Style Profile: Count Dracula

For a guy who enjoys dressing up, I really phone it in on Halloween, if I even bother at all. I never take the time to buy or make a costume, and I've used either an old 70's-era suit or a huge foam cowboy hat for some type of get-up for the past eight or so years. Not very creative.

With the holiday upon us and my having just seen two episodes of True Blood at my girlfriend's suggestion, I've been thinking about this country's vampire infatuation. Most recently there's been True Blood and Twilight, but we've always enjoyed bloodsuckers in our entertainment. Hollywood gave us Interview With The Vampire, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and even Eddie Murphy got in on the deal with Vampire In Brooklyn. 

None of these vampires, however, measure up to the Count Dracula played by Bela Lugosi (pictured above) in the 1931 original film. I went through a horror movie phase in my early teens, and I always had a thing for the old black-and-whites. Dracula was always my favorite. I always thought that Mr. Lugosi nailed the part of a dashing, aristocratic vampire, which I preferred to the corpse-like Nosferatu from German vampire lore. 

Enjoy the clip below. Note the Count's perfectly-fitting white-tie evening attire (I guess he would never wear daytime formalwear), complete with a pendant that presumably bears some significance to his aristocratic lineage. A more dashing vampire has never existed.