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Halloween traditions date back to the pagan Celtic festival of Samhain. And although animal skins and sacred fires, with which the ancients protected themselves from evil forces, turned into fancy dresses and pumpkins with lanterns, and Halloween itself in the West began to be considered the eve of All Saints’ Day, the pagan spirit remained, as did the gloomy grave symbolism. No wonder there is no such holiday as Halloween in the Orthodox tradition. For a Christian, it is natural to be convinced that it is not spells and rituals that save from evil, but faith in God. And Orthodox Christians have their own All Saints Day, which falls on the first Sunday after the feast of the Holy Trinity in June.
Despite the long history of Halloween, special outfits for it have been prepared relatively recently. This custom was first recorded 100 years ago, at American costume parties on the night of October 31 to November 1. It all looked far from festive and quite frightening.
Modern Halloween is the costumes of vampires, witches, werewolves, fairies, as well as queens, pop culture figures, movie and cartoon characters.
Scary Halloween Costumes
Not all Halloween costumes look intimidating, but there are those that give you goosebumps. Both male and female scary images most often come to life for quite some time. You need makeup, a well-designed costume with details, and accessories: it takes a lot of time. But the result is definitely worth it.
The dead man’s costume is terrifying if all the details are finalized to the end. In addition to aged clothes, blood stains made from special paint, and bleached skin, you need to pay attention to makeup. Lenses are especially important: it is better to choose dark colors. To make the image seem even more intimidating, you can add bruising, draw big bruises under the eyes with the help of shadows and pour a little red tint on the hair.
Dolls, hatters and clowns seem to be positive characters. But on Halloween they are revealed from the other side. Dark veins on the arms drawn with a liner can be added to a widely drawn smile. When creating such an image, accessories play an important role: girls in the form of dolls can age toys on their own or make cuts on them, and where is the hatter without his hat. Choose a hat with a pointed end and a wide brim to make it stand out.
Zombie and werewolf costumes look no less scary. The first one is easier to implement, but the werewolf looks impressive. Furry paws, a grin, sharp teeth: you can add a mask made by yourself to all the attributes. It can be made from polymer clay or plaster bandages. The make-up option is also advantageous: in this case, you will need dark shades and smokey ice in front of your eyes.
The images of forest mythical creatures look interesting and at the same time terrifying. You can make a costume from ordinary fabric, supplementing it with branches, berries, dried flowers. When creating such a costume, you should not refuse to use makeup: it is better to choose it instead of a mask. Just dilute the black paint and cover her face by making small cracks with gold or silver paint.
Scary costumes are not only about the dead, monsters, vampires and witches. Try to make chilling out of positive images. For example, an angel, a puppeteer or a doctor. And it is worth taking a closer look at the costumes of heroes from horror films. No matter how trite it may sound, but they all already look very scary in advance.
Funny Halloween Costumes
Laughter prolongs life, so by choosing a fun Halloween costume, you make this life brighter and better at least a little. By the way, positive emotions appear already at the stage of preparing the image: you definitely shouldn’t refuse this.
Try to make a costume drawn with a pencil: as if you are a character whose contour you managed to make, but it didn’t go further. To do this, you will need a white suit, on which you need to make black lines throughout the skeleton. Imagine that a child has drawn you and try to bring his creation to life.
What do you think of the idea of dressing up as Tetris figurines? Invite your friends to make a real composition. Distribute who will have what figures, and get down to business. The easiest way to make them is from cardboard, but you can find materials that are stronger. Do not forget that in the end the figures should fold into a single line.
Another fun idea for a joint costume: parents and children can become heroes from Lego. You can stop at the option only with masks, or make full-fledged costumes. It looks both funny and unusual.
Don’t be afraid to experiment: dress up as an avocado, pikachu, or chocolate spread toast. Cheerful images will bring a lot of positive to the celebration of Halloween. Especially if you add a wide smile to them.
Simple Halloween Costumes
Becoming a Halloween mugger is as easy as shelling pears: buy a striped turtleneck, a face mask, and a couple of pouches with a painted dollar sign. You can find yourself a partner or go on a holiday as a lone robber.
In order to transform into a ghost, you only need a white cloth and scissors. It is enough to cut holes for the eyes, and make the edges of the costume uneven. If you want to complicate the task a little, pick up a small pumpkin or a broom. Or maybe the party lacks a cast with a motor? Then simply attach a small fan to your back with glue or string.
Girls will simply make themselves a cat or angel costume. They can even be made from everyday clothes. Complementing the look is a wire halo wrapped in white fabric, or a cat tail made of tulle and adorned with beads. With a cat costume, make-up with arrows and red lips will look good, and for an angel it is better to choose shining shades and light textures.
From children’s costumes, you can stop at the version with cartoon characters: minions, gnomes, rabbits. It is not difficult to make a Harry Potter costume: you definitely need a Gryffindor cloak, a magic wand and glasses. And the main clothes can be picked up from the school uniform. Girls can quickly turn into dolls or princesses. If you don’t like the classic options, offer the baby to become a rock star: a puffy skirt, rough boots, leather jackets, black makeup, and the image is ready.
Halloween cosplay costumes
Cosplay is called dressing up in the images of characters in computer games, films, books, comics. Those who are truly passionate about this business repeat the costumes and even facial expressions of well-known heroes to the smallest detail.
If you like superheroes, the Marvel and DC universes, then you can safely choose the image of Iron Man or Wolverine. It will take quite a lot of time to recreate their costumes: do not forget about hair and makeup. For girls, Wonder Woman or Harley Quinn costumes, and for boys and girls, both. If your little one likes superheroes, give him a holiday and make together the costume he wants the most.
For Halloween, you can make a cosplay costume using an image from a computer game. The choice is quite large: Mass Effect, The Witcher, Mortal Kombat, Cyberpunk and many others. There are quite a lot of details in such images that need to be worked on. Therefore, you need to prepare a costume in advance: someone starts doing this a year before the holiday.
Book lovers may well give preference to their favorite characters from books: Sherlock Holmes, Natasha Rostova or Mary Poppins. Do not stop at the classics and look for inspiration in the heroes of new works. And it is easy for children to transform into Pinocchio or even Kolobok: also a kind of cosplay.
Anime Halloween Costumes
Anime culture is a separate universe, a world in which so many interesting and implicit things are hidden at first glance. And, of course, the costumes of the characters surprise, and sometimes even delight.
Costumes from Shaman King will look bright and colorful: unusual details, colored hair and, perhaps, classic costumes for going out. Try to get together and make a group cosplay.
You can not choose a specific hero, but make a composite image: it will be unusual and interesting. To create, you will need either a kimono or a voluminous cape. Girls can choose a short skirt, complement it with a tight-fitting top, gloves and a wand. All parts are sold in specialized stores, but making them yourself is also possible: it just takes more time.
When inventing an anime costume, pay attention to the color of the hero’s hair: you may need a wig, his shoes and weapons, if any. It is a little more difficult for a beginner to work with such images; you can turn to a seamstress for help. No less important is makeup, in which the emphasis is most often directed to the eyes. Without lenses, the image will look unfinished, and girls often draw patterns on the body and face to complement it. This move is also interesting for men.
Fancy Halloween Costumes
The cosmic image will become the center of attention. Imagine that you are a man-cosmos, containing millions of galaxies. For such a costume, you will need shades of blue and blue, a scattering of stars can be done both on the face and on the whole body. Choose a wig in similar shades too and don’t be afraid to add accessories: small planets in your hands, stars in your hair.
In 2021, unusual makeup from comics is especially popular. Both men and women paint themselves exactly as their favorite characters look. Colored wigs, bow ties or ties, plates with replicas are added to colorful drawings. The rule exactly works here – the clearer and brighter the drawing, the better.
If you like experiments, try transforming a male character into a female character or vice versa. For example, girls can choose the Iron Man costume, and guys can come to the party in the images of the heroines of the movie “Sex and the City”.
Take any emoji as an example of a costume: a laughing smiley, dancing, or even a person on a surfer board. Creating an image is easy with the help of cardboard blanks: it is not necessary to carry a board or a golf club with you. Although it will look much more believable and interesting.
Popular questions and answers
About where to buy a Halloween costume, how to choose it and where to look for inspiration for creating images, told Natalia Ksenchak, stylist, fashion researcher:
Where is the party taking place: on the street, in the house or in the club? Suits with a miniskirt made of light fabrics are hardly suitable for the street and autumn weather, but they will be appropriate in a warm room.
Are you going to a party alone or with a group? In the second case, it makes sense to dress in the same style: for example, portray the Addams family.
If there is a competition for the best costume, then you can try to create a spectacular outfit. By the way, in some Halloween nightclubs there is free admission for guests in original costumes and bonuses from the bartender.
If you have a long wedding dress, there is a chance to wear it again, but in the form of a zombie bride, bride of Chucky or Emily from Corpse Bride. A very cheap option is to apply art makeup. Makeup looks spectacular in the spirit of Katrina’s Mexican skull, with which you can wear a floral dress. A simple black suit with a white shirt can be complemented with make-up in the spirit of the Billy doll from Saw, and a black dress with a false collar can be complemented with pale makeup, reincarnated as Wednesday from The Addams Family.
Horror movie characters will come to your aid: from Hannibal Lecter or the maniac from the Scream anthology to the Chucky doll from Child’s Play or Freddy Krueger. Fans of original costumes can choose folklore heroes: for example, the symbol of the Mexican Day of the Dead – the skull of Katrina or the image of the Baba Yaga. Well, if you are a sophisticated fashionista, then the sinister shows of Alexander McQueen, John Galliano or the fashion horror master Gareth Pugh can become inspiration for you.