5 Costume Ideas You Should Most Definitely Avoid This Halloween
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Halloween, the holiest of gay holidays, is quickly approaching. When else can you dress up in an over-the-top costume and party ’til dawn? (OK, for some of us, that’s just Friday night, but still.) Fancy feathers, radiant rhinestones and sparkling sequins, oh my! The LGBT community takes pride in embracing all things camp on Halloween. But being over-the-top or campy is one thing; sporting a tastelessly shocking costume is another. There’s a fine line between provocative and offensive. Before you start planning your one-of-a-kind Halloween outfit, make sure to avoid these bad Halloween costume ideas.
These are the top 5 bad Halloween costume ideas:
1. Trump’s Tantrums
Trump has made several hilarious gaffes since he took office. We’re confident the streets will be full of different takes on covfefe costumes. But not everything Trump said has been quite so funny. Instead, his incessant tantrums have mostly produced ignorant comments like “Build the Wall” or “Hang the Gays.”
Unfortunately, some people see Trump’s hateful comments as a money-making opportunity. The above costume from Party City looks juvenile and cheap. Save yourself from embarrassment.
Not to be outdone by Party City, Amazon also features a pot-stirring “Build the Wall” costume. Amazon claims the outfit is political satire and isn’t meant to offend. (We’re not sure they understand what satire is.) Either way, this Halloween costume is tasteless and unflattering.
2. Clowns
Clowns are all the rage these days: Pennywise from the blockbuster movie It, those killer clowns from AHS: Cult, the Insane Clown Posse. For many people, a clown outfit is a reliable last-minute Halloween costume idea.
Do us a favor and skip the clown costume for the next few years. If we want to see real sinister clowns we’ll turn on Fox News and watch the Harlequin-In-Chief and his clown car full of racists spewing bile year round.
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3. Disaster Victims
The 2014 disappearance of Malaysian Flight 370 and the horrific Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 dominated the news cycle a few years ago. But these horrible events didn’t prevent some people from dressing up as the victims of those disasters. They thought they were showing off a smart, on-trend sense of humor, but in our humble opinion these costumes were total failures.
2017 marks another year with a staggering number of disasters around the world. The earthquake in Mexico City, Hurricane Irma and the horrific Las Vegas shooting are just a few disasters that took place this year.
A dark sense of humor can be a great thing, but maybe think twice before taking someone else’s misfortune and turning it into a punchline.
4. Controversial Historical & Popular Figures
Are you toying with the idea of dressing up as Confederate General Robert E. Lee? Or contemplating dressing up as Harvey Weinstein, the sexual predator who’s been making headlines for the past few weeks? (This guy already did.)
Also, please don’t dress up in a white shirt with khaki pants and accessorizes your outfit with a Tiki torch. Even as a joke, that’s not exactly fashion-forward. Plus Richard Spencer will never be a trendsetter in our book … well, unless you include that trend of Nazis getting punched out.
5. Cultural Appropriation
You know, this is when you take an idea from a culture not your own and apply it without genuinely understanding its meaning. It’s usually done without malice, but that doesn’t make it any less exploitative. One solid rule of thumb: If your costume involves blackface — DON’T.
Case in point: Dancing With the Stars alum Julianne Hough dressed up as Orange is the New Black‘s Crazy Eyes, and no one was laughing. It was a bad Halloween costume idea and an epic fail.
Oh, and don’t drape a white sheet over your body and call it a “costume.” You may be going for Casper the Friendly Ghost, but people will think you’re a member of the KKK.
Featured image by dranzi via iStockphoto.com
