The best pop culture costumes for Halloween 2023

Tom Sandoval’s deafening fashion sense and Ariana Madix’s season-long glow-up make dressing as reality TV’s biggest breakup tricky for Halloween. For Tom, a white flat-brimmed hat one size too big, a lightning bolt necklace, and white-painted nails are musts. Most Extras Tom needs flares and an ab-heavy body suit; Classic Tom, a V-neck deeper than the Mariana Trench and painted-on skinny jeans will do. For Ariana, one can do Sad Ariana, consisting of a large sweatshirt, leggings, and tissues. Her reunion revenge dress would be far more recognizable and could be made by cutting up an old blazer and using some red duct tape. Want to be Most Extra? A third could dress as Bambi, a nod to Lala’s nickname for Raquel Leviss. [Matt Schimkowitz]

In the summer of 2023, we were all rocked by a simple truth: when the rhythm is glad, there is nothing to be sad. You can immortalize this sentiment by dressing as DJ Crazy Times (a.k.a. the song’s architect, comedian Kyle Gordon) and Biljana Electronica. All it takes is some 2000s-esque sunglasses, slouchy pants, a vest, and a spaghetti strap baby tee. The esteemed DJ’s got an all black color scheme, but Ms. Biljana works with white and pink and a good blue eyeshadow to boot. [Mary Kate Carr]

The possibilities are endless for a group *NSYNC costume. Pull four of your friends together and go for a more polished look, a la the boy band’s recent VMA reunion (don’t forget the J.C. glasses!) or go old school, with a lot of denim and even more hair gel. You’d be forgiven for skipping Lance’s frosted tips, though—nobody wants to relive that era, even for Halloween. [Emma Keates]

Taylor Swift has plenty of good outfits to choose from in 2023—or, as many of her fans did during the Eras Tour shows, dress in the style of one of Taylor’s many eras. But if you’re looking for a couples costume, you can go one of two ways. One: the problematic version with Matty Healy, wearing all black, perhaps a cigarette dangling from the mouth. The other: jock hero Travis Kelce, an easy costume if you join the many others who have purchased his jersey in recent months. Or you could go in a totally different direction and dress as an Eras tour Swiftie: Taylor merch, friendship bracelets, perhaps a Lover star painted over one eye, and an encyclopedic knowledge of her song lyrics. [Mary Kate Carr]

While the Renaissance Tour has included a number of instantly iconic looks—the news anchor bee, for one—Beyoncé herself decreed that she wanted to see people in chrome in the audience during Virgo season. Perhaps the chrome leotard with the circular cutout on the stomach is the way to go (as both fans and queens have already discovered). The nude catsuit with strategically placed hands is also a good bet—though it may require you to get creative if you want to make it at home. [Drew Gillis]

The easiest and potentially most fun Halloween costume for 2023 arrived at the top of the year with M3GAN. The movie’s promotion made it plenty clear they want everyone to dress up as this mean, artificially intelligent killing machine. All you need is a blonde wig, a pink dress with a bow, a long-sleeved striped shirt, white socks, and most important of all, the world’s most sinister smile. Bonus points to whoever dresses up as M3GAN and is able to pull off her now legendary hallway dance. [Saloni Gajjar]

It feels like forever ago—and the baby she announced has since been born—but Rihanna’s viral Super Bowl performance was, indeed, this year. Grab your reddest jumpsuit (and a Fenty compact for utmost authenticity) to be RiRi herself, or make it a group costume (for a group of any size!) with some white cropped jackets and dark shades to be the “We Found Love” singer’s marshmallow dancers. Just remember: you still have to learn the choreography yourself. [Emma Keates]

Whether you feel more kinship with the writers in the WGA or the actors in SAG/AFTRA (who are still on strike), you can show solidarity with a costume representing Hot Labor Summer. If you don’t have access to a real sign, you can always make your own; there are plenty of great examples to be found online. What else to wear? A union T-shirt, a hat for sun protection, and good walking shoes are a must (but not too good; remember, you’re on strike). [Cindy White]

Why not go the sexy route this Halloween, and roll up to the club as this year’s most bangable, head-ripping giant mushroom monster? You can either play it straight with a lumpy sack, some pillows, and a whole lot of fungi, or poke fun at people’s odd thirst for the truly heinous villain with some fishnets and a little bit of imagination. Just try not to bite anyone in the process. (Or do—they might like it.) [Emma Keates]

Yellowjackets is such a good costume pick that the show itself even had a character don the iconic blue uniform for a Halloween party. You can dress as a pre-crash Yellowjacket by grabbing any blue jersey or T-shirt and sticking a yellow number and a bee on it (and maybe a little bit of fake blood). Or go a little crazier and become the mysterious Antler Queen herself, with a white sheet, chopped up wig to glue on, and bit of netting to cover your face. Just don’t bring the wilderness with you to November. [Emma Keates]

Mario and Luigi costumes are easy, but how do you make it clear that you put thought into these costumes? By explicitly doing Mario and Luigi from the movie: Pair that Mario hat with a Star-Lord costume and compliment your Luigi hat with some ratty sweats and a green army jacket (you may need to remind people that Chris Pratt and Charlie Day did the voices, though). [Sam Barsanti]

If you have an old Little Mermaid costume laying around from the early ’90s (or any year since), you’re in luck, because Ariel is once again relevant this year. This is an easy one to pick up at your local Spirit Halloween, but you can DIY with a green skirt and purple bra of some sort. (Check out one of the plethora of Disney bounding videos if you’d like a subtle way to convey “Ariel” with your outfit.) If you’d like to be a mermaid but are looking for a different megacorporation to support, there’s always Dua Lipa’s Mermaid Barbie fit. [Mary Kate Carr]

Like it or hate it, one of this year’s viral moments is how men spend too much time thinking about the Roman Empire. Is it true? For a lot of them, probably, which means Halloween is the best time to bring out your best Gladiator outfit to stay on theme. Or, another way to have fun here is to dress up as your version of the Roman Empire; i.e., the thing you can’t stop thinking about. Is it true crime? Is it astrology? Is it your favorite book? The world is your oyster. [Saloni Gajjar]

Add a little spookiness to your Spears by dressing up as the pop star’s immediately iconic and somewhat infamous knife-dancing Instagram video. Go barefoot in a crop top and bikini bottom, with a pair of prop knives, and you’ve got the Britney Spears look down. As a bonus, you can continue to support struggling prop stores, at least one of which saw a huge increase in prop knife sales after she posted her puzzling but mesmerizing performance. [Mary Kate Carr]

One of 2023’s best new films, Across The Spider-Verse, gives fans plenty of fun opportunities to dress up. This doesn’t just include beloved characters like Miles Morales, Peter Parker, or Gwen Stacy from the first movie, but also newly introduced figures like Miguel O’Hara, Jessica Drew, and the coolest of the lot, Spider-Punk. There are a lot of options to choose from to update the classic Spider-Man costume this year, and for that, we are thankful. [Saloni Gajjar]

Got purple clothing items? Put them on. All of them. More. Paint your face purple. Dye your hair purple. Paint your hands purple. Forget everything but purple. Then get an empty milkshake cup from McDonald’s to carry around. Have your friends dress like corpses if you need a group costume for the full meme experience. [Sam Barsanti]

It’s easy to dress up as Portia (Haley Lu Richardson) from The White Lotus’ second season. Just mix and match every item in your closet and bam, you’re the Gen Z character ready to traipse around Italy, complaining about every second you’re there (for free!). In all seriousness, Portia’s outfits are messy but perfect for the role. Pair a green swan vest with jeans, a colorful beach cardigan held together by the flimsiest knot over a zebra swimsuit, or an insane attempt to go incognito by wearing a hat, bandana, and sunglasses over your extremely basic outfit. [Saloni Gajjar]

All you need to pull off a truly remarkable Chucky costume is a red wig that’s spiky, short, and shapeless. Pair that with blue overalls and a striped, colorful shirt, carry a knife—a fake knife—and go around laughing maniacally, and you’re set. Don Mancini’s tiny villain has been around since the late ’80s, but he’s still topical thanks to Syfy’s terrific slasher series Chucky, which makes him a fun and timely endeavor as a Halloween costume. (If only everyone had Brad Dourif’s voice to complete the look, huh?). [Saloni Gajjar]

Another celebrity couple’s costume for 2023 is Ariana Grande and her new beau, Ethan Slater. For her, a high ponytail and sharp winged eyeliner always work, maybe paired with a big sweatshirt that’s a little too long in the sleeve. Slater is less recognizable, so try dressing as his most memorable role to date, SpongeBob: yellow face paint, white collared shirt with a red tie, khaki shorts and white knee socks. Alternatively, you could dress up as Wicked’s Elphaba and Boq, though that might be even more niche. [Mary Kate Carr]

Billy the Puppet is another costume that has been around a while but has become relevant again via Saw X. Pick up a Billy mask, throw on a black suit and a bowtie, and you’re good to go—if you’re really feeling the Saw spirit, get a red tricycle to go with it. [Mary Kate Carr]

Lana Del Rey once sang about being a waitress wearing a white dress, but this year we saw her pop up in a blue dress behind the counter of a Waffle House, a task she apparently did just because she thought it would be fun. Pair a blue shirt with some black shorts, a Lana nametag and the highest hairdo you can muster and you’ve got yourself a scrumptious costume. [Drew Gillis]

The perfect costume for a couple with two young children. One adult has big, wild hair and keeps saying “hoo-ah” or “Dunkaccino,” the other does kind of a squinty face and has a mole on their cheek. The babies can just be babies, since Al Pacino and Robert De Niro just had babies. [Sam Barsanti]

Why go as just one character when you can be two, and cheekily reference the pop-culture event of the year while you’re at it? This one should be easy to source from your local thrift store. Just get a suit jacket, tie, and suspenders in gray or brown. Top it with a fedora and pin a “K-6" button to the lapel. Then, add a pink gingham skirt (or anything super feminine) on the bottom and pink high heels. Mix and match accessories as you wish and voilà! You’re a walking double feature. [Cindy White]