Thoughts on This Year’s Costumes and Trends
Now that Halloween has officially ended, it’s time to recap some fantastic costumes and talk about the different genres of costumes. Every year it seems like there are those who take Halloween to the max and those who take it pretty lightly. I have the utmost respect for those who take Halloween seriously.
To the girls and guys who have full-face makeup and do funky designs with body paint—kudos! People can get really creative with their painting. It’s really inspiring to see those who are artsy and/or experimental with their body paint. I know I would never be able to do it and even though I may try, it never comes out quite right.
Doing full-face makeup has two paths: artsy or scary. Some people do full-face makeup and their faces are absolutely horrifying and gory. Yet, on the other hand, I’ve seen some pretty interesting face painting that purely makes the character the person is dressing up as more realistic. For example, there are a lot of neat designs for being an alien or any type of animal. This artistic face painting was an extremely popular trend this year.
Another popular trend this year were the characters from Netflix series, Stranger Things. While out and about, there were a plethora of Elevens and Joyce and Will Byers. Some of the Elevens were creative enough to be carrying around empty Eggo boxes. Furthermore, the Joyce Byers even had some battery-powered lights to tote around with them. I thought that these costumes were extremely creative and I really didn’t know that Stranger Things was as popular as it turned out to be.
It also seemed as though the Looney Tunes characters Bugs and Lola from popular 90s animated film Space Jam was a trendy costume this year for couples. This may have been brought on by the rumors going around that basketball player LeBron James will be starring in a sequel of sorts to Space Jam. Because the movie was brought back into the spotlight, fans are reminded of the adorable couple of Bugs and Lola.
Of course, aside from the newer and more popular trends of this Halloween, there are always the classic couple costumes like Sandy and Danny from late 70s classic, Grease, and Squints and Wendy Peffercorn from The Sandlot. When done right, these costumes can be absolutely outstanding in, even comparison to some of the newer ones.
I believe that when it comes to Halloween no one should be afraid to dress up exactly how s/he wants. This year, like most, people really went all out in their costume designs. You’ll always have the girls who wear skimpy outfits with animal ears (“I’m a mouse, duh”) and the guy who has the t-shirt that says, “This is my costume,” but this is a “thank you” to those who really get into the holiday spirit and are wholly dedicated to their costumes. While I’m sure we are all guilty of doing one of those two things that I mentioned, let this serve as inspiration for next year. Halloween is a time to be someone or something else—don’t waste the opportunity!
PHOTO COURTESY of Amanda Gangidino
PHOTO COURTESY of Sarah Lewis
