How to Be a Nerd for Halloween
To be a nerd for Halloween, try wearing high-waisted trousers, suspenders, glasses, and a bow tie. You can also wear oversized, clunky shoes or some sandals with socks on underneath. For your hair, go with a bowl cut wig or pigtails. You should also accessorize your nerd costume by putting pens or a calculator in your shirt pocket and wrapping some tape around the center of your glasses. Also, carry a book around with you, like a math textbook.
Find some inspiration. The first thing to do if you have decided that you want to dress up as a nerd for Halloween is to find some inspiration and get some ideas. Geeks and nerds have become an increasingly popular choice for Halloween costumes, so a quick search online will bring up countless examples of costumes people have worn in previous years. Try an image search, or looking on websites that specialise in pictures, such as Instagram and Pinterest. You will also find a host of videos of people on YouTube talking about the nerd costumes they have put together in the past. Plan your outfit. Once you have looked through plenty of pictures and videos, you need to decide exactly what kind of nerd outfit you want to put together. You can keep it simple with some high-waist trousers, suspenders, glasses and a bow-tie. To help you visualise and plan your costume break it down into parts, such as shoes, pants and shirt. A typical outfit might include some short white shorts and a short-sleeved plaid shirt. This would be worn with suspenders, a nerdy hairstyle, glasses and some big clunky shoes. A classic alternative to clunky shoes would be teaming up socks and sandals. Think about your hair. You need to think about what you want to do to your hair to complement and complete your costume. Typically a man who dresses up as nerds for Halloween will opt for parting his hair in the centre and pasting it down with a hair product. It's important to have the hair looking greasy. An alternative nerd hair style for a man would be a bowl cut. For this option, you will probably need to get hold of a wig. A woman will often go for pigtails. Adding some hair product to make it look a little greasy can also be a good option for a woman. A pony tail is an alternative option. You can place the pony tail on top of your head or on one side of your head. Remember the accessories. For a great costume you will need to include some appropriate accessories for your finishing touches. The classic accessories for a nerd costume could include glasses, a tie or preferably a bow-tie, suspenders, and a pocket protector, some pens, a ruler or a calculator in your shirt pocket. Don't forget to add a little bit of tape to your glasses over the bridge of your nose. Carry a book with you as an accessory. Something like a serious maths book will work well with your costume. Consider nerds from TV and film. Dressing up as a famous nerd from a TV show or a movie can be a great option for Halloween. It enables you to piece together a more specific and less generic costume, which will help you stand out from a crowd of other people dressed as nerds. Think about nerds from TV and then try to match your costume to them as closely as possible. There are countless great TV nerds to choose from. You could go as anybody from Spock from Star Trek, to the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons, or one of the characters from the Big Bang Theory. Try to think of a character that is easily recognisable, but that not many people will have thought of dressing up as. Think of famous nerds from history. Another way to dress up as a famous nerd, is to think about well-known nerds from history and real life. This could be someone like Bill Gates, or Steve Jobs. For a more historical figure, who has a very distinctive look, why not dress up as Albert Einstein. For Einstein, you could get a big white wig, a lab coat and a fluffy white moustache. Alternatively, you could dress up as another iconic figure, Sigmund Freud. For Freud you would need small circular glasses, a white beard, and a suit. Whoever you choose you can add accessories, such as a notepad, clipboard, or a small chalkboard. Get into character. Once you have prepared your famous nerd costume, you can have fun by getting into character. Try to act like the person you are dressing up as and have fun with it. If you go as Einstein, try and talk with German accent. If you go as Freud, you can also adopt a Germanic sounding accent. You can also have fun by pretending to psychoanalyse friends. Invite a friend to lie down on the couch and ask them about their childhoods, just like Freud would. Look for pieces at home. Even if you don't think you have any nerdy clothes at home, it's sensible to start your search there. Something like a short-sleeved plaid shirt can easily be transformed into part of a nerd outfit with the addition of some shorts or trousers worn high up above the waist. Your parents or another family member might have some old suspenders, or even a bow-tie lying around at the bottom of a draw that you could use. Visit some thrift stores. If you can't find what you need at home and don't mind spending a little bit of cash on your costume, the next place to look could be some local thrift stores. These have the advantage of being cheap, and having a potentially wide variety of items to look through. With thrift stores, however, you can never really predict what they will have in the store. Try to visit some in your local area that specialise in clothes. Keep an open mind when you go looking around thrift stores as you may find an item that would be great for a slightly different type of nerd costume. Find a rental store near you. If you are not having much luck with your costume, or you want to save some time and hassle, you can visit a local costume rental store. It is highly likely that they will stock nerd outfits which you'll be able to pick one up complete with all the accessories. Search online for stores near you, and try to get an idea for the kind of costumes they stock and the rental prices before visiting the store. These costumes will typically be a shirt, high shorts or pants with suspenders, and some glasses. Ask about the wigs that are available if you want to change your hair dramatically. Buy a costume. You also have the option of buying a costume outright. To buy a costume you would in most instances look online. Your local store is a better bet for rentals. Halloween costumes have become big business and there is a large variety of places you can buy costumes for somewhere between $10 and $50. These stores will often also have accessories such as “nerd glasses” or gum shields that make it look like you have braces. Don’t leave it too late. Nerd costumes have become a staple of Halloween fancy dress, so if you opting for a nerd this year it's sensible to plan ahead. This is especially true if you plan to rent your outfit from a local store. If you leave it to the last minute you may find that the store is out of stock. 
Find some inspiration. Plan your outfit. Think about your hair. Remember the accessories. Consider nerds from TV and film. Think of famous nerds from history. Get into character. Look for pieces at home. Visit some thrift stores. Find a rental store near you. Buy a costume. Don’t leave it too late. 