The “evolution” of Halloween costumes
The history of Halloween
In my opinion, everyone loves Halloween. We get to dress up, go trick or treating and eat loads of candies. Back in the days, Celtic people believed that ghosts were wandering around on the night before Samhain. To protect themselves from these spirits, they would dress up in costumes. They thought that if they disguised themselves to look like scary spirits, they would blend in with the real ones who were wandering around. The trick or treating we know is a newer tradition. Around a hundred years ago people started trick or treating as a way to get pranksters stop damaging properties on Halloween. Today I will take you on an adventure where we will look at what costumes were popular for the last forty years.
The Decade of Thriller
To begin with, we will talk about the ‘80s, the era known for big hair, legwarmers, cut-off sweatshirts, and leggings. Kids loved to dress up as Alf (from a show with the same name) since he was odd looking. Cabbage Patch kids, the most famous toys of all time, were widely imitated on Halloween. Freddy Kruger and Jason (Mask) were a huge hit in the 80’s, even if kids couldn’t watch the film, it was cool to dress up as them. Michael Jackson with the Thriller album was an enormous hit, everyone wanted to dress up as him. To sum up, in this decade most people dressed up according to horror films and as popstars.
“Hasta la vista baby”
Next up is the ‘90s, a decade of relative peace and prosperity. Firstly my personal favourite are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The 1990s was the peak of teenage ninja turtles, it was also extremely popular amongst kids. Next in line is the Terminator. Every kid, teen and adult wanted to be the badass terminator only to say „Hasta la vista baby”. Ghostface was the biggest seller costume in 1996 despite the fact Scream wasn’t released in theatres until December that year.
The mask of the millennials
Our next decade is the 2000s where Spiderman and Jack Sparrow were two of the most popular costumes. I think Spongebob is a classic, everyone knows him, and it’s easy to dress up as him. You need brown short pants, a blouse and long knee socks. Darth Vader was also a big hit especially in 2005 when the Revenge of the Sith was released, fans came out dressed as General Grievous or Jar Jar Binks. Surprisingly, Barack Obama was also really popular even though he was just a senator at that time with a smile that made millennials swoon. Another cartoon favourite was Elsa and Anna from the movie that came out in 2013. Our last one is Joker, every boy between the age of 12 and 35 decided to dye their hair green and paint a big smile on their faces to become the scary supervillain.
What’s popular nowdays
Nowadays the most famous costumes are inspired by Cruella de Vil because of the film Cruella that came out in 2021. Harley Quinn and Squid game members are also very popular. And that were our very last costumes, I am eager to see what everyone will wear this year.
What do you think about these outfits? What will you wear this year?
Resources:
https://www.seventeen.com/fashion/g28637369/80s-halloween-costume-ideas/
https://www.buzzfeed.com/briangalindo/the-10-biggest-pop-culture-halloween-costumes-of-the-90s
https://www.insider.com/halloween-costume-trends-history-2018-10#in-the-2000s-political-scandals-reigned-supreme-12
