Halloween in college is a whole different story from the holiday of people’s childhoods — and changing costume trends are a major part of that evolution.
The scare-centered holiday revolved around getting as much candy as could possibly fit in a plastic jack-o’-lantern while growing up but turns into a weekendlong extravaganza once students hit campus. Whether they put a new spin on a childhood favorite ensemble or dressed up as something entirely different, students across GW have seen their trick-or-treating getups change as Halloween has morphed into Halloweekend.
Getting crafty with homemade horrors
For Honey Fair, a junior studying marketing, Halloween means going all out with DIYs. Fair said their favorite costume as a kid was one their mom threw together using the vampire fangs, witch hat, spider web neck piece and fairy wings already in the closet to create a mashup of common childhood getups.
“I was telling everyone I was a vampire-witch-spider-queen and I just really liked the creativity of me throwing the different things together,” Fair said.
Fair said as they became responsible for their own costumes, they stuck with their mom’s idea of getting creative. Since high school, Fair has turned to DIY-ing all of their Halloween looks not only as a creative outlet but also as a way to avoid the often expensive costumes sold in stores.
Fair’s favorite homemade costume is from their first year when they dressed as Emily from “Corpse Bride,” using only pieces she was able to gather on and around campus such as a white dress, veil, corset and frilly necklace. Fair said they plan to DIY costumes for a variety of their favorite cartoon characters this year including Princess Peach from “Mario,” Raven from “Teen Titans” and Garnet from “Steven Universe.”
“I also do a costume for every single day of Halloween, and you will never see me in that same costume twice,” Fair said.
The difference between a mouse and a rat
In her childhood trick-or-treating days, senior Sarah Freeman said she donned a mouse onesie, which she still looks back on fondly.
“I thought it was cute, it was not an embarrassing one,” Freeman said. “It was a good one.”
Freeman kept it in the rodent family last year, printing out a photo of fictional chef Auguste Gusteau’s renowned “Anyone Can Cook” cookbook from the Pixar movie “Ratatouille,” slapping it on her textbook and sporting Remy’s ears on a headband. She said although she put zero effort into the costume, she enjoyed people instantly recognizing her character.
“They were like, ‘Hey, it’s Remy the rat’ like they knew immediately,” she said.
It’s all in the ingredients
Maddie Daggett, a sophomore studying speech and hearing sciences, said she enjoys adding a bit of spice to her costumes, literally. In both seventh grade and her senior year of high school, Daggett sported the Huy Fong Foods emblem of the iconic chili Sriracha sauce.
In her final year of high school, Daggett wore a bright red, polyester suit with a green cap. Her costume, stuffed with newspapers so it wouldn’t collapse, obstructed her peers’ view of the board.
“I wanted to end senior year with a bang,” Daggett said. “No one else is going to have the Sriracha bottle, it’s sitting at the bottom of my closet, and I might as well bring it out again, cause some controversy, block people during class.”
Some of Daggett’s other childhood costumes include a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a paired outfit with her twin sister, and a mermaid. Sticking with the cuisine theme, she plans to don temporary tattoos and a blue apron to emulate Chef Carmy from Hulu’s “The Bear.”
Hair first, wear second
Kylenn Drake, a sophomore studying public health, said each Halloween she has used her hair as the inspiration for her costume planning as she has in the past dyed it red, blond and brunette. Her first memorable costume was in elementary school while her hair was curly and blond, so naturally her mom helped her pick a poofy blue Cinderella dress complete with a tiara.
“I was a really big Disney princess fan, so that was the one I was excited about,” Drake said.
She said her mom had full control of the costume planning, but as a kid, she didn’t always dress up at school or look forward to the holiday until it became a social event.
“I didn’t have any really personal interest in it until I saw my friends’ enthusiasm,” she said.
Drake said she appreciates the opportunity to dress as elaborate as she wants to without standing out too much from her peers. For Drake, costumes allow her to express herself more than she would on a given day on campus, including this year in which she is going as a to be determined character from “Total Drama Island.”
