Halloween tradition: finding the perfect costume

Every year I go to a Halloween party packed with Jack Sparrows, The Crows and pimps.
I end up striking a conversation with a naughty schoolgirl or naughty police officer and – until now – I’ve always held my tongue.

I get it. Some costumes are more popular than others. But originality is to be appreciated, and the usual crowd that seems to be at every Halloween party clearly hasn’t gotten the message: Their costumes are painfully unoriginal.

The Crow: If it isn’t an emo kid with severe emotional issues dressed as this classic trench-coat-wearing character, it’s a lonely, attention-deprived goth kid with severe emotional issues. The difference between the two is the emo kid will use an acoustic guitar instead of an electric to write you a love song.

You can usually find this depressed little guy in the back of a party, sitting by himself, listening to Marilyn Manson or A.F.I. on his headphones. What this costumed crusader needs to know is that just because someone approaches you at a party, it doesn’t mean anyone wants to hear about your pessimistic outlook on this dark, gloomy ride we call life. Save it for your weekly Twilight screening, and drink your beer.

The Pimp: As funny as it is to see a frail, skinny freshman show up to a party with a big purple hat, pimp coat, chalice and absolutely no female accompaniment, it’s clear the person under the coat couldn’t think of anything better. He’s often found trying to dance with any female close by until he is kindly asked to leave them alone, at which point he’ll proceed to fill his chalice with light beer and resume his attempts at hitting on girls for the rest of the evening. But just because you think you’re a pimp for a night doesn’t mean you can call any girl your “ho.”

The Jack Sparrow: This opportunist has figured that since Johnny Depp isn’t around to date every Temple female, the ladies will easily settle for the next-best thing. As far as this guy is concerned, all he needs is some eye makeup, fake dreads and puffy shirt for the girls to come crawling at his feet. Normally found at the bar, he’ll be serving shots of rum while trying to sing pirate songs, hoping to meet that night’s Keira Knightley. Jack Sparrow imitators: You are not Hollywood hunks, and you are certainly not Johnny Depp. Tone it down a notch.

The “Naughty” Specialists: I apologize ahead of time for hitting on you in my Michael-Jackson-from-Thriller costume. I’m sure there will be a lot of us this year.

So, I beg everyone to think before going out this Halloween. You’ve been given enlightenment on what most have been thinking about your costumes for the past few years. Ditch the conventional costumes, and at least try to be innovative.

Andrew Alexander can be reached at andrew.alexander@temple.edu.

A Change in costume

“But everyone else is doing it.”

It was the six-word excuse you gave your mother as an 8-year-old, after she tried to forbid you from spending your weekly allowance on Pogs (or a pack of cardboard disks, as she called them).

Thirteen years later, it’s the same thing we college-aged females will say to ourselves as we each decide on either the slutty bumblebee or the slutty ladybug costume.

“It’s like a uniform,” Laura Levitt said, regarding the trend in scantily clad, college-aged ladies every Oct. 31. “It’s about uniformity.”

Levitt, the interim director of the university’s women’s studies program, flashed back to her own college days when she wore a homemade Hershey’s Kiss costume and a pair of cowboy boots – an ensemble she described as “cute.”

But today, cute just doesn’t cut it, and young women are being left with fewer and fewer modest store-bought options.

On Oct. 22, the Columbus Dispatch reported that out of nearly 2,000 female adult costumes at buycostumes.com, more than half are listed in the “sexy” category.

And we’re not just talking tart-like maids and naughty nurses. Halloween shops are “sexing up” all kinds of female costumes, such as the “Nordic Babe” – a supposedly hot Viking – and popular children’s characters like Hermione Granger.

When asked about the standard Halloween dress of young women today, Whitney Cox, a doctoral candidate in Temple’s religion department, said she thinks of “trashy short stuff.”

“Trashy short versions of things that should not be … like trashy short firemen [costumes],” Cox, who is also receiving a certificate in women’s studies, said. “Which is sad because Halloween is such a great opportunity [to play dress-up].”

But Halloween is no longer about playing make-believe. For females on a college campus, the holiday has become about one thing: sex.

Nick Ellerson, a columnist and the associate editor for the Cavalier Daily, the independent collegiate paper for the University of Virginia, explained Halloween expectations of your average heterosexual, college-aged man in an Oct. 19 article.

Ellerson and his peers are “motivated solely by the prospect of seeing college girls sluttin’ it up and wearing roughly the same amount of clothing as the square footage of my left jean pocket,” he writes.
“In a matter of a few short years,” he adds, “we have gone from wanting tons of candy to wanting tons of cleavage.”

Ladies, I wish I could tell you there’s still time to return that Rainbow Brite costume (complete with multicolored thigh-highs), but unfortunately, the average Halloween costume shop enforces a strict, no-return policy.

There are, however, more than 365 days for you to plan next year’s fabulous costume, one that won’t reduce you to a piece of meat – or a Butterfinger, in this case – in the eyes of every frat boy. The city offers a wealth of vintage boutiques and thrift stores; hit one up, and rummage through racks of decades past. You may not find the most provocative costume, but you will find something original.

Remember, exciting doesn’t always mean sexy, and a modest costume doesn’t have to be boring. Plus, you’ll be a heck of a lot warmer.

Chelsea Calhoun can be reached at chelsea.calhoun@temple.edu.

Pillow Talk: Provocative Halloweens controversial

Halloween has been one of my favorite holidays for as long as I can remember. When I was younger, it was because I got lots of candy one night and cake the next. After all, my birthday is Nov. 1.

However, with age has come my appreciation for Halloween style. The costumes I prefer are unique, crazy or just downright hilarious. In my senior year of high school, I fashioned a unicorn costume from a blue wig, felt and a light gray hoodie and sweatpants. There are Facebook pictures to prove it.

I saw a male rugby player last year donning a skimpy French maid outfit – the best photo-op of the night. This year, my roommates and I are going with an Alice in Wonderland theme and purposely not including an Alice.

Obviously, my friends and I aren’t scared of looking or acting a bit ridiculous. However, as out of hand as we might get, we have one condition: lingerie with animal ears is not acceptable. We have a hard time understanding why girls would want to freeze in the chill of fall, wearing overpriced scraps of fabric bought in a sex shop when they can get just as much male attention any other night of the year wearing something as demure as a pair of jeans and a sweater.

So, I decided to find out if my untraditional group of friends and I are the only ones who harbor no desire to look like a sexy animal for the week of festivities.

Sophomore biology major Rachel Chiaverelli is spending her Temple Halloween dressed up as a Playboy bunny.

“But a cute one, not a slutty one,” she insisted. “Bunny ears, a bunny suit that looks just like the real ones, black leggings, white gloves and heels.”

The way she described it doesn’t make it sound too bad. A classy bunny? I love the irony, however unintentional it may be.

On the subject of girls willing to show more skin, Chiaverelli seemed indifferent.

“I mean, some girls aren’t that bad – it is the one night of the year when you have the excuse to look slutty,” she said. “But when girls act like the sluts they’re dressed as, that’s just not cool. I think they realize the next day how unattractive they looked to people.”

Chiaverelli brings up a good point. Don’t let one of your tricks end with the treat of an STD. Ladies – like any other night of the year, exercise caution in your desire to have the same bedroom behavior as bunnies.

Senior English major Andrew Susser has seen a few Temple Halloweens in his day and was more than willing to give his two cents to me.

“Common thought is that it’s an excuse for girls to run around half naked,” he said, beginning to echo Chiaverelli’s sentiments, “but basically it’s no different than a spring day. The only difference between the two is some black and white makeup.”

Honestly, I’d never even thought of it that way. “Slutty” Halloween costumes really are just a seasonal version of summer-style clothes, and what’s wrong with that? The girls get to wear what they want, the guys get to see what they want and everyone walks away a winner. However, when I asked Susser if he particularly liked the bare skin, he said something that made me suspect he’d been reading my notes.

“I’d rather see creativity,” he said.

My extremely brief study yielded somewhat inconclusive results. But here’s what I can tell you, ladies of Temple: creativity counts. In a time where the economy sucks and it doesn’t really matter to girls or guys – well, to Susser, at least – if you’re wearing something you can be seen in during summer, you might as well have some fun, save some money and invest in some Halloween memories that can’t be bought at Condom Kingdom. But if you do decide to exercise your right to sluttiness, wear a coat outside! Having a cold is never sexy.

Libby Peck can be reached at elizabeth.peck@temple.edu.