Unless you’re a keen cosplayer or attender of themed parties, there are not many times in the year you have an excuse to dress up. Halloween—or rather, Halloweek—comes as the perfect opportunity to don fancy dress and transform into someone else. Below are my contemplations following this year’s celebrations.
In the world of cinema, certain characters have such distinct garb they are instantly recognisable, whether you’ve seen the film or not. As a result, some of these icons have become overused. One of the titans of Tarantino, Pulp Fiction’s Mia Wallace is a classic Halloween costume. Of the zany group, she is undoubtedly the most recreated. This year was no exception. As such a staple, Mia Wallace is a safe choice; however, the black bob and white shirt lacks some originality. A less often seen Tarantino character could be the move next year. For example, Cliff Booth’s yellow Hawaiian shirt from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood or Jackie Brown’s flight attendant uniform.
As a rule, the older the film or television series, the more the characters’ costumes will have been employed. Therefore, some of the more unique costumes were inspired by recent releases. Some personal favourites I spotted were Felix and Oliver from Saltburn, complete with antlers and wings; Smoke and Stack from Sinners, one gangster and one vampire; or the trio from Challengers, with the ‘I Told Ya’ t-shirt front and centre.
Despite the glorious 2025 version of Superman, superhero costumes fell once again into the overused camp. Although you can be easily recognisable at fairly low effort, a top with the Batman symbol is, to be frank, lazy. Unless there’s a cape and convincing superpower involved, these costumes are rarely impressive. Similarly overused were any witches and wizards from the Harry Potter universe, members of the Addams family, or antagonists from horror franchises such as Scream.
That said, sometimes it is not the costume itself that is worn out but the execution of the costume. Despite seeing several attempts at The Rocky Horror Picture Show’s Frank-N-Furter or stop-motion animals from Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr Fox, some were more creative than others. A full face of makeup, or fur ears and tail, were the most fun to spot! I can vouch in particular for the ears and tail route, as my group costume this year was based on the classic film, The Wizard of Oz. As the ginger friend, there was no doubt I would be the lion. For an added detail, we each wore the item our character was missing, such as a sketched heart for the tin man.
It can be a difficult balancing act to find a costume mainstream enough that people get it, while being niche enough that you don’t run into another, better version of yourself fifty times on Cowgate. A lesson from this year is not to sacrifice whimsy for convenience, and be original in your spookiness.
Photo provided by Hattie Filmore