Follow the trends: Halloween costumes past, present and future

Illustration by Katya Vibes

Halloween is one of our favourite annual traditions. There are so many options on what you can dress up as on Halloween and everyone wants to be something unique.

Many of us started off being timeless classics like a witch or a clown, but it is also common to change it up and become your favorite television show character. In 2014 the most popular costumes for kids to dress up as were the characters from Disney’s Frozen, especially being Elsa. Other popular costumes include whatever popular marvel superhero had a movie that year. This year was “Wonder Woman” and the original Spiderman. As you look at the Halloween costumes over the years, you see that they change a lot.

Costumes this year were very different from the past. It seems like every year we have more options to choose from. Many people try to have unique costumes that others will like and create a trend out of. They think of a character that is currently popular which people will recognize and then follow, such as being a mad scientist or a corpse bride. This year there seemed to be a spike in Halloween costumes about political news. A primary examples would be Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. They have had quite an impact on the world and especially America after being in the election. Many times in the news there are stories of Donald Trump or Hillary and some find it amusing while others find it a serious problem. They might be considered funny by some or scary by others but we all agree that they are very recognizable.

A popular idea currently is group costumes. For example, dressing up as avocado and toast, being a variety of different emojis or even the Super Mario characters! Some costume partners may portray opposing protagonist and antagonist from the same movie, like an Angel vs. Devil or Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. The more current group costumes are characters from the well-known movies Suicide Squad and Baywatch. Other costumes that are being used by many are the characters from Game of Thrones. People get their ideas from mostly watching and being fans of these shows but some merely from hearing about them through other people.

The unique ideas of costumes seem to change every year yet still incorporate ideas that were used in the past that will continue to be used in the near future. We can expect that future Halloweens to feature newer celebrities like rappers Lil Uzi Vert and 21 Savage. If Donald Trump is still a hot topic then I see that staying quite popular as well. Television shows will premier and become more popular which will give people more ideas on what to dress up as. A show that seems to be getting more and more recognition is Riverdale. I see a few Riverdale characters becoming costumes worn by others such as dressing up as main characters like Betty and Veronica or even Jughead and Archie.

Halloween is an exciting time of year and the costumes just keep getting better. Looking at how these new trends seem to take a turn this could help you decide what you might want to dress up as to impress your friends in the upcoming years!