Slipping into character
HOW POP CULTURE DRIVES OU COSTUME CHOICES
POP culture figures from the big and small screens will be spookily common on the streets for Halloween trick or treating this year. With blockbuster movies Top Gun: Maverick and Elvis breaking the box office and cult Netflix TV shows such as Stranger Things and Squid
Game capturing our TV viewing imaginations, these will be the go-to costumes for Australians.
Andrea Beattie, Halloween expert and editor of Australia’s only Halloween magazine Hallozween, says pop culture plays a huge role when it comes to choosing a spooky costume, with trending film and TV characters proving more popular than celebrities or “real people”.
“For a lot of people, costume choices are tied to their favourite recent movies and TV shows, or are a throwback to the classics,” Beattie says.
“This year, we’ll most likely see characters from Squid Game, Ted Lasso, The Mandalorian, Euphoria and Stranger Things, but also the classic slashers such as Michael Myers, Chucky, Freddy, Ghostface and Jason. Thanks to the recent Hocus Pocus sequel, you might also see a few Sanderson sisters.
“In Australia we’re less motivated to dress as a ‘real-life’ actor, musician or other celebrity like they tend to do in the US … we seem to stick more to favourite or trending film and TV characters rather than real people.”
ebay Australia spokeswoman Sophie Onikul says sales for pop cultureinfluenced costumes have skyrocketed in the past few weeks.
“The highly anticipated final instalment of the Halloween franchise, Halloween Ends, has Aussies not only covering their eyes from the screen but strapping on the iconic white mask for trick-or-treating, with Michael Myers costumes up 171 per cent and Halloween masks up 151 per cent,” Onikul says.
Sales for Top Gun costumes are up 162 per cent following the release of the widely popular Top Gun sequel and more people are purchasing Elvis ensembles, with ebay costume sales for the King of Rock’n’roll up 64 per cent after the success of Baz Luhrmann’s
Elvis biopic.
Stranger Things costume sales are up 115 per cent after the latest season was released earlier this year, and searches for Addams Family attire have increased ahead of Netflix’s Addams Family spinoff Wednesday.
While trending film and TV characters have given classic Halloween costumes a run for their money this year, Onikul says pop culture favourites are still proving popular. “Some people are sticking with the classics this year like alien costumes (up 222 per cent) and Harry Potter costumes (up 98 per cent) while masks from The Purge continue to be popular (up 298 per cent).”