Halloween costumes are inspired by news headlines. Here's what's trendy this year

Halloween is on Friday, which means people are either putting the finishing touches on their costume or getting excited to see how others react.

As always, some party-goers will be donning costumes that are inspired by recent headlines.

Amanda Kehrberg, a Ph.D. student at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School and KJZZ's resident pop culture expert, joined The Show to talk about what’s popular this year and why some of us decided to dress up as the news.

Full conversation

MARK BRODIE: Amanda, good morning.

AMANDA KEHRBERG: Good morning.

BRODIE: So what's trendy in terms of, like, newsy Halloween costumes this year?

KEHRBERG: Oh, my gosh, there's — I mean, just in the last couple weeks now we have the Louvre jewelry thieves entering the fray, very easy costume. Just kind of get a little construction vest and some costume jewelry, you're good to go. I think couples costume: the Coldplay kiss-cam, Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift.

BRODIE: Naturally.

KEHRBERG: Multiple versions. Inflatables will continue to be big because everybody has them from going to protests. I think we'll probably see some Labubus, some "Lafufus." Katy Perry in space. Aunt Gladys from "Weapons." So many options this year.

BRODIE: Why is it so appealing to people to dress up as, like, people in current events?

KEHRBERG: You know, I think, I would put my nerd cap on and say that one of the ways that we build community in post modernity is by understanding references. So like our media, you know, is this crazy mix right now of low culture, high culture, news, pop culture, like, everything, right? And so, partly, we get this, like, warm, fuzzy feeling when we understand a reference.

BRODIE: Like we're in on the joke.

KEHRBERG: Yeah, yeah, it is. So it's like everything becomes a potential in-joke. Everything becomes an opportunity to feel belonging to this sense of time and place. And we saw that, you know, with the rise of super referential shows like "Family Guy," you know, "South Park," like all of these things that just speak to this embeddedness that we all have every day in an information and cultural overload.

BRODIE: Well, so like, how do people try to navigate that? Because, as we know, media is so fractured, and a YouTube channel that gets hundreds of thousands of views might be totally foreign to somebody else. So how do you, like — what is something that we're all connected to? I think most people know about the Louvre heist, and if you're dressed as that — like, that's something that was in the news.

But like, if you're referring to a character on a show or, you know, in a YouTube video or on some meme somewhere, like, I would imagine there's some number of people who just aren't gonna get it.

KEHRBERG: Oh, absolutely. In that sense, I think maybe that can be helpful at a Halloween party, especially where you're meeting a lot of new people, because if — hey, you know what? We're all tired of talking about what we do as a job. So if you want to talk about what is your hyper fixation from your corner of the internet, from the community in which, yeah, your media-fragmented self ends up enjoying so much of your time, that's a great thing to talk about.

I mean, I, you know, I'll mention my costume this year is a little — it's not really niche, but it might be at parties I'm going to. I'm going as, essentially, an unofficial mascot of the Vanderbilt football team. It's out of the YouTube channel, SEC Shorts, and they do really, really great comedy about the Southeastern Football Conference.

And it's so fun. It's what I look to forward to every Monday morning. Nick Saban, former, you know, "GOAT" football coach of Alabama, just wore this costume on college game day. But yeah, I will be explaining this a lot.

Nick Sanchez

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KJZZ

BRODIE: Right. Well, so this brings up the balance that seems to happen because, like, I would think, if I saw you at a Halloween party, I would think, "that's a really cool costume, Amanda," but I would have no idea what the reference was. So, like, what's the balance between, like, not spending your entire time at a party explaining what your costume is?

KEHRBERG: That's a good question. I think that's an important thing to think through. But, at the same time it's like, you know, the rhetorical world of the internet and digital culture is so much about being clever, being witty, being funny, right? Like, we all speak in humor now, from corporations to politics.

So it's like the internet reframes everything into binary and into humor. So, I think even if your costume is something that you have to explain, once people get it or, you know, it means something to you that you came up with it and it's funny and it's clever and it's got layers, you know, I say go for it.

BRODIE: Well, it kind of sounds like it's a way to like introduce yourself maybe to people you don't know, like, "hey, based on my costume, this is something that I find interesting or something that I find funny or something I find ironic."

KEHRBERG: I think that's a really good point, because if you think about, like, kind of the classic Halloween costumes, if you're showing up as a witch, a ghost, you know, a ghoul, like, that's not really saying anything about you, right?

BRODIE: Other than that you don't have a whole lot of creativity these days, right? If you're above a certain age. Like, kids are great, but as, like, as an adult, like, I haven't — I don't go to Halloween parties a ton — but I don't see a lot of grownups dressed up as ghosts.

KEHRBERG: No, no, right. The ones who are dressed as ghosts are the ones who ghosted the party and are at home. But yeah, no, I think it's a great way to get to introduce ourselves and, and say, like, "This is something that's meaningful to me." In a way, it's like, you know, we're all doing that all the time now, right? We all have to find ways to curate some introduction to ourselves, whether it's in a one-line bio on Instagram, or our profile on Facebook or Bluesky, you know, whatever it is, right? So in that way, we've turned costumes into that too. It's like, here's something about who I am. Here's something, you know, about my tastes, my preferences, my joys, my obsessions. Yeah.

BRODIE: I mean, so what went into your thinking of going as the unofficial Vanderbilt mascot? What, like, what are you trying to — what are you trying to get across to people that you maybe don't know?

KEHRBERG: You know, I think a lot of people don't know how obsessed I am with college football. So, I think that'll be a fun thing to get to talk about.

BRODIE: That won't be a secret after Friday, will it?

KEHRBERG: No, no. And also, I'd just be — I was really, really thinking pragmatically, comfort wise, and what do I already own? Like, I can already go as a Vanderbilt fan very easily.

BRODIE: OK.

KEHRBERG: And if I just add, you know, a crown, a cape, and a king's staff, I'm pretty much good to go. I've got to get some wraparound sunglasses sometime. I'll stop at Walgreens, we'll call it a day.

BRODIE: So, like, do you have a sense, like, do you have — I assume you have friends who are also dressing up and going to parties, are they also dressing up as sort of current events?

KEHRBERG: Yes. Yeah. One of my friends is going to be a French press this year, which is — I don't know how she's going to execute.

BRODIE: Is she a big coffee fan?

KEHRBERG: But she is French. Yeah. And you know what? Last year I saw a lot of Olympics viral moments at Halloween parties. Yeah.

BRODIE: Interesting.

KEHRBERG: Which was a lot of fun.

BRODIE: Yeah. Alright. We'll have to wait for next year for the Winter Olympics.

KEHRBERG: Yes. Yeah.

BRODIE: A lot of people showing up as snowboarders, or alpine skiers or something.

KEHRBERG: It's terrible for us in Arizona. Sometimes it's over 100 still here.

BRODIE: Bring your own snow. Alright, that is Amanda Kehrberg, a Ph.D. student at ASU's Walter Cronkite School. Amanda, good as always to talk to you. Thank you.

KEHRBERG: Thank you. Happy Halloween.