How Prompt Engineering Brought My Halloween Look to Life
Sometimes the best way to explain a concept is to wear it.
This Halloween, I turned my lovely baby-blue swing dress vintage cut, patterned with delicate yellow birds and blossoms which I had just bought during my recent visit to London, into a perfectly eerie, vintage-inspired costume.
And I did it using prompt engineering.
I collaborated with ChatGPT to design a costume that felt true to the dress, the occasion, and my personal style.
Now, for my more tech-savvy colleagues and friends - yes, this one’s on the lighter side. But it’s a great illustration of how the same principles we use in professional settings also apply to everyday creativity. Consider it a fun case study in turning AI collaboration into art.
The result? A hauntingly beautiful “Possessed Porcelain Doll” complete with cracked-doll makeup, cute pigtails and a tattered teddy bear.
This was a practical demonstration of how well-crafted prompts can turn a creative spark into a tangible, visual concept.
🧠 The CREATE Framework in Action
In order to shape prompts, the CREATE framework tends to be very useful, a simple structure for effective AI communication:
Context, Role, Example, Ask, Tone, Evaluate.
Here’s how it worked in my case.
🩵 C — Context
Give the AI the background and key details it needs.
I started by uploading a photo of the dress, giving the model direct visual information about the fabric, silhouette, and palette. Then I described the scenario in plain language:
“I’m attending a Halloween swing party. I have this vintage-style baby-blue swing dress with a bird and blossom print. I’d like to turn it into a Halloween costume idea that’s creative but still elegant and era-appropriate.”
This combination — visual context plus descriptive detail — instantly grounded the AI’s understanding.
🎭 R — Role
Assign the AI a perspective or area of expertise.
To get style-forward ideas rather than generic ones, I guided its mindset:
“You’re a professional vintage costume stylist who specializes in creative costume design. Suggest ideas that reinterpret this dress for Halloween while keeping a 1950s swing aesthetic.”
By setting a role, I shaped not just the content of the response, but its creative angle the AI began “thinking” like a stylist.
✨ E — Example
Provide an inspirational reference or stylistic cue.
Adding a few artistic anchors keeps the AI aligned with your vision:
“Think of something that blends the charm of a 1950s swing dancer with the eerie aesthetic of Corpse Bride.”
That gave the model a clear creative lane — vintage but unsettling, charming with a dark twist.
🪄 A — Ask
Clearly define the task.
Specific requests lead to useful results:
“Suggest three costume ideas that would suit this dress. For each, include notes on makeup, hair, and accessories.”
This structure ensured I received complete, actionable concepts — not just a list of random ideas.
🔁 E — Evaluate / Edit
Refine through iteration.
After reviewing the suggestions (which included The Ghost of the 1950s Dance Hall, Cursed Fairy of Springtime, and The Possessed Porcelain Doll), I followed up:
“Describe the Possessed Porcelain Doll look in full detail — include hair, makeup, accessories, and styling notes.”
“Now, generate an image of this look using the uploaded dress photo for reference.”
The final image perfectly captured my vision: the same cheerful blue dress transformed into something beautifully haunting.
That iterative process; refine, adjust, visualize is where AI collaboration truly shines.
⚙️ A Note on Tone
(The T in CREATE)
In many use cases, Tone is essential it shapes the AI’s communication style. But in this context, the focus was visual and conceptual, not verbal.
The AI’s “voice” wasn’t important the aesthetic accuracy was.
That’s an important part of good prompting: knowing which framework elements matter, and which can be skipped without impacting the final outcome.
💄 Bringing the Concept to Life
Of course, an idea even a beautifully rendered one. needed a bit of a human touch.
Once ChatGPT and I finalized the Possessed Porcelain Doll concept, my wonderfully creative friend Kinga helped me bring it to life. She transformed the digital vision into something tangible with incredible makeup; pale porcelain skin, delicate cracks, and those haunting doll eyes that made the costume truly come alive (in a delightfully unsettling way).
And because every detail matters, I have to thank wonderful friend Gina and her lovely daughter for lending me the perfect teddy bear; the finishing touch that completed the look and tied everything together.
It was the perfect reminder that AI amplifies creativity. The magic happens when digital imagination meets real-world collaboration.
So thank you to my AI collaborator for the spark and to my human collaborators for turning that spark into something spooktacular.
🧩 Other Techniques at Play
Beyond CREATE, several advanced prompting methods helped bring this concept to life:
1. Multimodal Prompting
By combining text and the uploaded image, the AI could interpret visual elements like cut, color, and texture. This led to suggestions that truly matched the garment.
2. Prompt Chaining
Each follow-up built on previous context, refining rather than restarting. This is how you turn a single idea into a fully realized concept.
🕯️ Final Reflections
This creative experiment wasn’t just about Halloween it was about showing what good prompting looks like in practice.
The CREATE framework gave structure.
Iteration gave refinement.
And collaboration both human and AI brought the concept to life.
And yes, I was called “creepy” more than a few times throughout the night, so I’m taking that as a glowing review. 👻
Prompt engineering is about intentionality. When you communicate with clarity and curiosity, AI becomes more than a tool, it becomes a creative partner.
🧾 Prompt Breakdown: The Final Optimized Prompt
Here’s the exact prompt structure I used to produce the final output and image:
1st Prompt:
“You are a professional vintage fashion stylist who specializes in creative costume design. I’m attending a Halloween swing party and would like to turn this dress (see uploaded image) into a creative costume that feels elegant and era-appropriate but fits a Halloween theme.Suggest three costume concepts that reinterpret the dress for Halloween. For each, include notes on makeup, hair, and accessories. Choose the most effective idea and write a short styling guide describing how to achieve the look. The aesthetic should blend 1950s vintage charm with subtle eerie or gothic undertones (think Corpse Bride meets classic swing-era fashion).
2nd Prompt:
”Describe the Possessed Porcelain Doll look in full detail, include hair, makeup, accessories, and styling notes.”
3rd Prompt:
“Now generate an image of the final look using the uploaded image of the dress for reference as a base.”
🖼️ Final Output
The image below was generated by the AI model using the uploaded photo of my dress and the final optimized prompt. This AI-generated image became the perfect creative reference.
