Analyzing Halloween Costumes In Media

Analyzing Halloween Costumes In Media

The psychological role of fashion in film is crucial to communicate specific themes, characteristics, and personalities, as well as to foreshadow future events. Costume design plays an important part in telling the story, as the design can connect with character emotions and show the evolution of characters over time. Through Halloween costumes that characters wear in movies and TV shows,  costume design serves as a symbol for  certain characteristics. 

The show Euphoria follows the life of a troubled 17-year-old girl, and it features a Halloween episode with clear examples of the symbolism through costumes. Euphoria as a production placed a lot of emphasis on the cinematography, with incredible visual effects and lighting. They also had an incredible wardrobe and makeup team that created recognizable character designs with iconic outfits. In the episode with a Halloween party, all of the characters have iconic costumes with depressing storylines. Each character references a cult movie that parallels their current struggle, from forbidden love to hopeless romance. This episode is a turning point of the season, as many of the characters began to unravel, and the costumes reflect what happened and symbolize a larger theme. 

Rue as Amy Jolly

Photo Courtesy: Cosmopolitan and Classiq

Rue is dressed as Amy Jolly, a cabaret singer from the romance drama movie, Morocco. In a particularly famous scene, Amy is dressed in a masculine suit and serenades the audience. Rue’s version is similar, as she wears a coat tail, bow tie, and simplified waistcoat. Rue’s messy hair and lack of detail represent Rue’s character and overall style: messy, casual, and laid back. Rue’s romantic life and her love triangle in Euphoria is also connected to Amy Jolly and Morocco. Amy experiences a love triangle, with a complicated relationship to a womanizer and is being pursued by a wealthier man. In Euphoria, Rue isn’t in a typical love triangle, but she finds herself stuck between her obsessive love for Jules and her equal sense of dependence on drugs as her second love. During the Halloween episode, Rue realizes that she’s become a burden for Jules, and she faces an internal conflict of not wanting to lose Jules to her addictive personality. Morocco is about a difficult love, and Rue’s story is about a complicated relationship between her two loves, Jules and drugs, and how that love impacts her life choices. 

Jules as Juliet

Photo Courtesy: NSS G-Club and Everett Collection

Jules is dressed as Juliet from the 1996 adaptation of Romeo and

Juliet. Her costume is almost an exact replica of the original costume. Her wings were custom made from the feather shop “Mother Plucker” in LA that is the same shop that reportedly made the wings for Romeo and Juliet. Jules follows the look down to the accessories by matching Juliet’s cross necklace. Her costume is ethereal and fitting for an angel, but it’s still very different from her day to day style that is very visually expressive with lots of layers and textures. This costume is simple, which makes sense as she’s distracted and not like herself this episode. Romeo and Juliet is famously about forbidden love. The play includes a star crossed lovers theme where the stars and heavens are working against a relationship that was ultimately doomed to end in tragedy. Romeo and Juliet both die in the end, which symbolizes the death of Jules and Rue’s relationship at the end of both seasons. At the party in Romeo and Juliet, the costumes are supposed to represent the characters themselves, for example, Juliet is a pure angel and Romeo is a knight in shining armor. However, this contrasts Jules as she is deceitful at her party. Jules lied to the police after being blackmailed by Nate to get his assault charges dropped. The moment with the greatest parallel is when Jules and Rue are in the pool, which is similar to the pool scene in Romeo and Juliet. Jules recites the line, “Although I joy in thee, I have no joy of this contract tonight," from Act 2 Scene 2 of the play. Jules is essentially saying that she loves Rue but is overwhelmed by emotions, which foreshadows their relationship. 

Kat as Thana 

Photo Courtesy: NSS G-Club and The Boston Globe

Kat is dressed as Thana from Ms .45. Thana is a mute seamstress who was sexually assaulted and avenges herself by killing men, including at a Halloween party when she’s dressed as a nun. Kat’s interpretation of the nun costume had many modern twists, including a latex habit. Thana’s story is similar to Kat’s. Like Thana, Kat was initially very reserved until private images of her were leaked, so she decided to reclaim the narrative by using men to feel powerful. Ms .45 is about revenge, and Kat’s reference reflects the frustrations she has with men. Ms . 45 starts with Thana killing her attackers, but eventually progresses into a blind hatred of men where she kills for far less. Similar to Thana, Kat lets a couple traumatic experiences leave her completely jaded against all guys. Kat also wears a costume in her daily life, as the confident look is not her authentic self and rather a mask for her insecurities. Kat’s extremely negative views towards men are leading her down a dangerous path of losing her self worth. 

Cassie as Alabama Worley

Photo Courtesy: NSS G-Club and Everett Collection

Cassie is dressed as Alabama Worley from the 1993 film True Romance, where a call girl falls in love with a guy she's hired to work for. Cassie’s costume is fitting as it matches her typical blue color palette. Cassie has developed a reputation since her dad abandoned her, and she now seeks validation through men. This leads her to getting involved with guys who take advantage of her. Alabama is a projection of the love that she wants. Cassie desperately wants a man who will love her regardless of her past. Throughout the season, Cassie is seen attempting to create an illusion of the romance she craves. 

Mean Girls is a 2004 cult classic movie that had huge impacts on pop culture. The film provided commentary on the social hierarchy of high school clique culture. The costume design really stands out and heavily helps develop the character identities through iconic outfits and lines. The Halloween costumes of the “Plastics” are some of the most recognizable from any movie. 

Photo Courtesy: Teen Vogue

Regina as a bunny 

With stockings, a lingerie suit, and bunny ears, Regina is dressed in reference to a typical Playboy outfit. She is the queen bee of the school and holds dominance over others. She wears similar provocative clothing throughout the movie to use attractiveness as a way to be at the top of the hierarchy. 

Gretchen as a cheetah

As the most insecure, Gretchen relies heavily on Regina’s approval and usually mimics her. This is seen through her costume, as she seems to dress similarly to Regina's bunny costume. Gretchen wears a black vinyl catsuit and cheetah ears to be simple yet fit in. 

Karen as a mouse 

Out of all the “Plastics”, Karen has the most true follower mentality. She is seemingly the least vindictive out of all, and goes along with what others in her social circle are doing. The movie also portrays Karen as a ditzy, air-headed blonde. Even as she’s explaining her Halloween costume, she points to her mouse ears and says, “I’m a mouse. Duh”.