Why sexy costumes are so popular among women on Halloween Are we witnessing an act of empowerment or another concession to the male gaze? “In Girl World, Halloween is the one day a year when a girl can dress up like a total slut and no other girls can say anything else about it,” says Lindsay Lohan’s character in Mean Girls , delivering one of the most memorable lines from the film, along with what has become a leitmotif: “On Wednesdays, we wear pink.” Fashion historian Victoria Steele explained to The Face that although Hollywood costumes did not begin to be mass-produced until the 1930s, it was in the 1970s that sexy designs became popular. “That was when the sexual revolution of the 1960s reached people and there was women’s liberation, sexual liberation, and gay liberation,” says Steele, who stresses that costumes have always helped people transgress social norms.
She cites as an example the Countess of Castiglione, a mistress of Emperor Napoleon III , who used disguises to show more skin than she might have done in her everyday life without the costumes involved. In both horror and true crime films, women are often represented as attractive females on the verge of death. This can be another starting point when looking for inspiration.
It is pop culture itself that has created a sexual imagery that relates attractive women with terrifying situations. Costumes are not only an expression of creativity and fun, but they also play a crucial role in reproducing.