Wander into McGrew Costume Studio and you'll be instantly immersed in wall-to-wall whimsy.

The artist- and designer-driven boutique holds intrigues like Mad Hatter-meets-Dracula top hats, skull-emblazoned jewelry, and clothing befitting of a vampire all year long.

And you won't find the words "Made in China" here.

"Everything is made by top-notch local designers," says store founder and designer Jennifer McGrew.

McGrew has been designing and selling from Pierpont for the past eight years, operating first as the corset company Salt Lake Tightlacer, then, as of July 2008, McGrew Costume Studio, which sells Salt Lake Tightlacer as one of its in-house brands.

McGrew Studio also sells the curious masterpieces of about 60 other local designers including Mel B. Jones (industrial jewelry), Machelle Schorer (bustles, frisks and wings) and Milivoj Poletan (apparel) who's also the tailor for the Utah Opera. And though the shop sells a wide range of affordable accessories as wells as several ready-made ensembles, McGrew says the studio specializes in high-end, custom-made couture. Meaning -- for a price -- you think it, they make it.

"We encourage our clients to bring in pictures of what they want built," McGrew says. Then the client gets professionally fitted, and the staff collects items from its "cartel" of local designers in order to build a complete costume. Or they commission a particular designer to create the entire ensemble. McGrew says everyone from burlesque performers to theater costumers to goths have utilized this service.

If your brain's dry of ideas, give it an inspiration infusion by checking out the studio's complete costume library that's sure to spark your morbid imagination.

So whether you touch up your own costume with one-of-a-kind accessories or commission an entire custom piece, shopping McGrew's guarantees your Halloween look will be eerily unique, and sophisticatedly spooky enough to land you in Vampire Vogue (if there were such a thing -- sigh).

But if your budget won't budge for a custom costume, find shamelessly sexy to-dos at Blue Boutique or nostalgic novelty ensembles at Got Beauty's new all-Halloween location, Boo.

Now here's our cauldron of costume ideas that will keep you from kicking your sewing machine and fix your focus on a costume as grand as the Addams Family mansion.