At any Halloween festivity this year, you’ll no doubt see the usual suspects that made big splashes in 2016: Elevens mingling with Barbs and Christmas-light walls, Reys hanging out with Poes and sexy BB-8s, and a disarming amount of Trumps and Clintons ripping shots with Harley Quinns and Hodors.
2017 has introduced its own new set of pop culture costumes, and some of them could be fantastic with the right budget and design team (hello, Mandy Moore in old-age makeup on This Is Us). Other ideas might pop into your head and initially present themselves as golden Instagram opportunities — but it’s important to take a second and really think about whether you’ve stumbled onto a genius concept, or if your creative instinct is something to be re-examined.
Should you really go as the Mooch to happy hour? Is it worth all the effort to procure a Pennywise the clown costume? Is there any situation whatsoever when a Handmaid outfit is appropriate? Especially in pop culture, the line between original and over-done is bolder than ever, so here’s a handy guide of what to expect this Halloween, for better or worse.
Handmaids
You know what’s not funny? The Handmaid’s Tale. You know what will never be funny? The Handmaid’s Tale. You know what a literal million people are still going to dress up as for Halloween this year? The Handmaid’s Tale. To its credit, this freakishly topical costume is one of the easiest you could scrape together in a pinch: A sheet of red fabric, a pair of flats, one of those cute visors…. But tastefulness is damned, the real dealbreaker in whether or not you should attempt to be Halloween strictly aligns with biology: If you identify as male, maybe consider not attending a party on the oppressed side of a totalitarian regime.
A different take: Ann Dowd! Find your best earth tones and practice saying “Hoo-loo.”
Sean Spicer and Friends
Oh hey, speaking of totalitarian regimes, you’d be hard-pressed to go to any Halloween function this year without seeing at least one partygoer riff on the current cast of characters from this season of American Politics. The 2016-2017 administrative cycle already has a few instant costumes: You’ll see Jared and Ivanka, Sean Spicers behind podiums and hedges, Kellyanne Conway, and plenty of versions of Scandal-meets-Goodfellas goon Anthony Scaramucci, who you’ll likely see represented most frequently in the college demo by frat bros who think it’s endlessly funny to wear their ugliest suit and yell “Mooooooch” all night in between chugs of PBR.
A different take: Steve Bannon, if you can get past the bouncer.
