Let’s talk about Halloween a bit, shall we?

As a costume designer I can tell you the last time I got excited about Halloween was for my daughter’s benefit, back in the 80’s and 90’s. We NEVER, ever shopped, because why? I could make anything she wanted, and so I did.

Now that she is grown I wander through the aisles at Target looking only for decorative items, but I happened to wander into a Spirit store the other day in search of a pair of tights and HOLY MOLY.

First of all, just let me say this – the staff were VERY friendly and from the answers given to other customers they seemed to know their stock. I had nothing but a positive experience, partly due to the amount of gore that was NOT present in this particular store. A few years ago, when I was doing the Sew Weekly challenges I needed a hat for a western outfit so I ran into the Spirit store in Walnut Creek and the biggest display inside the door was dismembered body parts. Hundreds of them; arms, legs, feet, hands, they even had a head in a mock-up refrigerator. Trying to explain to the staff how offensive that was was an exercise in futility and I’ve steered clear of these stores for a reason. The store I was in the other night had a few bags of fingers and ears discreetly hidden in amongst the bugs and hair clips. <shrug>

Lest we think I’m a spoil sport here, I’m not. I’m not trying to tell you how to celebrate, I personally don’t think setting up a display that even hints at victims of a notorious serial killer is either cool, fun or tasteful. There was a controversy a couple of years ago about a bloody skinned corpse dog that you could “drag around by a chain” and a Cecil the Lion killer costume last year. People think they’re funny because we’ve blurred the lines of funny/ghastly to include all that is ‘gory’ and there are still lines, people. Lines that ought not be crossed. Only click on those links if you have a strong stomach.

So that begs the question – what is up?

Others have written about why we like to be scared. I’m going to go a different direction, to me the day has always been about being able to dress up as something we fantasize about. Maybe try something out we normally can’t get away with (for many years the number one rental was men wanting to be women, some caricatures, but many just vampy. Don’t know why, don’t care, it’s all supposed to be about having fun and I support that).

And since we’re less than 2 weeks away from a very contentious election, where we have the first female candidate running for President against a man that can best be described as racist, misogynistic, homophobic and just a plain old asshat, what is it about our culture that, in many small ways, has been saying that kind of behavior is OK?

So let’s see what I found at this store the other night and why it promotes the kind of environment where women are treated as objects and see what kind of legacy we’re leaving for our kids, m’k?

(All photos of bagged costumes were taken by me in the store, the ones with the white background were downloaded from the Spirit site. My phone ran out of battery part way through 🙁 )

 Right here. This.

Boys get serious outfits.

Girls get cleavage.

These are a couple of the choices for men’s Police uniforms. There is NO female equivalent of the men’s outfit.The other interesting thing to note – sizes. The men’s costumes go all the way up to X-Large 48/50 chest. The woman’s version goes up to M/L 8-12.

Size 12. THAT’S their version of a Large.

Here’s an example of two outfits done RIGHT:

Her skirt is short but covers her crotch (Hallelujah!) and it isn’t overly sexual. It’s cute, they’d be cute together.

NOTE: I’m not saying it’s not OK to have fun at Halloween, and if that version of it means you dress up in a more overt manner than the rest of the year then go for it! I’m saying that having NO OTHER CHOICES than the overtly sexual is limiting and debasing.

Moving on:

If you want to be a surgeon or doctor then the guys have choices:

The women do not.I can’t even begin a conversation about the shoes.

Again, if you want to be a sexy doctor then GO FOR IT. But if you want to emulate an actual doctor you’ll have to buy the men’s version.

Try selling this idea to an 11 year old.

And then there are these:

Just so you don’t lose the full impact of this ensemble, it is denoted as “Dr. Howie Feltersnatch, Gynecologist”. Is this a Simpson’s character? I’m out of the loop on this so if someone could fill me in that would be great. Otherwise its just Ewww and I’m old.Dr. Seymour Bush.

No. Just no.

I’m trying to find SOME justification for this but no. And I keep trying to figure out WHAT KIND OF GUY wants to go to a party as a gynecologist? Does he REALLY think some woman is going to let him ‘examine’ her? And ladies….never mind. I can’t even ask.

What if you want to be a nurse?

Because it comes with TWO syringes… And we also have –Ummm…

I’m sure every nurse wishes she had a pair of these!

I’m not saying you shouldn’t have fun but THESE ARE YOUR ONLY CHOICES if you want to dress up as a nurse!

(Caveat – when I went to their website I found a few other options but all are form fitting and all have considerable cleavage showing. This is the only outfit that doesn’t show everything)

And the hits just keep on coming:

As far as ‘couples costumes’ go this isn’t bad on the surface – he’s wine, she’s cheese, it’s cheesy. But look at the label on the wine bottle – “4 Play Have a little, get a lot”.
<shaking my head>

Rape culture alive and well.

It’s electrifying. Or not…

And there is THIS:

Need I say more?
But there IS more:

“Includes: Skeleton Jumpsuit, Mask with Attached Hood, Gloves, Faux Phallus and Air Pump.”

So you can be disgusting and no one knows who you are?

If you’re going to an adult party or doing adult things with a consensual partner, Huzzah! But would you really want to bump into this guy on the street?

Then, just because we can’t leave the women out of the Super Tacky WTH category, we have this:

“One size fits most – fits up to a size 10”, complete with fake felt boobs with nipples, super short skirt, tacky sash and a ‘t-shirt’.Sigh.

There are only 4 categories of “Occupations” being sold currently – Cops & Convicts, Doctors, Firefighters & Military. Let’s go back to Law Enforcement.

Nice copy, one size fits most, not bad. If you’re a man…Not terrible but seriously, BOOBS. And small sizes.

Wait for it….Because EVERYTHING HAS TO BE SEXUALIZED.

Once again, I’m not saying don’t be sexy, don’t have fun. I’m asking for female equality when it comes to costumes! If these companies can do decent male versions they ought to be able to produce a decent female version. I’m guessing their arguments are 1) they don’t sell and 2) why not buy the male version?

Here are my answers:

1. They’ve conditioned the market, via the culture, to make everything sexual. We’ve been so inured to being objects that when a Presidential candidate says things like “I grabbed her by her …..” there are thousands of men AND women who THINK THAT’S OK and spend countless hours defending those remarks! (And yes, there are thousands/millions of people who called him and everyone like him out on crap like that but the fact that this country is STILL having that conversation is sad. And more than I want to go into here so please leave your remarks on the political pages and let’s just talk about clothing here, ok?)
2. Buying the male version is fine. Why not take a picture of the same outfit on a woman and market it as such? They could have done that with the doctor and surgeon outfits but didn’t.

Any defect in the cost of viagra any of these can lead to ED, including high lipid counts and too many liver enzymes. Tentax Forte: http://www.midwayfire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/September-21-2015.doc acquisition de viagra Himalaya Tentex Forte is a non-hormonal and safe sexual stimulant. So, men with this habit facing ED, should immediately quit alcohol cheap viagra india check these guys out usage to get out of their money. Less viagra prices http://www.midwayfire.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Pension-Valuation-as-of-09302016-data.pdf than 20% of male sexual impotence cases have a catastrophic effect on one’s health. And what if you’re a kid? Shopping with your parent? And you ask for a police costume? How do the teenagers working at Spirit explain all THIS?? ESPECIALLY if you’re a girl.

If you’re a kid and want to be a cop check out Target’s version:

Target gets ALL THE POINTS for their version of a Police Officer. Yay Target!!!

Now let’s talk about Firefighters:It’s not <so> bad. The fingerless gloves seem weird to me but whatever.

Ummmm….Sigh.

Interestingly, THIS is the men’s version of ANYTHING Firefighter-like:

Note when they mean to show ACTUAL skin they’re using a painted t-shirt to denote physique. Not like the girls stuff which has real skin out for all to see.

If you’re a guy and want to dress anything close to a real firefighter you’re going to have to go to Party City for this version:

Let’s move on to the Military.

Want to be a fighter pilot? Cool. Here’s a decent version of the jackets worn in “Top Gun”:

But if you’re a girl…

You even get a choice between being Maverick or Goose. Did they pay royalties for that?

If you want to do Camo you can do this…

Or this…

I’m not sure how many Paratroopers wear three inch heeled boots but OK, this is Halloween and we’re supposed to be having fun. At least you can zip the jumpsuit up higher if you choose. Again, a size large is considered a 12/14 so we’re telling women that “LARGE” is a 14. No. But I’d like to know what real female paratroopers have to say about this.

SERIOUSLY??It’s called “Desert Dolly Costume”. The fishnets are prime. Might as well call this the “Bundy Wet Dream” outfit or give it to a Trumpette.

Sailors?

Not bad. But the female equivalents aren’t remotely close.

This was the least offensive thing I could find.

You can go a whole other direction, go to the Rockabilly side:

She’s adorable.

And here is where my eyebrows shot nearly off my face:

She’s a “Thing”. And is “Shore” a riff on “Sure”?

Let’s separate out the words and the picture. The words are HIDEOUS. She’s not even a person, she’s a THING. The outfit itself is kind of cute, in a musical theater sort of way. It’s short, it shows cleavage but if you’re going for cutesy and bringing out a side of you you only trot out once a year then go for it. The naming of this is a clear Marketing Failure. #Failure

Moving on to Astronauts – somehow this didn’t get a nod in “Occupations” but here we are:

Not bad. but then there’s this –

The make-up, the cleavage, the SHOES, the make-up! Sigh.

But once again, Target gets it right:

How hard would it be to make a big version of this and take a pic with a girl or woman wearing it? Seriously, I want to know.

Now we’re going to move on to the stuff that shouldn’t even exist.

It’s a culture, not a costume. #appropriation

Are you kidding me? No. Just no.

The boobs and the strapless and short skirt and Ugh.

White guy wearing a ceremonial headdress and  WTF??Another white dude in a hideous knock-off.

Blonde hair, high heels and bright pink. I think I threw up in my mouth a little as I typed this.And then there’s this guy, in a white t-shirt under a red shirt.

“Hey Greg, the model didn’t show up today, you’ve got a nice red shirt there. Put this on and smile for us, we’re on a tight schedule….”

How about NO? Or even HELL NO?

And let’s not leave the kids out –

And then there’s THIS:

I can’t even….Who in the HELL thought THIS was a good idea?? ESPECIALLY the placement of the “Thank You” and the “Enjoy” on each boob?? @realDonaldTrump
I don’t have enough UGGGHHH’S for this ^ or the next one:

And we’ll wrap it up with this. Because OH HELL NO.

So this is the message we’re putting out there for everyone. Boys get realistic, girls get sexy. Most of our choices are ‘sexy’ when given the opportunity they could give us equal efforts.

This is what the average consumer is being fed as “cool” and “now”.

Adults can tell the difference and make choices, but what we can show the kids around us is a confusing message that we think doesn’t matter because “it’s only one day a year’. Is it any wonder that the war on women goes on?

Update

While out running errands today I drove by the Spirit store in Walnut Creek so I popped in. Much larger store, larger selection and low and behold these:

Impressive.

Nice.

Yes!

Ummm…

Well, that was too good to last.

Ironically I spotted this the same time two girls, who looked to be about 11, found it as well:

“Anita Bribe, that’s funny.”

“I don’t get it.”

“I-need-a-bribe, get it now?”

“Oh! That IS funny! Does it come in my size?”

Sigh. But this suit made me smile, I wish I knew someone who would wear a complete suit WITH tie in this print 🙂

So what are your favorite hits and misses? One of my friends said her idol growing up was Marie Curie and wondered how she would make a ‘costume’ that portrayed her. I’m kicking around the idea of doing a line of “costumes” that portray real heros, since they don’t (usually) wear a cape. Like a star printed vest for a Neil deGrasse Tyson, or a pretty floral skirt with headdress for Frida Khalo, you get the idea. There is THIS website, that shows you numerous historical female outfits and gives you a history lesson.

Chime in with what you’d like to see and you never know…