By Ayla Saeed
Since coming to college I can safely say that the anticipation building up to October has been daunting. The question looming on everyone’s minds of what or who you are dressing up as does not only become a conversation topic but an integral part of every conversation in the month of October. However, it's not only deciding what you want to be, but how you want to be it. In the infamous words of Regina George, "In girl world, Halloween is the one night a year when a girl can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it." Although I would never refer to anyone’s costume as slutty, this sentiment still rings true. Not only is it socially acceptable, but it almost feels encouraged. Nevertheless, many girls still chose to go the funny route. For example, I saw two versions of a parrot, one “sexy” and the other more literal to its term, adorned with a whole lot more feathers and an ample amount of facepaint. Both costumes were absolutely phenomenal, just different.
A lot of the misconception about dressing “sexy” for Halloween has to do with the idea of “dressing for the patriarchy” when in reality, I genuinely believe that a lot of girls choose to dress sexy for themselves. Not entirely sweeping the idea under the carpet but providing another insight into it. This concept in specific is what got me thinking about what I like to call the “ever-looming October dilemma”.
When I came to college, I knew that Halloween would be a central part to my freshman experience. I would look back on that first year and remember it for the rest of my life as my first Halloween where I could dress however I pleased without the shackles of any adult judgment. The world was my oyster and I was bound to make the best out of my newfound freedom. In the debate between the two ideas of either dressing “sexy” or “funny,” I quickly realized that for the first time, I was very reliant on the opinions of people around me about my costume. To give some background: In the past I was a farmer, a packet of fun dip, and Jeffrey Bezos. Safe to say I usually went the more humorous route.
This year, however, it felt different.
I found that in college there seems to be an unspoken agreement with other girls about dressing however you please and that to me was also really exciting. I wondered if this shared camaraderie between everyone was also a factor when going the funny route for Halloween costume ideas. Although no one would outwardly object, the pressure to dress as a more socially acceptable “sexy” version of whatever you want to be for Halloween seemed to be looming. I knew that if I was going to be in a dirty frat basement wearing a bald cap or a foam suit It may make me look a bit out of place. I wanted to dress in something that I was comfortable in but also shared insight to myself. However, for some strange reason dressing funny in college equates to not caring about what you look like—which I don’t think could be more wrong. In my humble opinion, dressing as something out of the ordinary is really admirable and genuinely takes a lot of work and a whole lot of confidence.
When dressed as something someone might not deem “sexy” you get a fair amount of laughs, but also an equal amount of glares. Which may subsequently result in a deep self reflection, bald cap in hand. Something I really realized coming to college was that what you wear can very much influence how you feel, and on Halloweekend, there is no other way to feel than confident.
What I say however in response to the ever looming October dilemma is that funny IS sexy.
It genuinely doesn’t matter what you wear or even how you wear it. All that matters at the end of the day is that you're dressed for yourself. My personal decision this year resulted in an amalgamation of costumes involving Steve Irwin, John Lennon, Harry Potter, and a baseball player of some kind. I dressed in whatever I felt comfortable wearing (accepting the idea that it may or may not have been 40 degrees) and I admittedly felt like I was not only staying true to myself but feeling good too. In conclusion, life is too short to not be dressing exactly how YOU want on Halloween.
So to the queens I saw dressed as Colonel Sanders and a chicken, you guys killed it.