Credit: Melina Barris

Join Staff Reporters Melina Barris and Elyssa Grillo as they predict the most popular costumes for the upcoming Halloween season.

Chilly weather and leaves falling marks the start of the spooky season. Halloween is near and finding a fitting costume can be a struggle. Every year, pop culture, trends and new movies dictate the most popular costume ideas for Halloween. Here are our top 10 Halloween costume predictions that would be perfect for the upcoming holiday.

Arguably the biggest movie of 2023 was Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie.” Several people were excited to dress up in pink to watch the movie in theaters, so we predict that Barbie costumes are going to dominate stores this October. Barbie, played by Margot Robbie, wears her most iconic country theme outfit when entering the “real” world, and this is the costume we assume is going to be the most popular. However, many fans of the franchise might choose to dress up as their favorite version of Barbie: anything from outfits in the animated princess movies to the “Jazzercise Barbie” from the 1980s.

Another popular event from this past year was Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour.” The highly anticipated concert consumed social media for months as fans fought over tickets and discussed outfits. Whether fangs got tickets or not, they saw Swift’s wardrobe on tour with all its sequins, flowy dresses and iconic props. We can definitely picture people recreating her looks for themed parties or trick-or-treating this Halloween. However, this popstar craze may not stop at Swift. Other singers that have released music recently, including Sabrina Carpenter and Madison Beer, tour in famous looks that would be just as fun to recreate.

On a smaller, but still relevant, scale of popularity, TikTok became obsessed with the 11-year-old song by Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj, “Beauty and a Beat.” It has been a beloved song for a decade, but this past summer the rap and chorus of the song was trending on TikTok’s “For You” page. TikToker’s filmed themselves singing Bieber’s and Minaj’s separate parts, which we think will inspire a costume for Halloween this year. Whether as a couples or friends costume, fans of the song could dress in similar costumes to the ones the stars wear in the music video to reflect the trend.

Another recent trend is dressing as Mia from “The Princess Diaries.” The costume that depicts Mia best is from the original movie poster. She wears a white gown, with her hair tied up in a bun and a tiara placed on the top of her head. Her accessories include black shaded sunglasses, wired black headphones worn around her head and white silk gloves that rise just past her elbows. It is a simple and cute costume.

A more terrifying look would be dressing as the character Carrie from “Carrie.” The look that would draw the most attention would be when Carrie steps on stage and gets pig blood poured on her. Her gown and tiara become completely soaked with red liquid. A tip to pulling this look off is wearing a white or light colored dress and using fake blood around the edges to portray this scene of “Carrie” perfectly.

For group costumes, there are a tons of fun ideas that would fit friend groups with two to six people. This includes “Wizard Of Oz,” “Alice in Wonderland,” cops and robbers, superheroes and plenty more. Wizard of Oz has a variety of characters that people can dress up as. We predict that the most popular characters would be Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Wicked Witch Of The West, the Good Witch and the Cowardly Lion. Since there are so many different superhero movies, there are many options of characters to dress as, making it a good idea for co-ed groups as well. Lastly, cops and robbers is a common group costume. Usually, half the group goes as cops and the other half goes as robbers or prisoners.

All in all, these were our predictions for what we think will be the most popular costumes this Halloween. Our endless range of fun, trendy costume recommendations can work for an individual or even a big friend group.