Halloween is one of the most popular and celebrated holidays of the year, beloved by hundreds of millions around the world. While some traditions have remained in place since the holiday’s conception thousands of years ago (associated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain), other trends are relatively new. Most activities associated with Halloween have long-lived origins; for example, it was customary to wear a scary costume on All Hallow’s Eve to ward off evil spirits, and this eventually progressed into getting creative with party outfits and dressing up to go trick-or-treating. Nowadays, fashion is a mix of classic ghouls (like vampires, zombies and other monsters) and whatever was considered a hot topic across the year (such as characters from iconic movies and TV shows, or pop stars and politicians). Halloween itself has been greatly commercialised and there are all kinds of trends to watch out for, from Netflix adaptations to baked goods to interior design — so what exactly can we expect to see in 2022?
Dressing up is considered the most important aspect of the holiday for many, and every year there seems to be a different way to do it. While it’s easy to recycle the same devil horns and red latex dress with a dab of fake blood, if you’re looking for something new, there are plenty of fresh candidates — with a lot coming from our screens at home. With Netflix’s new adaptation of the Addams Family story set to air in November, the star of the show — Wednesday — resides in a lot of people’s search history (Evans, 2022). She’s a fairly easy one to replicate, as all you need is a black dress with a signature white collar, and hair that’s long enough to braid (or a readily available wig). Another contender is literally anyone from a Marvel/DC movie or TV series; these characters show up in every spooky season whether or not they’re actually considered scary. Wanda Maximoff (AKA Scarlet Witch) is likely to be one of the most popular this season, and you can recreate her costume using a red cape and dress, with the option to get creative using a variation of her headpiece. If you’re after something more out-there, try Cruella based on last year’s movie starring Emma Stone. Other TV-inspired costumes include characters from Stranger Things (such as the beloved Eddie Munson, or the classic Eleven — using a trickle of fake blood for the nose) or HBO’s House of the Dragon (like Matt Smith’s Daemon Targaryen — you’ll need very platinum hair to achieve this).
If you’re looking for couple's costumes, here are some ideas: dolled-up Barbie and Ken, on account of Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Barbie film, or Elvis and Priscilla who have been trending thanks to the recent Elvis biopic. Rue and Jules from Euphoria leave lots of room for bold makeup, an unreasonable amount of glitter and plenty of Gen Z-inspired fashion. For group costumes, American Horror Story might be your go-to — the show has ten seasons worth of characters now (with an eleventh on the way), and creator Ryan Murphy has a plethora of other projects to take inspiration from, including the new Jeffrey Dahmer miniseries. Matching outfits from Squid Game or Top Gun: Maverick will also be instantly recognisable.
It’s plain to see that many modern-day Halloween trends stem from pop culture, with film and TV playing a huge part in what we consider popular around the month of October. There’s an abundance of new content coming to streaming services this month, such as Hocus Pocus 2 on Disney+ and an AMC TV adaptation of Interview With The Vampire (almost 30 years after the release of the original movie starring Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise) (Tallerico, 2022). The latest season of AHS is titled ‘NYC’, set in the Big Apple and starring familiar faces such as Billie Lourd and Zachary Quinto (who hasn’t been seen since season two). There’s yet another Hellraiser film coming to Hulu, continuing the franchise that began in 1987. Mike Flanagan (creator of The Haunting of Hill House/Bly Manor and Midnight Mass) has been working on The Midnight Club, a revamping of the Christopher Pike novel of the same name. Finally, Henry Selick (famous for Coraline and A Nightmare Before Christmas) will be releasing the interesting new title Wendell & Wild in collaboration with Jordan Peele on Netflix.
Image courtesy of Netflix
In terms of other Halloween trends, turn your attention to the décor. One of the most fun parts of the holiday can be spending half your pay-check on fake cobwebs and buckets full of chocolate, but there are some new concepts this year that will surely turn heads. One of the more bizarre ideas is oversized garden decorations, inspired by a few viral TikTok’s of people showcasing their 12-foot-tall Halloween skeletons acquired from Home Depot (Skewis, 2022); massive statues with colourful lights or animated features have been popular ever since. If you’re hosting dinner, you can stock up on spooky silverware for your guests, and set out a display of pumpkin pies, bloody sausage fingers or cupcakes iced with spiders and other creepy crawlies. Coffin-shaped charcuterie boards and gothic wine glasses have their place at the table too. All in all, there’s plenty of scope to ramp up your Halloween this year, with no shortage of choice when it comes to costumes, movie marathons and lots of age-old scare factor.
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References
Evans, M. (2022). ‘The top Halloween pop-culture costumes for 2022, according to fashion guru Karen Millen’, North Wales Daily Post [online]. Available at: https://www.dailypost.co.uk/whats-on/top-halloween-pop-culture-costumes-25174650.amp (Accessed 06/10/22).
Skewis, K. (2022). ‘The Most Popular Halloween Decorating Trends Of 2022’, House Digest [online]. Available at: https://www.housedigest.com/1022310/the-most-popular-halloween-decorating-trends-of-2022/ (Accessed 06/10/22).
Tallerico, B. (2022). ‘A Spooky Guide to the Best New Horror to Stream This October’, Vulture [online]. Available at: https://www.vulture.com/article/best-new-horror-streaming-movies-2022.html (Accessed 06/10/22).
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