If you're the sort of person who gets terribly excited about "Talk Like a Pirate Day," or even if you're just crazy about Johnny Depp, this Halloween is the perfect chance to live out your fantasies. Pirate costumes are a great excuse to swagger through town, and if you choose your costume carefully, you might even be able to wear parts of it in your ordinary life-- as a reminder of the wild and crazy night you brought the high seas to land. This article is a guide on how to pull together a pirate costume. Think of your pirate's personality as a mixture between a dandy, a sailor in love with the sea, and a fiercely greedy, entertainingly unreliable lunatic, and your costume will write itself. A great costume will be flashy and colorful, as well as practical. In other words, make sure you could walk a rollicking boat in those great big boots you're considering! A basic pirate costume should include a billowing poet's blouse, which you can belt at the waist or leave untucked. If you've got a swarthy chest, so much the better, because a pirate never buttons his shirt up all the way. Wear a pair of silky, close fitting pants you can tuck into your pirate boots. Try to find a stripy pair if you can. And remember, a good pirate is never without his or her hat, gloves, and sword or cutlass, so arm yourself accordingly. Pirates are magpies. They love colorful items, and so a good pirate always has a flashy silk cravat or lacy hankie, colorful pirate socks, and a great, big, seaworthy belt. If you've got a fabulous ring collection, now's the time to break them all out. As a pirate, you can wear one on every finger. After all, a pirate needs to wear his wealth, so that he always has it close. You can also carry a bag of gold chocolate coins to give to children and admirers. Rehearse a few fun pirate lines, like "Ahoy!" and "Shiver me timbers, me hearty!" And if you want to go whole hog, consider buying some theatrical dentures with gold caps. As a final flourish, wear a luxuriant curly wig and dark, thick eyeliner. Because everyone knows pirates are, above all else, super sexy. hat