Here Are the Top Halloween Costumes for 2018, According to the Internet
For some, the beginning of fall brings forth the question: Is this the year I'll get over my pumpkin spice obsession? For others—particularly, the pop-culture-obsessed—there's but one thing on their minds: What am I going to be for Halloween?!
Maybe you've been planning the perfect, most accurate ABBA-inspired costume since you first watched Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. But if you're only now starting to think about what you could dress up as this year, the Internet has some ideas: Pinterest and Lyst have teamed up yet again to release a report of the top 10 Halloween costumes for 2018, based on their combined pool of data. The results range from the obvious (a Wakanda warrior, Edna Mode) to the surprising (Frida Kahlo, nineties icons) to the head-scratching (flamingos and…cows?) Over all, the ranking comes chock-full of fascinating insights—and some seriously good pop-culture-inspired costumes for Halloween 2018.
Check out Pinterest and Lyst's most popular costume ideas, ahead.
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Everett Collection1/10A cow
In tenth place, Pinterest and Lyst deems cows "this year’s hottest hipster Halloween look," inspired by Doja Cat's "Mooo!"—so it's more ironic and Internet-y than literal farm-inspired. According to Pinterest, pins for "cow makeup and costume inspiration" have increased almost 680 percent year over year; on Lyst, page views for cow-printed apparel have gone up by 138 percent in the last month.
Bettmann2/10Frida Kahlo
Historical figures—particularly those with iconic, easily recognizable looks—tend to come up more and more around Halloween time. And in 2018 it seems people keep coming back to artist Frida Kahlo for outfit inspiration (a reference Pinterest and Lyst credit to a retrospective in London's Victoria & Albert Museum and to a resurgence of the flower crown.) On Pinterest, there's been a 55 percent increase in "Frida-related costume searches," according to the report.
Reinhold Thiele3/10A cosmic fairy
You can put those celestial makeup skills to work on October 31: Pinterest and Lyst foresee the cosmic trend in beauty and fashion to combine with the classic fairy Halloween costume in 2018. Searches on "astro"-related terms increased by 33 percent year over year on Pinterest, while star-print apparel has gotten over 10,000 searches a month on Lyst.
Everett Collection4/10ABBA dancing queen
You can dance! You can jive! And you, too, can be a Dynamo this Halloween. The disco look has been trending, more broadly—Lyst reports that searches for patterned flares on the platform have gone up by 210 percent since June, but Mamma Mia, specifically, has been driving a lot of costume inspiration: According to Pinterest, saves for costumes inspired by the movie/musical have gone up 1,636 percent year over year.
Everett Collection5/10Edna Mode from The Incredibles
Over a decade later, and we finally got some more Edna Mode this summer, thanks to Incredibles 2. So don't be surprised when you come across many costumed folks rocking Edna Mode's very specific (and Rei Kawakubo–inspired) look. Pinterest has the data to back it up, noting a 669 percent increase in searches for Mode-inspired fashions.
Wolfgang Kaehler6/10A flamingo
The timeliness of this costume idea is hard to suss out—but, according to Pinterest and Lyst, the flamingo look is going to be big on Halloween, as searches for "flamingo"-related fashion terms have gone up 105 percent on Lyst and saves by 77 percent on Pinterest.
Everett Collection7/10Wakanda warrior from Black Panther
Grossing $1.3 billion worldwide, Black Panther became the superhero costume inspiration for 2018 (and 2019 and…). Recent Pinterest data confirms this: Searches for Wakanda-related costumes have gone up 504 percent year over year, with Princess Shuri proving to be a user favorite.
Photoshot8/10A '90s icon
Here's a Halloween costume you likely won't have to shop for, now that the nineties have fully come back: Because of a surge in pins for makeup and costume inspiration from the decade, as well as searches for seminal brands from the time like Buffalo and Tommy Hilfiger, Pinterest and Lyst foresee a lot of Spice Girls, Buffys, and Chers making the rounds on October 31.
Everett Collection9/10Anything Riverdale
We've established that Riverdale has given us some of the best fashiony Halloween costume ideas since Gossip Girl—and the Internet agrees. Pinterest reports saves for Riverdale-related costumes have increased by 316 percent in 2018; meanwhile, on Lyst, searches for a handful of the gang's staples (Peter Pan collar tops, sweatshirts, beanies) have consistently been going up since August 2018.
Everett Collection10/10Tonya Harding—specifically, from I, Tonya
The costumes in 2017's I, Tonya proved to be much more layered than one might initially think, given all the bedazzled bodysuits—and, clearly, they stuck with fans of the movie. On Pinterest, searches for "Tonya Harding" have gone up by 720 percent; while Lyst highlights that skater skirts and bejeweled leotards have consistently trended on the platform in 2018.
