This Year’s Halloween Costume Predictions

Marist students give the rundown on costume predictions based on popular social media searches. 

This year, Halloween costumes are expected to be largely inspired by social media and pop culture. Photo by Mia Wallace '28

It’s almost time to show off your carefully curated costume and scroll through the Internet’s spooky runway filled with pop culture moments, black cats and references to the past. With Halloween only a few nights away, Marist College students are using social media to fuel their costume creativity. 

According to the Media Village, “the strong parasocial relationships crafted by social media between influencers/celebrities and viewers have proven to wield considerable power over consumer buying decisions.” 

Before we can think for ourselves, it is common to pick up our phones and type in keywords that define our general costume priorities. Many students admit that social media, whether it be their searches or what the platform suggests to them, played a huge role in finding their costumes. 

For Olivia Papanicolaou ‘28, social media has become a staple in her costume preparation process. “I usually get my costumes off of Pinterest,” Papanicolaou said.

Costume inspiration content is so common that Katie Dalasio ‘28 found her costume while casually scrolling. “I was inspired to be a clown because I saw someone do cool clown makeup on TikTok,” Dalasio said.

The most popular costume options vary by year, but there are general patterns — practicality, pop culture events of the year and a personal call to be unique.  

For college students especially, it is common to go for cheaper and easier options. Creating costumes with clothes you already have allows this to be easily attainable. As a result of this, many costume ideas this year have consisted of easily recognizable animals, professions and characters such as a cheetah, a sailor, a fairy or a princess.  

“This year, I was concerned about the cost and being able to wear parts of the costume again in other settings than just Halloween so I'm not wasting money,” Jadyn Fahey ‘28 said. “Most costumes I see online revolve around things people already own, which forces them to be more creative.”  

Fahey describes how practicality can lead to a much-needed shift back to the basics with new and creative approaches. In instances where options are limited, we are forced to work with what we have.  

For example, people take classic characters in a more modern direction. Fahey stated that she chose to go as Cinderella because she "found a really cute blue set that I could wear at other times too.”  

Practicality is even more prevalent this year given that, “due to the increased cost of living, especially higher food prices, consumers are expected to spend about $11.6 billion on Halloween, a slight drop from the $12.2 billion spent the previous year,” according to Newsweek. 

“I believe costumes are a reflection of what we are thinking about. New movies, tv shows, et cetera give us a lot to work with when it comes to costumes,” said Sonia Roy, distinguished professional lecturer of fashion design & merchandising at Marist. 

If you are unsure of what you want to be and are merely searching for anything to spark your interest, you may search broad statements like “2024 Halloween costumes.” You may also search for the names of popular people or characters you are considering to get a better idea of what the costume entails.  

This year, the phenomenon of “Brat” summer, a hyper-pop album released by Charli XCX, mixed with other rising artists like Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan, has inspired growth in female empowerment, bold aesthetics, costume-like attire and care-free attitudes.  

Given the eccentric looks these female leads already embody, items that reference their defining characteristics, like Sabrina Carpenter’s heart cutout dress, will be flying off the shelves.  

Newsweek author Shannon Power proves this point by stating that Carpenter “has enjoyed a huge year career-wise, with searches for ‘Sabrina Carpenter costume’ jumping 3,677% on TikTok globally.” 

Other moments in pop culture from film and television that will be seen this year include Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders, Glinda and Elphaba from “Wicked” and characters from “Beetlejuice.” 

“We pick up costumes with the understanding that if other people get my costume and recognize it or the character, we will have more fun, so we pick characters or costumes that are widely known or recognized by others,” Roy said.

Some search bars this year may state things like: “Actually unique Halloween costumes 2024” and “niche costumes no one else will be wearing.”  

“[I] definitely didn't want to do something everyone is doing because I wanted to feel creative and unique,” said Emma Walker ‘28.  

People with this incentive to find unique costumes may commonly look to archival styles or characters from the past for inspiration.  

For example, Papanicolaou is going as Raven from “Teen Titans” and Mavis from “Hotel Transylvania.” “I don’t think my costumes will be particularly popular this year because they’re not from movies or TV shows new to this year,” said Papanicolaou.  

No matter what approach you choose to take, all the preparation will pay off, and you will look fabulous flaunting the perfect outfit that expresses both your personality and priorities.  

“Costumes help us explore other sides of our personality that may be out of place other times of year, but on Halloween, we are given the opportunity to explore what else we could be if we weren't who we are,” Roy said.