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The annual Halloween costume conundrum
Opinion: Dress scary, not sexy!
It’s no secret that I love to dress up. I don’t know if it’s my inner Goth or inner child that comes bubbling up at the prospect of putting on unusual clothes and face paint, but I love it.
I do think it is important to point out that Halloween isn’t an American holiday invented by greeting card companies to flog costumes and bags of sweets though. It is based on All Hallows Eve and the Celtic festival of Samhain. November 1st was traditionally the day to honour the dead in pagan times. It was later transformed into a Christian feast by the church.
So, the day before (the eve), was a time people felt the line between the living and the dead became blurred. Spirits, ghosts and general all-round bad guys could cross over and wreck havoc in our world; a scary prospect since it was also the end of harvest season. Huge bonfires would be lit to burn sacrifices and people also dressed up as so to scare the demons back, or to confuse them. Some also believe that people wore the skins of sacrificed animals. The wearer’s fortunes for the forthcoming year would then be told from the animals remains. Lovely.
Whatever the reason, costumes are still a huge part of Halloween. Thankfully, now, they are usually made from less-smelly, non-animal based materials. My idea of a Halloween costume is that you either wear something really scary or something really clever. The manufacturers of costumes however seem to think that a woman at Halloween only wants to look ‘sexy’. I would like to point out at this time that there is a huge difference between ‘sexy’ and ‘wearing a too short skirt with a too tight top’. Also sticking fairy wings or animals ears onto your usual going out gear is not a costume.
Looking at some of the womens sections of costume shops you would think there were cross-over sales from Ann Summers. Take for example a typical Ghostbusters costume. In the men’s department there is a guy in a cream jumpsuit, Ghostbuster logos on the sleeves, Protein Pack strapped to his back, holding the gun of it in a “I aint afraid of no ghost” sorta way. Click over to the same costume in the womans department and there has been some major tailoring. The jumpsuit is hemmed all the way up to hot-pants, the shirt appears to be missing quite a lot of buttons and the Protein Pack is now held in a come-hither way that looks neither scary nor tough. Does she want to date a ghost perhaps?
Looking further through the list it really gets baffling. Since when did cats, bees and people in straight jackets become sexy? If you are the kind of person that gets turned on by these things I don’t think you should be allowed out at Halloween, perhaps not at all come to think of it! No longer are there witches, werewolves or mummies. Now its Sexy Witch, Pirates Wench and Racy Robin Hood.
I know there are girls out there who love these costumes, and even more fellas who like to look at them. But, for Halloween, I feel a costume needs to be either scary or imaginative. Halloween should not be used as an excuse to go out of doors in your knickers. That’s what summer days at the beach are for, not the last weekend in October.
Anyway it’s too cold!
By: tubgirl
