Alter Egos A mannequin yet to be dressed in the back of the shop. While Halloween is the Codys' busiest time, they also sell quite a few costumes for other holidays and create costumes for theater productions in Kentucky and elsewhere. Kalyssa Sullivan, 5, leans against her Chewbacca-clad father, John Sullivan, 45, in the Creatures of Habit costume shop in Paducah. Halloween is just a few days away. Debbie Turner tries on a sequined outfit to accompany her own blue wig for her Halloween Katy Perry costume. She wanted her boyfriend to see it, so refrained from renting it from Creatures of Habit that day. Jack checks for something in the shop's third-floor storage area . The shop has a hydraulic elevator that helps in moving costumes and objects from storage to the selling floor. Jack says they keep everything, because "you never know when you might get a request for something, like a World War II-era helmet with a dent in it, for example." Katherine Oliver, 12, looks around at the mass of costumes. She's there to try on a Cinderella costume for Halloween. Her mom, Crystal, thinks she was inspired to be a princess again after she dressed as one of the Frozen characters last year and a young trick-or-treater thought she was the real character. Katherine Oliver, 12, enjoys the poofiness of her Cinderella princess dress. "You really get a pulse of the nation" when you run a costume shop, says Jack. "You know what the trends and the phobias are." Busts of women align the top shelf of tCreatures of Habit in Paducah. Natalya is particularly fond of a rare collection of wax mannequin heads. A mannequin dressed as a soldier looks out on Broadway Stree from Cteatures of Habit costume shop. The Codys collect mannequins and vintage apparel in addition to designing and sewing most of the garments in stock. Emma Clymer, 2.5 waits for her mom Heather to try on Halloween party outfits. A rare moment of quiet for Emma, who spent most of the time in the shop running around pulling items off the shelves. Jack Cody takes one of many telephone calls in days heading up to Haslloween. He and his wife, Natalya, are co-owners of the costume shop in downtown Paducah. They design and create by hand the majority of the costumes in the shop, which they rent out to individuals. Halloween is an especially busy time of year, but so are other holidays such as Christmas and Easter. Jack and Natalya also outfit theater shows and have contributed to costumes on major motion pictures like "A League of Their Own."
