Halloween is right around the corner, and if you think a trip to the costume shop for some fake blood, vampire teeth or red devil horns will do, think again. Apparently, even Halloween has raised its standards.Buying some spooky accessories and calling it your Halloween costume doesn’t count anymore, sorry. Halloween nowadays demands more of us. A lot more. These days, it is less about having a fun little dress-up and more about who can come up with the most creative and original costume. No pressure.
Halloween used to be all about looking scary: vampire, ghosts, skeletons, zombies or witches were among the most popular choices. The spookier, the better. In 2026 you definitely don’t need to look like you just escaped a horror movie anymore.
In fact, the biggest costume trend of 2026 has nothing to do with being spooky. Any guesses? You just need to browse the past year for the most relevant pop culture moments. That’s the answer.
In 2026, think of Bad Bunny's halftime show, the World Cup, Zara Larsson's ‘Lush Life’ dance, Bieberchella or new film and TV releases like Off Campus and The Odyssey. It can also be a meme or an important political moment like the latest protests in France. There's plenty to choose from. Your costume can literally be anything or anyone.
Need concrete examples? Why not get your friends together and go as the sugar cane bushes from Bad Bunny's halftime show? Or recreate Justin Bieber and Billie Eilish’s moment on stage at Coachella with your partner. Or go as John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette. Going solo? Just grab a safety vest, some black sunnies and an ice cream cone to recreate the viral clip of the crossing guard eating an ice cream during a TV interview. Or, even easier: throw on some baggy blue jeans and a baby tee, add the right dance moves and you just turned yourself into the Lush Life dance girl.
It feels like the more niche the reference, the better. The motto here is: The people who get it, get it and the people who don’t, don’t. Suddenly, Halloween isn’t mainly about the costume anymore but about showcasing how culturally plugged-in – and chronically online – you are.
The goal is to come up with a costume that no one else has thought of. Which is quite a brief for a night that used to require a bedsheet and two eye holes. So here’s the question: are people even dressing up for themselves or are they doing it to impress others and get applause for their originality? Particularly on social media. People often gatekeep their costumes till the very end – so we can only speculate on what they are planning this year.
There is a growing tendency to dress up like real people. We seem to have traded vampires and witches for ordinary people. Maybe our reality is scary enough after all. Need an example? Last year a paparazzi shot of Dior's Creative Director Jonathan Anderson went viral: him standing at the River Thames in London, wearing a rather unremarkable outfit, and smoking a cigarette. He looked like the 18 collections he has to put out every year really kept him awake at night. Months later people started recreating the exact look and scene for Halloween – and the costume went viral. Fashion burnout, but make it a party outfit.
So what's behind this shift? For one thing, it makes a good costume feel a little more accessible. You no longer need to spend a fortune on a trendy costume or accessories. A lot of the looks can be put together by rummaging through your own wardrobe, visiting your local thrift store or getting a little creative with a DIY. Better for your wallet and the environment, by the way.
Whether you're dressing up as a real person or you stick to fantasy characters, one thing is mandatory: effort. People are paying attention to every detail and are not only dressing up as someone, but completely transforming themselves into them.
Heidi Klum's annual Halloween party is the perfect example. Guests attending the exclusive event are often completely unrecognizable. Klum herself is a master of disguise. Last year she transformed herself into a giant Medusa – and even her husband might not have recognized her. Of course, her costume and those of her guests come with a bigger price tag, but the principle remains the same.
Of course there are still some more typical costume trends to follow this year. If you don’t mind twinning with a few other partygoers, you’ll find plenty of inspiration on TikTok and Instagram. With The Odyssey as inspiration, we are expecting to see a lot of sirens this year. Knights, pirates and mummies are also tipped to be popular by the experts. What is safe to say is that people seem to be getting tired of seeing the same ten costumes every year. So why not dive a bit deeper into the cosmos of fantasy, movie and science fiction?
Ultimately, Halloween is all about self-expression. It is a chance to experiment with identities and versions of ourselves that we wouldn’t normally get to explore in everyday life. For many women, that means getting to dress as sexy – some might say provocatively – as they want. Because “in girl world, Halloween is the one night a year when a girl can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it”. Few films have shaped the Halloween dress code quite like Mean Girls. People do dress up sexily for Halloween, reinventing classic costumes like pirates or knights with a cheekier twist. But the film’s portrayal, where “hardcore girls just wear lingerie” is a far cry from reality. A world where girls dress up like total ‘sluts’ without facing consequences doesn't really exist - and other girls’ opinions are probably the smallest problem here. The version of Halloween portrayed in Mean Girls feels liberating. It gives women the freedom to dress as sexy and cheeky as they like for one night, wearing whatever they like without being slut-shamed for it. Honestly, that’s how it should be every day. It’s sad that we still seem to need a designated day – and permission – to do so.
If you’re a ‘hardcore girl’ then you should definitely get some inspiration from this year's Victoria's Secret Fashion Show that took place just two weeks ago. Who didn't want to be a VS Angel at least once in their life? Now is your chance. How about piling on the rhinestones and recreating Kylie Jenner's million-dollar bra look? If you really want to go all out, ask your friends to dress up as Kris Jenner and Timothee Chalamet cheering on you.
nother cheeky option: grab a neck brace and show up as the “Magik”, the stripper from the hit series Euphoria. If you are feeling particularly daring, why not show up naked under some sports gear? And voilà, you've just recreated Sydney Sweeney's horrific Novig-Campaign – and one of the biggest pop culture and controversial moments of the year.
For this bold look, you'll definitely have a good excuse, because it's “just sports”, right?
by Felicitas Wieder
Image: Pinterest Movie MEAN GIRLS
