With Halloween coming up on all of us soon, I have been seeing many youtube videos, tiktoks, and other social media posts on my timeline with people preparing their extravagant costumes. With many interesting movies and television shows released this year-like Oppenheimer, Beef, Barbie, Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse and Wednesday– there is a handful of inspiration on this year’s costume choices. Though, there are a few I hope to see people wear or even add their own creative spin on it.
Barbie & Ken
This costume is to be expected this year with the release of the Barbie movie back in late July. I am hoping to see the classic Barbie & Ken, the rollerskating version of them, and even the Cowgirl/Cowboy costumes of them. Extra bonus points for anyone who goes with the original Barbie Dreamhouse version.
If you went to see the Barbie movie earlier this year and dressed up for it, you may be able to reuse that outfit as a last minute costume idea. If you didn’t, you could wear any pink outfit with some bold accessories. For example, a pink tank top, pink wide-leg pants, and some chunky boots or heels; maybe with some pink jewelry too!
Remy & Linguini
To be fair, I am totally biased on this one since this is my costume choice (I am dressing as Remy.) The Ratatouille movie was released sixteen years ago but this easy-to-put-together outfit is timeless and recognizable.
For Remy, you only really need an outfit that is gray, black, and/or white, a pair of mouse ears, and some makeup for his whiskers. For Linguini’s outfit, you need a chef hat and a chef uniform; most if not all of these components can be purchased at your local thrift store!
Wilma & Fred Flintstone (Or any of the Flintstones!)
This costume has been around forever, though you can mix and match between which characters you want to dress up as. The outfit is relatively easy to find at Party city or Target; extra points if you use some fabric and design it yourself.
Also, if you have a pet you want to dress up too, you could have them do a baby pebbles costume! The perfect choice for a family or group of friends dressing as a family.
Bob Ross & His Artwork
Remember that one episode of Euphoria where Lexi dresses up as Bob Ross? Iconic moment, iconic costume. I know the idea of dressing as celebrities and people we look up to has been a thing way before Euphoria, but Lexi had the right idea in mind.
To dress up as Bob Ross, you’re going to need a button up long sleeve shirt, thin gold glasses, a wig to match his hair, and some face paint for the beard. This look is most commonly done with a light blue button up and tucked into dark brown or black pants-add a paint palette with dried paint or use a small plastic plate with drawn-on blotches of paint to resemble his painting tools!
To have your partner in a costume that replicates his artwork, there are a few ways you could achieve this look: One way is by painting your face to match a painting of his, and wearing an all black outfit so the face paint stands out.
A second way to get the artwork look down is to pick up an old painting at a thrift store, cut a hole in the middle of the painting to fit your face, and then paint on your face to make it match with the painting! For both outfits, you could get everything at your local thrift store for roughly under $25 total.
These are a few ideas to make your Halloween costume stand out and hit the mark of iconic and classic. Costumes don’t have to be what you traditionally see or what’s the most obvious: go for characters from your favorite movies and shows to people on famous podcasts and social media platforms. Get creative, make it fun.