With Halloween around the corner, people are already rushing to Google to find the perfect costume for this year’s festivities. Popular sources of inspiration include hit movies such as “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie,” or the television shows “Ted Lasso”, and “Wednesday”.
Every year, as Halloween approaches, the hunt for the perfect costume begins (at least, in the United States). And fans of the spooky season aren’t just turning to traditional witch and vampire get-ups: many are taking inspiration from the year’s biggest movie and TV hits to find this year’s costume.
According to a study by lingerie brand Pour Moi based on Google searches, “Oppenheimer” tops the list of movies and series inspiring Halloween costumes this year, with a 2,400% increase in searches between last October and this month. Christopher Nolan’s film was one of the most eagerly awaited of the year.
This hype was notably boosted by another major movie release, “Barbie”. The critically acclaimed film has also won the hearts of Halloween revellers, taking fourth place in the list of most popular costume searches, with a 403% increase in queries.
In fact, thanks to Geta Gerwig’s record-breaker, gone is the colour black, the cobwebs, the ghosts, the witches’ broomsticks and the spooky pumpkins, replaced by an onslaught of pink, glamorous and sexy outfits and accessories, each more sleek, stylish and conventional than the next.
In second and third place, two TV series attracted particular interest from internet users. “Wednesday”, the Netflix show inspired by the Addams Family, came second with a 1,977% increase in searches, followed by “Yellowjackets” in third place, with a 750% increase in costume searches.
Released in cinemas after Halloween in 2022, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” comes fifth, with a 400% increase in searches.
Ten of the 15 most-searched costumes hail from TV shows. These include “Euphoria”, “The Last of Us”, “The Bear”, “Yellowstone”, “Succession”, “Only Murders In The Building”, “WandaVision”, and “Heartstopper.”
Last year, costumes inspired by the Netflix miniseries “Dahmer: Monster – The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” shocked eBay users despite being banned.