Getting ready for Halloween? In the city that never sleeps, Halloween, which falls on a Saturday this year, is the official start for all the holiday fun to come.
These days, it’s no surprise that Halloween has taken on its own character and is no longer just for the kiddies and candy. From glittering ghosts, ghastly goblins and wicked witches to wily warlocks, fashion can inspire any Halloween transformation.
New York’s annual Halloween traditions and highlights include the annual Greenwich Village Halloween Parade, now in its 53rd year, with creative costumes, puppetry and, of course, the Michael Jackson “Thriller” dance along. Model Heidi Klum puts Hollywood makeup magic on for her celebrity-filled red carpet bash while Bette Midler gathers friends for her yearly Hulaween gala to benefit the New York Restoration Project. But let’s get real, the best Halloween parties and costumes are always the ones you create yourself.
WWD has covered Halloween parties and festivities for decades. This year, I went back into the archives to pull a few fashion runway moments, past and present, to stir the imagination of anyone looking to get in the spirit.
In the 1970s, Betsey Johnson followed the Yellow Brick Road before “Wicked,” while Thierry Mugler and Claude Montana often took us out of this world. Designer Franco Moschino, purveyor of everything from kitsch to glitz, gave us emojis in the 1990s, before they were a thing. His high-fashion clowns, bears and other quirks always deliver.
From Commes des Garçons’ 2013 crafty flat paper doll silhouettes to Simone Rocha’s ballerina and Thom Browne’s “A Bug’s Life” spring 2026 shows, making your own costume is definitely worth the effort.
The inspiration doesn’t stop at the runway. Halloween films with less gore and more fashion such as “Hocus Pocus,” “Carrie,” and “Practical Magic,” to “Beetlejuice” and “Edward Scissorhands,” are ripe for interpretation. Historical films and television dramas also come to mind. Think Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette,” Shonda Rhimes’ “Bridgerton,” and the just released, fresh take on “Sense and Sensibility.” For the perfect fashion replay, consider John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s “Love Story” or “The Devil Wears Prada.” The possibilities are endless.
From WWD and the Fairchild Archives here are 30 fashion-to-costume, runway moments perfect for reinterpreting, your way, for Halloween.