DC costume shops tell all about Kennedy, Chelsea

How’s this for an intriguing visual: Sen. Edward Kennedy once dressed up as a penguin. 

 Backstage Inc. isn’t the only D.C. business with high-profile customers. Lorenzo Caltagirone, owner of Total Fright in Georgetown, remembers Jordan’s royal family was “like a kid in a candy store” after arriving at his shop last year with an entourage in tow. On the family’s Halloween checklist? Fake corn and other fall crops. Caltagirone says one of the royals “just pointed to products and I just packed them up.”

 While the Washington special-occasion clothing kings are reticent about divulging any more info about their VIPs — Claasen says they’ve included “loads of senators and their wives,” along with “a lot of Hill staffers” — he does maintain that “their costumes are always tasteful.”