13 Halloween costumes inspired by 2026 pop culture moments

Go as pop’s newest double act, fresh from the Expectations remix and its retro game-show video. One of you takes Olivia’s sparkly, slightly smudged glamour, while the other brings Chappell’s hot-pink blusher and glitter-heavy theatre. Make a cardboard number plate reading XPECT8NS to hang around your necks, a nod to the yellow car in their announcement photo, and add a toy microphone or a buzzer for the game-show touch. 

Emerald Fennell’s lavish adaptation was a topic this year, and Catherine is easy to channel with a dramatic red skirt and a white puff-sleeve blouse. Rough up the edges for the moors: windswept hair, a mud-flecked hem and a scratchy wool shawl around your shoulders. A sprig of dried heather tucked into a pocket is a lovely detail. 

Choose your role in the show. Bad Bunny is the easy one: an all-white ensemble of a clean tee, sharp trousers, bright trainers and dark sunglasses, worn with a relaxed, just-off-stage swagger. The scene-stealers are the background extras, so layer faux grass and leaves over a green base and rustle with every step. Go as a duo or a small group, with one star in white and everyone else as the field around him, and you’ll cover the whole stage.

See also: A look at McKenna Grace’s ‘The Hunger Games’ press tour style

Dolly tributes are among the year’s biggest trends, and her death in August at 80 pushed her up the search lists. Dress her with love: a towering platinum wig, rhinestones that catch every light and a glossy, warm smile. Add a guitar prop if you have one. It’s a costume that makes people grin. 

Take the show’s best-known Halloween duo, the magician and his bunny. Garrett, Briar University’s hockey captain, wears a black cape and carries a wand, since in the show his costume only comes together once Hannah arrives. Hannah is the party bunny that had the internet arguing: a fitted white corset, pleated shorts, bunny ears and a clip-on tail. Add a jersey and red shorts underneath the cape for the hockey nod, and it’s an easy pairing you can put together in an evening.

Paul (played by Timothée Chalamet) is reportedly going bald for the final film, so a bald cap does most of the work. Layer dark, dusty fabric over a fitted base, add gloves and rub a little desert grit along the sleeves. Stay grave and unhurried (and debatingly evil) as the character.

Think sun-drenched fairy rather than stage diva, which is the whimsy that made her a fixture of this year’s costume lists. Perhaps start with a tiny embellished skirt over a pink bikini top, then scatter gems and silk hibiscus flowers wherever they’ll stick. Add flushed cheeks, shimmering eyeshadow and a few glittering hair clips for a dewy, just-stepped-out-of-a-meadow glow. Easy-peasy.

Recreate the moment from when Kylie Jenner made her runway debut in the brand’s first Fantasy Bra since 2018. Cover a silver bra in rhinestones and sew or glue an oversized yellow gem at the centre, then add white satin briefs and a sheer white skirt. Finish with towering white feathered wings, which you can make from cardboard, paper, glue and ribbons, just as Victoria’s Secret itself has shown. Queue up Jades Angel of My Dreams for the final effect.

Heated Rivalry is still a fixation this Halloween, and Shane is the quickest way in. Start with a hockey jersey and keep your stick handy, since only devotees will clock it instantly. For a pair, bring a friend as Ilya in the rival team’s jersey, which makes this the year’s most competitive couples costume. Keep the trash talk friendly.

Bryan, the in-over-his-head medical courier played by Austin Abrams, wears one layered outfit through the film’s single horrifying night, which makes him a warm and practical pick for a chilly evening. Layer a deep-yellow plaid shirt under a grey-olive zip hoodie, then pull a navy courier vest over both and add fatigue trousers, a mustard bobble hat, a plaid scarf and fingerless gloves with the thumbs cut off. Carry a green cooler bag with a white cross painted on it, or the film’s official medical courier popcorn bucket if you can still find one. 

Ryan Gosling’s amnesiac science teacher wakes up light years from home, and the costume is half jumpsuit and half cosy knitwear. Ask a friend to go as Rocky, the rock-bodied alien, or carry a mop in a dress, the stand-in that Gosling’s scene partner became on set (the crew called it Moppy Ringwald). Act deeply confused about where you are and how you got there.

Go as a duo, with one of you in the new red-and-blue suit and the other in a red wig and green outfit, or wear either look solo. Strike a protective pose, with Spider-Man half a step in front. It’s an easy costume idea that works whether you’re dressing up together or going alone.

NOW READ

Winona Ryder ’90s style: 8 of her most iconic outfits that made her a defining fashion icon

3 Creed fragrances Apo Nattawin is putting in the spotlight

Salomon or La Sportiva? The best hiking boots for every kind of adventure