“Halloween is the one day of the year when a girl can dress like a total sl**, and no other girl can say anything about it,” declared a pre-rehab, still redheaded Lindsay Lohan. Yet, even though Regina George rocked the Playboy bunny costume, would her outfit be acceptable here on the Upper West Side?
The answer varies. It is definitely fun to dress up in a ridiculous, raunchy, tooth fairy, vampire or broccoli costume (yes, Ricky’s sells everything), especially if you are going around campus. You could even say that half the fun of Halloweekend is prancing around in the 50° late October chill, then sweating half to death in an overcrowded frat house, then leaping into the frigid air again, only to get home and see just gross you look at the end of the night with your smeared makeup and dried sweat in your hair. It’s especially thrilling for us noobs whose moms refused to let us out of the house in our most fabulous skank gear. “Mom, so what if you can see my butt?”
In college, we want to seize the chance to go all out on Halloween. However, I encourage you to think of these suggestions before you make the leap from high school halloween boredom to college halloween whoredom.
If you are planning on drawing attention to yourself, you better be wearing something awesome. Everyone has seen the bunny costume, and you aren’t going to look as good as the chicks in the magazines or Regina George (unless you have a personal airbrusher). If you can make sexy broccoli happen, that is another story. I’ve witnessed sexy Spiderman, sexy pirates, and sexy Winnie the Pooh just to name a few of my own inspirations.
The other thing to remember is that although the Plastics think the goal is to look sl***y, we Barnard women are smart enough to realize that the goal is sexy and fun. There is nothing wrong with letting some skin show, but it gets uncomfortable for everyone when you have sea shells taped to your boobs and nothing else.
Lastly, although I praise people who are confident enough to let the “junk in that trunk” show, I will also offer some words of caution. While being too revealing on this campus will definitely cause a reaction, when you leave the Barnard bubble to check out that “sick downtown party,” those stares will surely get more intense. If you are looking to go off- campus, I wouldn’t leave the dorm without first asking yourself: “Am I wearing actual clothes?” South of 110th street you become even more susceptible to creepers who are experts at picking out young hotties. Not to mention the fact that clubbing dudes are in constant competition with each other over who can squeeze the most booty before being escorted out by the bouncer. Basically, for scenarios that don’t include frattiness, Mel’s, or Cannons, consider wearing some tights under that mini skirt.
Halloween can be a really time for us young, cute collegiettes! We just have to realize that sometimes less is more and that a funny/original costume will most likely be a better choice than the out-of-the-bag “Mile High Club” flight attendant suit in Morningside Heights…or anywhere for that matter.