The 2019 Halloween costume recap

By Tori Taylor, November 5 2019 —

The big night of the year for so many costume lovers has come and gone. Halloween is the opportunity many of us look forward to after watching our favourite movie or series. The question is whether or not you were one of many Harley Quinns or a more obscure impersonation.  With so many costume fanatics flocking into the public eye as the sun set on All Hallow’s Eve, we can recap this year’s choices. 

Fortnite:

Did you join the masses in a costume from one of the most popular 2019 video games? Drift seemed to be the go-to “skin” from season five of this game. But, if you managed to find a costume for any of the characters from Fortnite, good for you. Although it is not necessarily a unique costume idea, dressing up as a Fortnite persona would not have been an easy feat and props are deserved.

Pennywise:

You and probably 10other people within your own friend group went as varyingly impressive versions of Pennywise.  It’s an entertaining costume, for sure. Just like naming your child Sarah or Mike, you make up a staple of society. Would we even function without foundational Sarahs and Mikes? You went with a safe costume that added a strong contribution to the Halloween spirit. For that, you are appreciated. As a costume, Pennywise took time to recreate and that should not go unnoticed. You may not have branched out with your creativity but you did go full clown-face. Good effort. I see you. 

Spider-Man:

I would like to commend you on your costume get-up, but to be honest, you are not seven years old. The Spider-Man dress-up days have long since died if you are reading this article — or if you are reading at all. Good try. It is 2019, guys. The fact that Spider-Man costumes were around the third most popular Google search for Halloween costumes this year is sad for two reasons. The first reason being the above mentioned overuse of the costume since the beginning of time. The second reason being that the costume needed to be Googled at all.  If you chose to dress-up as Spider-Man but couldn’t remember what he looked like, then you should have gone as a ghost — white bed sheet over your head with two cut-out holes and no Halloween party invite. Try again. 

Harley Quinn:

So my big ol’ crush is going to cloud my judgment here. Can you go wrong dressed up as the hottest villain ever? I am sure that walking around downtown Calgary in the full Harley Quinn get-up was like standing in an all-mirrored changing room stall. However, that sounds like a freaking dream so, in my opinion, the more Harleys, the merrier. If you had two sloppy side pig-tails dipped in blue and pink dye, a crop-top, short-shorts and swung a bad-ass bat around yesterday evening — then it would have been “Nice to meet ya, Harley Quinn.”

Cat:

I won’t waste too much time here. I feel like it suffices to say that wearing black clothing and an overpriced headband from Ardene barely qualifies as a costume at all. I’ll wager that you took eyeliner to your cheeks and loaded your lashes with cosmetic-grade bat poop — like all cats do, of course. I don’t want to badger anyone — although that would have been a better costume choice — because dressing up as a cat is at least better than going as nothing at all. But when it comes to the one night a year where permission is granted to go full-crazy makeup and alter-ego costume, I can’t help but feel as though the extreme mediocrity of a “cat costume” is about as disappointing as a pencil in your trick-or-treat bag. Do better. 

All said and done, Halloween is a blast. Whether you went as a sexy cop, Black Panther or my all-time crush – Villanelle, I hope you had a great Halloween and woke up the next morning with a sugary hangover!