a clown suit, after all.

Too many think that the suit makes the man. But that is backwards. It is the man, or the character you play, that picks the suit. But it is not the character you think you are playing or who you wish to be, but who the audience thinks you are.

We also, have lost sight of the ultimate purpose of evening wear. Tuxedos are synonymous with magic, because that is what people always wore when they went out at night. When Robert-Houdin started the trend to perform for lay people dressed in regular clothing, rather than like Merlin, he wore tuxedos, because that is what people wore when they went out at night. For fancier shows, it might include a top hat and tails (not black pants and black shirt and white tie.) For decades, everyone who went to shows in Las Vegas wore tuxedos, so did the magicians. There was an idiotic trend towards goofy colors in the seventies, but that was what it was, an idiotic trend.

In other words, magicians dressed in a way that was respectable to the spectators, and maybe one step up.

If you are going to play a clown or buffoon, then dress that way. But playing a buffoon or clown is much harder to pull off than you imagine. If you want to make the kids think you are a competent and fun magician, then you have to make them laugh, and you have to be competent. It is easy to get them to laugh at you, just walk into the door once or twice and say poop. But to get them to laugh with you and to feel a sense of amazement is what is important. I am not sure I would want them to laugh at my outfit unless I was very confident in my skills to eventually get them to laugh with me. Adults are much better at distinguishing between laughing at the magicians and laughing with them.

When I go out to work the streets, I wear a nice white shirt, a conservative bow tie, a dark green vest and a hat (fedora or bowler.) I don’t look much different then thousands of carnival buskers have looked for two hundred years. I stand out, but that is do to the slight old fashioned look, rather than to just being silly.

If Santa Claus showed up at a kids door wearing a clown outfit, would he still have the credibility and recogniztion of Santa? NO.

The parents hired a magician for their kid and they have a certain expectation of what that magician should look like. Similarly, the kids have been told that a magician will be performing, and they have a very definite expectation of what a magician should look like.

You are being paid to fill the role of a magician. So, it is your job to at least dress the way that the parents and the children expect you to dress. Unlike the Santa analogy, there is a certain amount of latitude here. However, you must stay within the range of these expectations. Otherwise you may be met with comments like"You're not a real magician! You don't even look like a real magician!"

Comments like that are not a very good way to start a show. Even if the comments are not said out loud, they may be thought by the parents and the kids. So, the way you dress does affect your credibility as a performer.

Now, I'm not saying that you have to wear a tuxedo. But you do have to dress in a manner that very definitely says, you are a MAGICIAN. Not a clown who happens to do magic; not a street hustler who happens to do magic; not a juggler who happens to do magic - a MAGICIAN. After all, that's what the parents hired.

I agree. It is OK to stand out with a bright vest, or tie, but I think the worst thing you can do is to wear an ordinary outfit and then stick on a clown tie.

If you are doing a stage style show, I suppose you can wear more of a glittery, David Copperfield outfit.

I think a safe choice is dark black or grey slacks, a white shirt and a nice vest, maybe shiny red or something. A tie or a bowtie goes well too. If you wear a vest, I would wear a plain tie and slacks and shirt. The vest stands out on its own (my personal choice is one color--I do have a three color leather vest, but the reds blue, and green patches are all muted, and from a distance, or at a casual glance it is hard to tell it is different colors.) There is a difference between you standing out as a magician and your tie standing out. I want them to see the whole me, and not be focusing on my tie or hat.