From Elphaba to Sabrina: Halloween Costumes Inspired By Popular Culture

Let one of this year’s pop culture moments be your costume guide!

Halloween is a perfect time to embed yourself in your fandom–literally. Dressing up as your favorite character, real life hero, or musician is a great way to celebrate the content you love. Every year, current pop culture moments make fantastic Halloween costume ideas that feel of-the-moment and relevant in a way that elevates the experience of dressing up. Whether you’re looking to a pop culture inside joke for inspo, or simply emulating a person or aesthetic that came into favor in 2024, you’re sure to get a thrill from others. We put together some ideas for you for your pop culture (2024 edition) costumes–let us know in the comments what pop culture inspiration you’ll be drawing from this year!

Wicked

One of the biggest fandom events of the year is the release of part one of the Wicked movie musical, adapted from the enormously successful stage show (which celebrated twenty years on Broadway in 2024). The new movie starring Cynthia Errivo and Ariana Grande is so highly anticipated, the sheer amount of brand collaborations and fan hype is giving Barbie movie vibes from summer 2023. With a new emphasis on the famous witches from Wicked dominating pop culture, Elphaba and Glinda costumes are fantastic choices. Or, it could be fun to dress up as some of the other characters: Fiyero, Madame Morrible, Boq, or Pfannee. 

Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter aesthetic

Beyonce had one of the biggest album releases of 2024 with her country-inspired album Cowboy Carter. The artist created a thoughtfully crafted aesthetic, meshing the fashion of traditional country artists (like boots and hats) with modern pop diva fierceness that tells a story about both country and pop music and their origins and impacts. The album release and Beyonce’s stadium tour helped push western fashion aesthetic in 2024, and any number of would-wear-to-her-concert outfits could suffice as a great costume. You can buy an official Cowboy Carter sash from Beyonce’s website, if you’re going for full authenticity.

Olympics

The Paris 2024 Summer Olympics were an exciting time for sports, and started gaining attention for potential Halloween costumes almost immediately. You could choose to dress up as something from the Opening Ceremonies–Headless Marie Antoinette, or Celine Dion on the Eiffel Tower–or you could choose to dress as one of the more talked-about athletes. You can’t go wrong with a red, white, and blue leotard and a bunch of medals, emulating gymnast Simone Biles. You could choose to go as male gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik, the “Clark Kent” of the U.S. Gymnastics Team who came in on the team and individual events only to dominate on pommel horse; all you need are some glasses and a Superman cape. Or, don a deep green jumpsuit to go as Raygun, the Australian breakdancer that nobody could stop talking about.

Taylor Swift 

With the Eras Tour coming to a close at the end of 2024, it’s a great time to dress up as Taylor Swift for Halloween. You can reuse the costume you wore to the show, sporting one of her many iconic looks, or you can easily grab inspiration from the millions of fans who have put their looks from the shows online. If you’re a fan of Taylor, you know that all of her outfits are carefully crafted, and usually well-known enough to fans for their distinctive elements, as author of the book Taylor Swift Style Sarah Chapelle would say. There’s a ton of material to choose from, everything from an iconic red carpet look to an Eras Tour glittery bodysuit to a literal interpretation of lyrics, like crumpled up piece of paper from “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version).”  And of course, getting a friend or partner to dress up as Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce is an obvious couples costume idea.

Charli XCX: Brat aesthetic

You might have heard everyone talking about “Brat summer” in the summer of 2024. It’s all because of Charli XCX, an artist that has been producing dance hits for the better part of the last decade, and the release of her epic album, Brat. The album cover, consisting of a bright lime green shade with just black plain font spelling “brat” became iconic almost immediately, and was inserted directly into meme culture online. The almost ugly aesthetic led to discussions of what “brat” means in all corners of the internet, concluding that it stands for something effortless yet trendy, luxurious yet trashy–whatever that means. It’s hard to pinpoint, and cultural critics certainly tried to. But it’s an easy costume idea: find some lime green clothing and accessories, put on an attitude, and strut your stuff.

Beetlejuice from Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice

A Beetlejuice striped suit is, of course, a classic Halloween costume idea for all genders with tons of possible variations. But the release of the highly anticipated sequel, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice in 2024 takes the relevance of this costume to a new level with new fans coming to the franchise. And there are new costumes to emulate, such as adult Lydia’s red wedding dress! If you aren’t into doing an entire costume, you can get in on the fun with cosmetics: there has been a viral trend going around on social media for “Beetlejuice lips” involving putting a base color on one’s lips, scrunching them together, and packing on black eyeshadow to give lips a crackled look. These characters from the classic movie are as popular as ever, so they’ll make great Halloween costumes for all ages.

Colin and Penelope, Bridgerton

One of the biggest fandom events of 2024 was the third season of Bridgerton on Netflix, following the story of Colin and Penelope. In previous seasons, Penelope Featherington’s Regency British era costumes were marked by the use of bright colors like yellow and other standout elements. In Season 3, however, her dress colors were more muted and occurred in shades of blue and green. A Penelope costume could include either color palette for a recognizable Halloween look. Plus, you’ll need gloves, a tiara, and maybe a dance card booklet from a ball for authenticity. If you’re adding a partner, dressing up as Colin is a given–find a ruffled front shirt with big sleeves, add a vest and boots, and you’ll have a Colin costume that’s giving fresh off his adventures abroad. Of course, dressing up as any Bridgerton character will be sure to wow. If you can pull off Queen Charlotte’s massive beehive wig, more power to you.

Sabrina Carpenter

Sabrina Carpenter’s fashion aesthetic has evolved since her first couple of albums, but her summer of touring with Taylor Swift and on her own for her new album Short n’ Sweet helped solidify a particular look she is now known for. Through her sweet pop sound that blends fun feel-good tunes with witty, flirtatious lyrics, Sabrina has achieved a sort of innocent-but-not aesthetic that her fans cannot get enough of. Her outfits both on tour and in live appearances balance that bedroom-bombshell look with an unserious wink, as if Betty Boop came to life. Her look is sparkly always, with sequined bodysuits or lingerie-looking sets, with platform heels and boots and lots of hearts or lips cutouts and appliqués. Her makeup look, consisting of doll-like eyes, soft lines, and pink hues, has gone viral, as it is the subject of many makeup influencers’ popular videos. And her blonde hair in long bedhead waves complete with curled face-framing bangs has been a trendsetter. A Sabrina Carpenter inspired costume would surely make an impression, and there are many variations on the theme to go in.

Chappell Roan 

Even though Chappell Roan has been making music for years, her 2023 album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, really took off after opening for Olivia Rodrigo on tour and an appearance at Coachella in 2024. Chappell Roan’s aesthetic is a bit tough to pin down because she’s drawing from so much inspiration in her on-stage performances. Roan performs in drag, and Chappell Roan is a stage name in an effort to separate her personal life from her work. The looks are campy and high drama, and you can see elements of everything from medieval costume to Dolly Parton influences in her looks. Her 2020 song “Pink Pony Club” can be easily emulated with lots of pink and western wear elements like boots and hats. But really, just look to any of Chappell’s live performances on tour or award shows in 2024 for an epic look to emulate.

Challengers

The Challengers movie released in 2024 starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Feist was a sensation, whether you loved or hated it. The pop culture moment was met with equal parts love and hate, and the movie itself is polarizing for viewers. But that said, the images of Zendaya looking fierce in the movie, and her red carpet looks promoting the film, were inescapable. Her promo tour outfits combined high fashion with tennis-inspired elements, and the fashion industry at large became tennis-obsessed, possibly in part because of the movie. The film, which details a love triangle between three tennis athletes, has a few iconic frames that would make a fantastic Halloween costume. Zendaya in her I Told Ya tee would be great solo, a combo of sweats and PJs for that hotel room scene between the three, or for two people, sport some workout tees and shirts and share a churro. 

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