Pulling Together a Last-Minute Halloween Costume?

You could take a lesson from Disney adults and others who turn to their own closets when they want to dress up.

Halloween is creeping closer. But a few days are more than enough for those with little time, energy or funds to pull together a costume of quality with panache. Think of the last-minute scramble as an opportunity to reimagine the items already stashed in your closet.

That’s the approach taken by many grown-up Disney fans, also known as Disney adults, who are restricted from dressing up at the company’s resorts. (Guests age 14 or older are not allowed to wear costumes.) Instead, they “Disney-bound,” a term people like Carlye Wisel, a theme-park journalist and host of the “Very Amusing” podcast, use to describe the process of assembling outfits inspired by their favorite characters with regular clothes and clever accessories.

“You’re not selecting something that’s packaged in a plastic bag hanging on the wall in Spirit Halloween,” said Ms. Wisel, 37, who lives in Los Angeles, “you’re pulling from items that already inspire you on a daily basis.”

Leslie Kay, 34, who coined the term Disney-bound, said it had been conceived to describe “a very creative form of self-expression” that uses a personal wardrobe. Ms. Kay’s said her style is “punkier and grungier,” so she likes dressing as a villain.

“For me, an easy go-to is Cruella de Vil,” Ms. Kay said. She achieves the look with black base layers, red shoes and a white cardigan or blazer to evoke the character’s voluminous fur coat. Ms. Kay has also used her own clothing to dress as Hades from “Hercules” and Billy Butcherson from “Hocus Pocus.”