Deadpool is in, doctors are out: Halloween costume trends over the past 5 decades
Movies, TV shows and social media content influence what's popular, costume shop owner says
When Rose McCulloch was a kid, her parents never let her go trick-or-treating on Halloween. Now as the co-owner of McCulloch's Costume & Party Supplies, a year-round costume shop in London, Ont., she is a Halloween costume expert.
In her 36 years at the store, she has learned which costumes stand the test of time and which outfits fall off the grid.
"There's always somebody who wants to be a saloon girl, a cowboy or any of those generic ones," said McCulloch. "They're still around and they change the style a little bit."
Costumes have evolved over the years, she said.
"When we first got into plus-size costumes, we were lucky if we had about four different styles: your priest, your nun, your witch, your devil," McCulloch said. "Now we have a whole wall dedicated to a plus line that goes anywhere from one plus to a 3X. "
She also said costume quality has improved since McCulloch's opened its doors in 1962. When she first married into the business, costumes were made of plastic and were single use. Now, they are similar to everyday clothing.
"The whole thing has become more like streetwear."
"Our industry is very much geared to movies and TV shows," she said. "Just recently, social media has jumped on board."
But what's popular in media changes every year and Halloween costumes follow suit. Here are the costume trends that McCulloch has seen come and go over the past five decades.
The 1980s
The first costume boom McCulloch experienced was ALF, the titular character from the American sitcom about an alien crash-landing in a family's backyard.
"It was a latex mask and it had brown fur and there was a fur costume that went with it," said McCulloch. "Every other person wanted to be that."
LISTEN: What's hot in Halloween costumes this year in London
She said movie characters including E.T. and A Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddy Krueger were also trending.
"The day before Halloween, my husband brought in a gross [144] of Freddy Krueger masks, and we sold out by the next day," she said.
The 1990s
Star Wars costumes took over throughout the '90s. McCulloch said that while characters like Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker and Stormtroopers were popular, there was one costume that didn't hit the mark.
"We watched a Star Wars movie and Jar Jar Binks was in it, and my husband and I love comedy so we just loved his character," McCulloch said. She ordered the character's costumes and thought they would be a hit.
"Jar Jar flopped in the store."
The '90s also saw the emergence of "sexy" costumes, said McCulloch, noting that the trend never went away.
"We found that with every single character, they changed them from your standard costume into something very sexy," said McCulloch. "The shorter the Alice in Wonderland skirt, the better."
The 2000s
McCulloch said little changed in costume trends at the turn of the millennium.
"You're still looking at Star Wars. They kept releasing movies every few years," she said.
Freddy Krueger costumes still continued to gain popularity, as did Batman, which previously had traction but boomed after The Dark Knight trilogy was released.
Marvel superheroes started taking the spotlight when the Marvel Cinematic Universe started with Iron Man in 2008.
The 2010s
These superheroes continued to spike throughout the 2010s as more movies and TV shows were released, said McCulloch.
"The industry makes sure that they change the costume each time they come up with a new movie," she said.
In the DC Comics universe, Harley Quinn was a standout costume in the last decade, with people of all ages flocking to get the red and blue-haired character's outfit following the release of Suicide Squad in 2016.
Costume technology also began to change at the end of the 2010s, with inflatable costumes and LED masks hitting the shelves and selection continuing to expand into the next decade.
The 2020s
Don't expect to see many doctors or nurses trick-or-treating on Wednesday, McCulloch said.
"Nurses and doctors were always very popular. COVID hit and that stopped," said McCulloch. "Not as many people want to impersonate someone who is so important to our society."
Instead, she said that some of her most popular costumes look back on the decades themselves.
Costumes like the '60s "hippie chick" or '70s "disco king" fly off the McCulloch's shelves year-round, she said, with many people also wearing them to decades-themed parties or wanting the clothing items for everyday wear.
But people dressing up for Halloween don't necessarily need to follow the trends. McCulloch said some of the best costumes don't come from a store bag alone.
"I like people who are creative, and I like to help them be creative," McCulloch said. "If you take somebody who has some imagination and you work with them, that's my favourite customer to work with."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
