Every year Halloween parties get flooded with the latest costume trends. Past years have seen Harley Quinn and the Joker take over, and last year saw enough Elvises to fill the Las Vegas strip.
We’re taking a look at what 2023 will bring and what footwear options you’ll be able to incorporate into your costume, but still wear beyond Halloween night.
Barbie (& Ken)
If there could be only one pop culture moment for 2023, it’d be the cinematic collision that resulted in Barbenheimer, and while we’d all like to be able to pull off tailoring like Cillian Murphy, the Barbie movie lends itself to costuming more easily. Aside from breaking records and becoming 2023’s highest grossing movie, Barbie had a huge impact across the summer, with many of us reaching for bubblegum pink and proclaiming proudly which Barbie we were, and for every Barbie, there must inevitably be a Ken. Whether you go for brightly coloured Beach Ken, or embrace a moodier ‘Mojo Dojo Casa House’ lifestyle, don’t be surprised when you find yourself posing for photos alongside every potential Barbie you’ll encounter.
Wednesday Addams
Halloween is a time for embracing the spookier side of things, and no one does that better than the Addams family. With the characters that are almost 60 years old, you’re likely to have run into a number of versions from year to year, but expect to see an increase of black, plaited wigs crop up this time around. Despite releasing at the end of 2022, Wednesday is still on the costume cards this year, and for good reason. A relatively simple costume to pull off, the tricky part will be nailing that hard stare that gained Jenna Ortega acclaim in the role.
Chef Carmy from The Bear
Once in a while a TV show comes along that sits in a perfect intersection of style and entertainment — we saw it happen with Mad Men and Gossip Girl in the early 2000’s, and more recently HBO’s Succession pushed the ‘quiet luxury’ agenda, but expertly tailored suits and the luxury clothing of New Yorkers can be hard to nail. Enter the dishevelled, stressed out wardrobe of The Bear. Season one of the Chicago-based show took the online menswear community by storm, with endless searches for the simple white tee the shows titular character wears (it’s from Merz B. Schwanen, to save you a google), and an opening sequence that showed Jeremy Allen White’s ‘Carmen Berzatto’ frantically selling vintage Levi’s to his meat supplier.
More than just a good wardrobe department, The Bear went on to gain a host of accolades during awards season, and dropped a second season that rivals the first in terms of quality and stressfulness. The key to dressing as Carmy this Halloween? A simple outfit of white tee and navy trousers, slip on mules, a navy blue apron and sharpie for plans of panic over opening your own restaurant.
Justin & Hailey Bieber
Some couples costumes come about naturally (see Barbie and Ken above), some are meme’d into existence. This summer saw the influence powerhouse of Justin and Hailey Bieber on their way to an event in outfits so mismatched it became instantly the subject of criticism and acclaim. It’s a tale as old as time, Hailey stepping out dressed to the nines in a red dress with expertly matched heels, bag and earrings — Justin follows behind wearing a half open grey hoodie, matching grey shorts, baby pink trucker hat and bright yellow crocs. Two looks so at odds with each other that the internet couldn’t work out whether it was a case of overdressing or severely underdressing. What this combo makes for is a really strong option for the couple who want to be dressed down, dressed up and hit a 2023 Halloween brief with style.
Miles Morales Spiderman
Spider-Man, among other superhero icons, has been a Halloween staple for as long as we can remember, but since the release of Into The Spiderverse in 2018, and the follow up Across The Spiderverse this year, the Miles Morales version of the wall crawler has really taken centre stage.
An easier costume to achieve than the skin-tight classic, Miles’ Spider-Man is often wearing a hoodie, bomber jacket and pair of Jordan 1’s, which makes for not only a more comfortable Halloween, but a much more stylish one too. This animated iteration of the web-slinger has become so popular that Nike have released a specifically Spiderverse themed pair of Jordans that draw on the style of the movies while retaining the sneakers timeless appeal. Get yourself a mask and some thankfully October appropriate outerwear and you’ll be ready for the great responsibility of being Spidey (great power sadly not easy to come by).
