Ghoul, are you ready?!
Halloween season is officially here. Let’s think about costume options you could use to keep your shows seasonal. And, because we love you, we want to remind you of a few costume ideas that are just bad.
Halloween Costume Dos
This year, consider embracing a classic Halloween costume. It might sound basic at first, but there’s actually a lot of interpretation and elaboration that you can bring to a simple, classic idea. Dress like a pumpkin, a black cat, a witch, a vampire or either of the two costumes detailed below.
Frankenstein’s Monster
This rendition of Frankenstein’s monster is one of *the best* I’ve ever seen. It’s sufficiently creepy, strangely sexy and amazing.
You’ll most definitely need to have some makeup, hair and special effects skills to pull this look off. Although this costume is primarily about the face, you could pair this makeup with a green or black teddy, a silky skimpy robe and platforms.
A Ghost
Look, this costume may be simple, but it’s cute. Also, it’s a classic!
Pin-up models have donned this look for decades. This costume also is the bee’s knees because it’s super simple to put together. You truly only need a sheet, a sharpie (or some felt, scissors to make holes or the classic “glasses over the sheet” look from Halloween), shoes of your choice and hosiery or socks to bring it all together.
Here’s another way to do your ghost costume. Imagine the striptease and games possibilities!
Halloween Costume Don’ts
It’s 2019. By now, you’d think that everyone knows that dressing as someone from another culture or who has a different ethnicity than you is a bad idea, and yet…
In addition to nixing the whole cultural appropriation/trivialization/mockery thing, following are two additional costume theme no-nos that no one should wear this year.
Anything that insults trans people or people in the LGBTQ+ community
Maybe it’s because of the stigma and discrimination levied against sex workers in general, but the #cammunity tends to be incredibly inclusive and avoid offensive stereotypes in general, which is awesome. Reminders and awareness are never a bad thing though, and we feel it’s wise to remind everyone: Costumes that poke fun at members of the LGBTQ community and/or wearing offensive stereotypes of trans folks, etc. is a bad look.
Anything that depicts abuse
Abuse is not funny. As such, neither are costumes that make light of abuse and/or mock individuals in crisis in some way. And we mean anything: sexual, physical, mental — all of it.
Basically, steer clear of dressing like a “mental patient,” an “abuse victim” or a person who is a “sexual harasser.” The classic “flasher” costume — even rendered by a sexy babe — still touches on non-consensual human interaction. We all see abuse every day, and there’s no reason to depict it in any way on Halloween.
Halloween is literally THE BEST time of year. Get creative, and get interactive. Your members will love you for it!
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Abbie Stutzer is a writer and editor from Lawrence, Kansas. Find her on Twitter at @abbiestutzer and on Insta at @abbiestutzer. Email her at abbie@ynotcam.com.
Header background image by Heorhii Heorhiichuk via Pexels.
