Cleopatra, Pharaoh and Toga Costumes: What Comes in the Pack and What to Add

A Cleopatra costume comes together from 5 pieces: an Egyptian-style dress, a wide gold collar, a headpiece, gold cuffs, and a black bob wig with bangs. Our Egyptian queen costumes below each pack a dress, a collar, a headpiece, and cuffs, so the wig and a bold eyeliner wing are usually all you add. A toga is simpler still: one length of white cloth, draped over the left shoulder.

Egypt is the bigger half of this theme for us. Between April 22 and October 5, 2026, Egyptian queen, pharaoh, and Cleopatra looks took 74% of our US website revenue from Egyptian, Roman, and Greek costumes and accessories (mummies aside), and Roman and Greek looks took the other 26%. For the wider picture, see our best Halloween costumes guide; for a Greek hero look, try our Hercules costume ideas.

Table of Contents

• What you need for a Cleopatra costume
• What comes in the pack, and what to add
• Our favorite Cleopatra and Egyptian queen costumes
• What makes a pharaoh costume read right
• Finishing touches: wig, scepter, and eyeliner
• What a toga is, and how to wear one so it stays put
• Egyptian and Roman costumes for kids
• Frequently asked questions

What do you need for a Cleopatra costume?

A Cleopatra costume needs 5 things:

• The dress. Floor-length or short; both work.
• A wide gold collar. By the New Kingdom, broad collar necklaces were the jewelry most often worn by Egypt's royalty and elite (The Met).
• A headpiece. A gold band or a striped headdress frames the face.
• Gold cuffs. On the wrists or upper arms.
• The black bob wig. In ancient Egypt, wigs took so much skill, cost, and time to make that only the wealthy had them (British Museum). The sharp bob with bangs is the costume convention rather than a record of any one queen's hair.

A quick honesty note on the history. Cleopatra VII was the last queen of the Ptolemaic dynasty, the Macedonian dynasty that ruled Egypt (Britannica), and a bronze coin of hers struck in Alexandria shows a draped bust with a royal diadem (Harvard Art Museums). The Halloween Cleopatra borrows older pharaonic imagery: the collar, the striped headdress, the eyeliner.

What comes in the pack, and what do you add?

Each pack below holds the costume's core pieces, so you add one or two things at most: a wig, a scepter, sandals, or an eyeliner wing. On the making side, every costume goes through over 30 measurement checks.

Which Cleopatra and Egyptian queen costumes do we recommend?

Our favorite Cleopatra costumes for women are the Pharaoh Queen with its staff, the short Queen of the Nile, and the floor-length Pink Cleopatra, all from our historical costumes range.

The full queen, staff included

The Women's Pharaoh Queen Costume With Staff is the one women's pick here with a staff in the pack. It runs Small to XXXL. Hand wash each piece separately in cool water and air dry flat.

The short dress for dancing

The Women's Egyptian Queen Of The Nile Costume swaps the gown for an off-shoulder mini-dress, and its arm cuffs carry flowing mesh detail. The fabric is stretchy and breathable, which you will appreciate at midnight. Add the wig below and you have the full Cleopatra.

The floor-length gown with a cape

The Womens Pink Cleopatra Egyptian Queen Costume is a sleeveless floor-length dress with a gold trim neckline, and its headpiece carries gemstone detail. It runs Small to XX-Large; between sizes, size up.

What makes a pharaoh costume read right?

A pharaoh costume reads right when it has three things: a striped headdress, a wrap skirt, and something royal to hold. The striped headdress copies the nemes, a starched linen head cloth worn only by royals in ancient Egypt (FIT Fashion History Timeline). The skirt copies the schenti, a simple wrap kilt worn by men (FIT). The thing to hold can be the crook and flail, the royal emblems Osiris holds in Egyptian art (The Met), or an ankh, the hieroglyph for "life" that gods and pharaohs are often shown holding (Britannica).

All three pieces in one pack

The Men's Pharaoh Costume with Staff packs its own version of all three: a khat headdress, a skirt, and an Egyptian staff. The headdress fits with an elastic band: place it around the crown of your head, then flip the headdress up and over. Sizes run Medium to XXL; between sizes, go up. Stand it next to the Pharaoh Queen above and the couple explains itself; there are more pairings in our couples costumes guide.

What do you add to finish an Egyptian look?

Three add-ons finish an Egyptian look: the wig, something to carry, and the eyeliner.

The wig that does half the work

The Cleopatra Wig Women arrives pre-styled with bangs, braids, and gold bead accents, so there is nothing to cut or set. It is one size, with an adjustable cap. Keep it on a wig stand between wears so it holds its shape.

• Something to carry. If your costume did not come with a staff, the Gold Egyptian Ankh Sceptre is a five-piece adult prop that threads together for the night and twists apart to pack flat.
• The eyeliner wing. Ancient Egyptian women and men both wore eye makeup, to make the eyes stand out and as protection from the glare of the sun (FIT Fashion History Timeline). A thick black line, extended out past the outer corner, does it.

What is a toga, and how do you wear one so it stays put?

A toga is the loose, draped outer garment of Roman citizens, made from an oval-shaped piece of material (Britannica). Togas were big: one example the Royal Ontario Museum describes was a semicircle of about 5.5 meters, roughly 18 feet, of wool (ROM). Roman women had stopped wearing it by the time Pompeii was buried and wore a long pleated stola with a palla shawl instead (ROM). So a women's toga costume is a party take, and we are happy to call it one.

For a bedsheet toga, use a sheet bigger than a twin, as Smithsonian Magazine advises, then follow these steps from that piece and the ROM's instructions:

1. Fold the sheet in half lengthwise.
2. Drape the straight edge over your left shoulder, letting one end hang down the front.
3. Bring the other end under your right arm.
4. Throw it over your left shoulder a second time.
5. For extra security, pin it at the shoulder with a safety pin or a brooch.
6. Our own tip, not a Roman one: tie a gold cord or belt at the waist. It stops the drape sliding when you dance or sit.

Wear a shirt and shorts underneath, as the Smithsonian piece suggests, and the stairs stop being a worry.

The toga dress with the cape attached

If you would rather skip the sheet, the Women's Short White Toga Costume is a white high-low toga dress with the cape already attached and gold vine and laurel embroidery. One tip from the product page: center the dress at the waist before you head out, and the cape sits the way it should.

For a men's Roman look, pair a bedsheet toga with the Adult Roman Spear Prop, which assembles from four detachable pole sections. Browse the rest of the Roman and Greek range in our historical costumes collection.

Which Egyptian and Roman costumes work for kids?

Our kids' pharaoh, Cleopatra, and Roman toga costumes earn their keep twice: at Halloween, and again for school history. California's sixth-grade standards, for one, cover the early civilizations of Egypt (standard 6.2) and the development of Rome (standard 6.7) (California Department of Education). All of our kids' products are safety tested by accredited labs. One honest note before you order: the staffs in the product photos of our two kids' Egyptian picks below are not in the pack.

A pharaoh for ages 7 to 14

The Boys White Egyptian Pharaoh Costume sizes by age: Medium fits 7 to 9, Large 10 to 12, and X-Large 12 to 14. The large adorned belt and decorative neck collar carry the royal detail. Hand wash each piece separately and air dry flat.

A Cleopatra for ages 4 to 12

The Girls Pink Cleopatra Costume runs Small, Medium, and Large, for ages 4 to 6, 7 to 9, and 10 to 12. If your child is between sizes, take the larger one. It is hand wash only.

A Roman toga for ages 4 to 14

The Boys Roman Toga Costume is a white tunic with a red draped sash, a gold patterned belt, and gold arm cuffs. The belt fastens at the waist and the cuffs slide on, which suits a school morning. Fittingly, freeborn Roman boys wore a toga with a purple border until puberty (Britannica). For more kids' looks from the past, see our kids historical costumes.

Frequently asked questions