Unpacking the History of Sexy Halloween Costumes

As the favored “Mean Girls” quote goes, “Halloween is the one night time a yr when a woman can gown like a complete slut and no different ladies can say something about it.” Whereas Cady Heron’s phrases would possibly counsel we must always really feel judged for dressing sexily on Halloween, in response to the historical past of the vacation, that call can truly be empowering. Regardless, the sentiment holds true: Halloween undoubtedly offers folks the excuse to sex-ify any costume, whether or not it is the classic black cat or the timely pop culture costume of the yr.

The film depicts the ubiquity of the sexy Halloween costume — you would possibly keep in mind everybody besides Cady is dressed as a sexy-something — but it surely definitely wasn’t the primary time we noticed these provocative costumes represented within the media or in actual life.

So when precisely did Halloween turn into so attractive? The origin of Halloween is traced back to Samhain, a three-day historic Celtic pagan competition that occurred greater than 2,000 years in the past. Irish immigrants then introduced these traditions to the US within the mid-1800s, but it surely wasn’t till the early 1900s when costumes have been even part of the vacation. “Again within the 1900s, folks dressed up for all the pieces,” explains Lisa Morton, a Halloween and paranormal skilled who’s authored a number of horror books. “It wasn’t one thing that was unique to Halloween, however on Halloween, folks have been dressing up in additional macabre costumes.”

And to be clear, these costumes positively weren’t attractive. “I’ve discovered descriptions of early ghost and satan costumes, which at that time have been only a black leotard,” Morton says. “Issues have been simply pulled out of the attic, like Mother’s outdated bandana would possibly flip you right into a pirate.”

Morton factors to an “earth-shattering” shift in costuming within the Nineteen Fifties, when Halloween retailers Ben Cooper and Collegeville began licensing costumes for current characters like Superman and Donald Duck. These getups have been “rather more interesting” to children and adults alike, after a long time of individuals throwing collectively easy, selfmade costumes.

Risqué costumes then got here into the image within the ’60s and ’70s, amid the gay-liberation and second-wave feminism actions. An increase in queer Halloween parades in main cities, significantly in San Francisco’s Castro district and NYC’s Greenwich Village, created a secure area for a lot of the LGBTQ+ group to decorate up in over-the-top ensembles. Concurrently, the second-wave feminism motion made means for a sexual revolution that redefined girls’s sexuality, which was typically expressed by their vogue and sweetness decisions. Whereas Halloween had beforehand been primarily for youths, the top of those a long time marked the start of adults co-opting the vacation.

As Halloween historian and creator Lesley Bannatyne explains to POPSUGAR, Halloween costumes sometimes observe tendencies in our tradition. “They mirror who we’re and what we worth, what fascinates us or scares us,” she says. And that is precisely what occurred within the ’70s. These cultural occasions made means for the normalization of attractive costumes to have fun the vacation.

In the meantime, this sexualization in actual life was making its solution to screens. The late ’60s and ’70s additionally launched the sexual — and sometimes sexist — horror genre. Now-cult-classics like “Psycho,” “Evening of the Dwelling Useless,” and “I Spit on Your Grave” demonstrated how scary movies had turn into irrefutably extra violent and erotic than in years previous. The onscreen illustration solely additional impressed a majority of these costumes for adults.

Quick ahead to the ’80s and ’90s, attractive costuming had a “critical explosion” because of the recognition of the horror hostess Elvira, in response to Morton. After the success of the ’80s TV horror program “Elvira’s Film Macabre,” actor Cassandra Peterson performed her well-known character in a Coors industrial to advertise the model’s Halloween beer gross sales. “They did not have their very own main beer vacation earlier than they employed her,” Morton explains. “Out of the blue, there are standees of her in each grocery retailer in America, so folks have been seeing this stunning, attractive girl related to Halloween; that had by no means actually been that robust earlier than.”

Within the Nineties, the enlargement of haunted sights “accomplished the cycle of transformation” of Halloween right into a extra adult-focused vacation. “This trade introduced its personal, kind of R-rated, excessive vibe, which once more added to creating costuming extra on the market than it had been prior to now,” Morton says.

And as Y2K trends and teenage films like “Imply Ladies,” “Jennifer’s Physique,” and “Legally Blonde” got here to the forefront, the Playboy aesthetic, uncovered midriffs, schoolgirl uniforms, and extra turned widespread parts of Halloween costumes for girls. Revealing costumes continued to get sexier and stayed in vogue the following few a long time, till one other cultural phenomenon — the #MeToo movement — influenced the tendencies as soon as once more. “Ten years in the past, one thing like 95 p.c of costumes for grownup girls have been attractive themed,” Morton says. “When you went into a fancy dress retailer as a lady and also you did not need a attractive costume, you have been virtually out of luck.” Nonetheless, when the #MeToo motion was reignited in 2017, Morton seen a shift in costume tendencies; they stepped away from overt sexiness and returned to the classics.

Whereas attractive costumes are nonetheless the norm in the present day, there’s a lot extra illustration of clever, creative costumes; lazy re-creations; and cozier ensembles. All issues thought-about, you need to really feel empowered to put on no matter costume you want, attractive or not. Whether or not you are seeking to bundle up or naked some pores and skin this Halloween, the choices are infinite.