You might have noticed that Halloween costumes look a little different than they used to. And maybe you’re wondering why — and what people wore before the days of store-bought costumes.
Halloween has changed a lot over the years, but it’s always been a holiday marked with superstition and mystery. In the past, it was more about celebrating paganism and the dead than today’s focus on trick-or-treating and dressing up as your favorite character.
In fact, even though we think of Halloween costumes as an American tradition, they actually originated in Ireland. The Celts there believed that on October 31, which marked the end of summer, ghosts came back to earth to eat crops and cause trouble for people. They dressed in scary costumes, like animal heads and skins, to try to trick the spirits into thinking they were one of them so they wouldn’t get harmed.
When people immigrated to America from Ireland and Scotland in the 1800s, they brought this tradition with them and began wearing the same type of outfits on Halloween. At first, these were pretty basic — just old clothes or sheets with holes cut out for eyes that were worn over their regular clothing.
But eventually, families started making more
When you think about Halloween costumes, what comes to mind? Probably a lot of the same things: witches, superheroes, princesses and the like. But Halloween costumes have changed drastically over the years.
The first Halloween costumes were mostly homemade from old clothes and bed sheets. This was done because trick-or-treating originated as a way for poor people to collect food from wealthier neighbors. As the tradition has evolved, however, it’s come to be associated with dressing up in costumes.
Today’s Halloween costumes are almost always store-bought and quite elaborate. The most popular ones often come straight from movies or TV shows like Avengers and Frozen. So what accounts for this change?
According to one expert, there are two reasons why our costumes look so different today. First, they’re much more elaborate now than they used to be. That’s partly due to how easy it is to create realistic-looking masks now that we have better technology. Second, they’re usually based on characters that kids already know from popular shows or movies because it’s easier than coming up with something new—and it saves parents the hassle of having to explain a new character when strangers ask who their child is supposed to be dressed as!
The holiday of Halloween is only weeks away and our costumes for the big night are in full swing at the studio. The way we design our costumes has changed over the years, and it’s not just because we’ve gotten better at it. It’s largely due to changes in the way fabric is produced worldwide.
For those of you who have been longtime fans, you might have noticed that some of our classic styles have changed slightly over the years. For example, Bo Peep’s skirt used to be made out of a beautiful blue floral print cotton fabric but now we make it with a blue striped polyester blend. It’s still a darling dress that looks great on little girls and uses high quality fabrics, but it is different than what we originally designed.
So why did we change it? In a word: China.
When we first designed Bo Peep’s dress and other similar costumes, we were able to find amazing fabrics at local fabric stores. The lovely blue floral print was one of dozens to choose from. But as more companies moved their manufacturing overseas, those fabrics began to disappear from local stores and were replaced by less expensive polyester blends. We could no longer find beautiful prints like that floral print in cotton or any other high quality natural fiber fabric.
Halloween is a great time of year, and it’s not just because you get to dress up in crazy costumes, or gorge on bag after bag of candy. It’s also a great time of year for retailers, especially if you look at the history of Halloween costumes.
Halloween costumes are as much about tradition as they are about scariness. Over the years, there have been plenty of memorable Halloween costumes worn by famous celebrities and beloved characters. These classic Halloween costumes have become so ingrained in our culture that they’re likely to be handed down from generation to generation.
So what makes a costume iconic? What makes something like a witch costume something that’s been around since the beginning of Halloween? Well, it may have something to do with the fact that it’s been around since the beginning of Halloween!
In other words: It’s all in your head. If you like a certain costume and think it will be fun to wear on Halloween this year, then go for it! Don’t let anyone tell you that something is too old-fashioned to be cool.
I know that if you’ve ever been to a costume party, you’ve seen the sea of women who came as Little Bo Peep. And while some are dressed in a more traditional manner (holding a staff, wearing a bonnet, and wearing light pinks and blues), others have taken a sexy turn on the classic costume. Gone are the days of innocence.
The question I want to pose is this: Why? Why do we think that sex appeal has to be involved in every Halloween costume? And why do we think it’s okay to put little girls in costumes that are intended for adults?
I know there are a lot of people out there who don’t have an issue with children dressing up in cute costume versions of “sexy” costumes (see: Princess Leia). But for me, personally, dressing as Little Bo Peep is not cutesy or innocent. It’s sexualized.
The first Halloween costumes were not intended to be worn. When the Celts held their annual festival of Samhain, they donned animal heads and skins to scare away spirits and otherworldly creatures. During this time, the Celts believed that ghosts roamed the Earth and would wreak havoc if they were not appeased. Their solution was to dress up as one of these beings in hopes that the real ones would leave them alone. When Christianity spread throughout Europe, the tradition carried over but with a few changes. The Samhain festival became All Saints’ Day and eventually All Hallows’ Eve, better known as Halloween.
While some people still practice this tradition, others have moved away from it. Instead of terrifying masks, Americans began wearing costumes that were cute or quirky like witches, cats or mummies. In 1939 the National Retail Dry Goods Association (NRDGA) named “Wizard of Oz” characters as being the most popular costume for children. This began a trend of dressing up as pop culture icons or movie characters that continues today. For many years Halloween was primarily celebrated by children who would dress up and “trick-or-treat” for candy from their neighbors. It has grown into an event celebrated by all ages
This Halloween, you may notice something different about the costumes of little girls. They may be a bit more colorful, with less pink and purple. There are also more construction workers and super heroes. And girls are doing more trick-or-treating by themselves.
A new survey released this week finds that moms across the country have begun to rethink costumes for their daughters. The poll of 1,000 parents of kids ages 5 to 16 found that moms are increasingly letting their daughters dress up as whatever they want — regardless of gender stereotypes.
More than half of the mothers surveyed (53%) say they allow their daughters to choose their own costumes, up from 46% two years ago. But only 35% of dads say they let their little girls decide what to wear. And just 11% of dads say they bought a costume for their daughter that was not traditionally girlish in color or character, compared with 17% of moms.
The study also found that if dads do take an active role in shopping for costumes, they’re more likely to buy more stereotypical outfits for their little girls — like princesses and pretty fairies — while moms are more likely to buy non-traditional girl characters, such as construction workers or police officers.
The survey was conducted by Wakefield