2020 has been a letdown in more ways than one for many of us, but with so much time spent inside, we’ve all had a lot of time to reflect, rejuvenate and, most importantly, prepare for Halloween months in advance. Celebrities have a lot more buying power than the average ghost, so people always look to see the best looks that money can buy. Here’s a look into some of the standout Halloween costumes of the year.
Lil Nas X lived his drag fantasy as he unleashed Nas Marage on the world, his recreation of Nicki Minaj’s pink giraffe print from her hit song Superbass. Nas has been a long time Barb and finally gets to enter full stan mode. This specific costume stirred some controversy on Twitter leading Lil Nas X to respond to several homophobic critics, including 50 Cent.
Halsey is an artistic creative who enjoys playing with various makeup looks. Earlier this year, she created a glamorized version of a black eye with makeup for her Manic album cover. For Halloween, she took this black eye look and turned it into a horror black hole in her head. She also indulged in more makeup as she dressed like Emily from Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride.
Kendall Jenner dressed in a leather bodysuit to imitate blonde bombshell Pamela Anderson in Barb Wire. In place of a gun, she held a small flag with a very timely reminder for everyone to vote in the upcoming election.
Though it’s not particularly creative, Kylie Jenner dressed in a gorgeous, skintight, snake print custom Mugler to become “King Cobra.”
Kim Kardashian did a group costume with her children and Jonathan Cheban as Carole Baskin, Joe Exotic and their beloved tigers. Tiger King has been a very relevant subject matter for this Halloween following its cult-like craze during quarantine. Kardashian dressed up a second time with husband Kanye West in custom Balenciaga morphsuits.
Beyonce didn’t wear anything crazy for this year’s Halloween, but anything Beyonce wears is worth noting. She dressed as a skeleton with thigh high boots and a pair of laced jean shorts.
Benito Skinner, commonly known as BennyDrama, internet personality and comedian, came off the high of his Halloween comedic sketch, filled with dozens of fantastic costumes, with two great personal Halloween costumes. His first costume was Lindsay Lohan’s starring role in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, Lola Cep. Included with this costume was a lip sync to Lola’s Eliza Rocks final performance of That Girl. His second costume was an interpretation of Lady Gaga’s music video look for her song Telephone, lip sync also obviously included.
Lizzo did a wonderful job of choosing relevant costumes with her first being a presidential debate star, fly on Mike Pence’s head. Her second costume was a cat costume printed with a water pattern to create a WAP.
Tabria Majors, a plus-size model, did a tribute to Beyonce for Halloween that she called Beylloween. Tabria created a 10-minute long video of looks and performances from some of Beyonce’s most iconic music videos, like Crazy In Love, Single Ladies, Formation, Partition, etc. as well as her Homecoming performance at Coachella.
Tan France, fashion expert on Netflix’s Queer Eye, made his costume work with what he could find lying around his house. Tan dressed as Moira Rose from multi-Emmy-award-winning comedy show Schitt’s Creek. This specific Moira outfit is a cross between a Boticelli painting and religious dress. He created his own papal headdress, wore his own ivory suitcoat, and had golden locks cascading down his shoulders over a chunky gold statement necklace.
Power couple Winnie Harlow, famed model, and Kyle Kuzma, power forward for the Lakers, dressed as Black cinema icons Dorothy Dandridge & Harry Belafonte in the 1954 film Carmen Jones. These actors really opened the door for Black people in film and became the first on-screen Black love story. Dorothy Dandridge was the first Black woman to be nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award.
Sarah Michelle Gellar went full head to toe costume with her replication of Effie Trinket, District 12 escort from The Hunger Games. Sarah put on a curly blonde wig and had her face caked with white makeup, pink lipstick and furry pink eyebrows. The look was complemented with orange monarch butterflies detailed in her wig as well as the collar of her coral-colored blouse.
Cardi B dressed in a beautiful, classic Medusa costume with a snaketail covering her lower body. She sported a golden bra and golden embellishments on her waistline above her snake tail. Cardi was dripping in gold jewelry from rings to bracelets to armbands to necklaces. She topped off the costume with a collection of golden snakes atop her head.
Foxy Brown came as a two-for-one between actress Skai Jackson and Real Housewife Marlo Hampton. Skai’s look stems from Foxy’s album Ill Na Na, Marlo’s from the album Broken Silence.Skai wore a black leather, spaghetti strap, mini slip dress with a silver necklace and black lip, while Marlo wore a denim string bikini accented with gold jewelry and a Galliano for Christian Dior logo belt.
Doja Cat, in true Gen-Z, millennial fashion, did her costume reveal on TikTok. Where it lacked in costume effort, made up for it in performance quality. Doja did a lip dub to a clip from Tyra Banks’s The Tyra Show where she reveals her “BIGGEST BEAUTY SECRET EVER.”
Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade took daughter Kaavia James trick-or-treating in a wholesome group costume. Each of them took on the role of a s’mores ingredient — Dwyane the graham cracker, Gabrielle the Hershey’s chocolate and Kaavia the puffy little marshmallow. Tracy Union filled the position of the second graham cracker.
Actress Ryan Destiny took to Halloween as American singer Lauryn Hill with her dreadlocks, black tank, gold bracelets and hoop earrings.
Normani did a very simple, yet classic take on Selina Kyle’s portrayal of Catwoman in the iconic black latex catsuit with white stitching across the suit. Diamonds are a girl’s best friend, a cat’s best friend is a bullwhip.
Antoni Porowski, Queer Eye food expert, dressed up with his boyfriend as troll dolls! These trolls, however, have pot-stirring statements written across the bodice of their nude-coloreed bodysuits, making them ‘internet trolls.’
The Weeknd took his nerd Halloween costume to the next level with his recreation of Buddy Love, the main character in The Nutty Professor.
Though there was some stiff competition, the ultimate winners of Halloween are rapper Saweetie and singer Ciara, both churning out several incredibly high quality Halloween costumes.
Saweetie’s first costume was a take on Rupaul in her very own Rupaul’s Drag Race ad. She wore a Venus Prototype metallic fuschia latex minidress, gold heels, hoop earrings, a blonde wig up to the heavens and a face beat for the gods with a bold pink lip. Her second costume was a collaboration with Tina Lawson and Angel Brinks on a Destiny’s Child album cover remake from Bootylicious to Boobylicious. The trio did a snippet lip sync from the album’s title track in pink 2000s glamor. Her third costume departed from the glamor of pop culture and entered the realm of fantasy with her costume as Marvel comic superhero Mystique. She stunned in a deep blue, scaly bodysuit highlighting her wonderful curve and sculpted abs and topped it off with a bright red, shoulder-length wig.
Ciara stunned in her recreation of Cardi B’s debut album, Invasion Of Privacy. Ciara wore the iconic checkered jacket, yellow wig, and white cat eye sunglasses. Her son Future Jr. took on the role of Offset with a black denim jacket, long dreadlocks, sunglasses, earrings and a chunky gold chain. Ciara turned hot girl for her second costume, Megan Thee Stallion. She dressed in the rapper’s pink outfit for her single Girls in the Hood that she released earlier this year. The outfit featured a plush peach halter bralette in a bandana patterned print with a matching hood over her head and braided gold hoop earrings with the phrased “Hot Girl” across the hoop. For her third look, Ciara recreated a look from yet another iconic rapper, Nicki Minaj, at the 2011 Grammys. This look featured an orange cheetah print mini dress with nude mesh scattered across the chest and upper arms with matching cheetah print leggings leading to a pair of matching cheetah print heels. Her wig is a blonde afro wig with black streak and cheetah print sprayed onto across the base of her head. Ciara’s final (YES, FOURTH) was a couples costume with her husband Russell Wilson. The couple stepped out as Janet Jackson and Busta Rhymes from Janet’s hit 1998 song What’s It Gonna Be. Each was in a skintight latex bodysuit — Russell in silver, Ciara in black. Russell had an afro and metallic silver embellishments all over his body while Ciara gave dominatrix Morticia Adams vibes with a floor-length ponytail and corseted bustle with silver metal ring detailing all over.