Jess West, owner of Monsterz Inc., loves to watch people’s faces when they walk through her door. Located at 7 Johnson Avenue in Irvington, the business is home to Jess West Costumes but also includes a lounge bar, a performance stage with VIP seating, and Frank N. Stein furniture groupings for sale. It’s the perfect destination for spooky October or any time someone wants to visit a magical space and experience unique entertainment offerings.
“People come in and their mouths just drop,” West says. “Word of mouth is a powerful thing and when people tell how much fun it is, it gets their friends in the door. When they experience it for the first time, it’s cool to watch people become enamored.”
West calls Jess West Costumes her first child, and Monsterz Inc. her second. She began making costumes at age 12 after watching Tim Burton’s “Batman” movies. She was enthralled with the outfit Uma Thurman wore when she portrayed Poison Ivy. It launched her love of making a costume-in-a-costume, a garment taken off that reveals a second but equally elaborate one. After winning a contest with a costume that had to be crawled out of to showcase another garment, people started asking her to make costumes, and Jess West Costumes was born.
Images of her work on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube attracted the attention of executives from Hulu, a subscription streaming service owned by The Walt Disney Company. Producers developing a reality fashion competition show, “Dress My Tour”, were amazed by West’s creativity. She became one of 11 contestants selected from thousands of hopefuls. The competitors created performance outfits for music celebrities while struggling not to be eliminated. The winner received $100,000.
West represented Indianapolis well, and held her own against other contestants who had designed for touring musical artists before. In the fifth episode, her avant-garde wearable art piece was a favorite of rapper JT.
“The show was just released about a month ago,” West says. “I was in there, keeping up with fashion designers. What I learned is that I can create anything, but what I am is monster maker. It brings me creative joy.”
“My storage unit was getting filled with more and more things I made or collected,” she continues. “I get commissioned by people to make costumes. The ones I make for myself, such as a shrimp cocktail dress, I will wear once and then sell. When I returned to Indianapolis I wanted to do something different and eccentric. I opened Monsterz Inc. in March on my 40th birthday.”
The first floor of the building has an open-concept floor plan; patrons can see West sewing her high-end custom creations. All around are racks of items for sale. They aren’t the common costumes seen in big-box stores around Halloween time, but instead are vintage garments donated and collected by West.
In the evening the dungeon in the basement is where all the action takes place. Wednesday from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. is Scaryoke Night for karaoke lovers. Burlesque and drag shows take place at 7:30 p.m. each Thursday. Funny Fridays feature a comedian at 7 p.m., shuffling dance instruction at 8:30 p.m., followed by a dance party that lasts until 2 a.m. or later.
“Saturday is a wild card,” West says. “We rotate all kinds of entertainment and we want to find the most interesting artists we can. There is a variety of magic, fashion and music, and even puppets. Every second Sunday we have some kind of themed yoga such Zombie Turkey Yoga on November 10. Brunches are planned with rotating chefs and bakers. Dates and times of all the entertainment are listed on our social media sites.”
The Monsterz Bar offers drinks, and also mocktail potions with wispy smoke provided by dry ice. CBD is available as well. Furniture sets with themes such as “Phantom of the Opera”, “Hocus Pocus” and “Beetlejuice” are also for sale.
“It’s so hard to answer the question, ‘What is my favorite costume?’” West says. “I can do anything, but what I make for myself is my most favorite. I do like the giant sand worm and the red wedding dress from the movie ‘Beetlejuice’. There is no number you can put on how much time I take to make a costume. Some took over 100 hours.”
“I chose Irvington for Monsterz Inc. because it’s the spookiest part of town,” she adds. “The whole month of October is wild. Last year thousands of people came to the Historic Irvington Halloween Festival. It’s the perfect place to be.”
For more info, call 317-643-0275 or find Monsterz Inc. on Facebook and Instagram.
