Coordinating costumes on Halloween with a special someone—whether your significant other or best friend—always makes the scariest night of the year a bit more fun. Now that you live at college, though, you may not want to buy a whole new costume you’ll only wear one night and then never again. Pop culture inspiration can provide one of the best ways to create a Halloween outfit you’ll love with items your likely already own or could incorporate into everyday or multiple special occasion outfits. Will you go as an iconic spooky couple? Or dress as a couple of recognizable divas? Your list of options runs as long as Halloween night itself.
Check out these 10 pop culture inspired pair costumes for Halloween that will definitely churn out plenty of compliments this spooky season:
1. Damian and Janis
Obviously, the Plastics sported plenty of iconic looks throughout Mean Girls. Damian and Janis, however, also come with their own set of recognizable and easily put-together outfits. Out of the two, Damian probably presents the simplest and quickest outfit to compile.
You have two options:
1) Go with the blue hoodie and sunglasses to recreate the “She doesn’t even go here” scene.
2) Find a plaid or other patterned button down, put a t-shirt or polo underneath, pull on some jeans and you got yourself a costume!
Janis’ most recognizable look, on the other hand, goes to her opening scene. Locate a large tank top and some fabric paint to write “RUBBISH” across the chest. Then you’ll only need a gray long sleeve, black pants, some colorful striped socks and black or dark converse. Plus, if you end up wanting to coordinate with a larger group, this costume duo can also easily expand by adding a Regina, Cady, Gretchen and Karen. Then you have your Ms. Norbury, your Principal Duvall, your Kevin and all your other Mathletes….
2. Cher and Dionne
Nothing says pop culture like Clueless (1995). With their signature plaid looks, Cher and Dionne costumes won’t cause you to search far and wide for the right pieces. While you could find some premade costume sets, piecing together these looks on your own can also prove a fun activity. Check out online shops or go to stores like Forever 21 for yellow plaid and black plaid skirts if you don’t already own one. Locate a yellow sweater vest for Cher and a red one for Dionne (ones with buttons make a more accurate look). In the shoe department, you’ll want white heels and knee-high socks for Cher and matching black ones for Dionne. Then you’ll just need white t-shirts for both of you—which you’ll probably already own. The matching plaid jackets definitely create the finishing touch, but you don’t need them to make your costumes recognizable. Extra points to anyone who can find a hat that finishes off Dionne’s look!
3. Ferris and Sloane
A timeless classic, the Ferris Bueller’s Day Off looks will always prove fun to recreate. Plus, you can incorporate the pieces that put these looks together into your wardrobe after Halloween ends. For Ferris, if you can’t find a sweater vest with the precise black and brown geometric pattern, you could fool plenty of movie lovers with cheetah print instead. Besides that, you’ll want to dig out a white t-shirt from your closet and some form of blue pants. You don’t need to scrounge around for the precise leather jacket Ferris wears but doing so could really tie the look together.
Sloan, meanwhile, requires a white long-sleeve shirt, gray shorts that reach just above the knee, a black belt, either a blue sweater vest or loose-fitting tank top, some form of a white jacket (ideally leather, but denim could also work) and white boots. If you know a third person that still needs a costume, invite them to join in by going as Cameron—they only need a long sleeve red jersey (Cameron wears a Howe No. 9 Detroit Red Wings jersey), khaki pants and black shoes (specifically loafers, but hey, as long as they have the color right, they’ll do just fine).
4. Bill and Ted
You’ll probably spot a few renditions of Keanu Reeves’ Neo look from The Matrix this Halloween, but consider Reeves’ equally fun and iconic role: Ted, from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. To dress up as Bill and Ted, you likely won’t need to look any further than you and your partner’s closets.
For Bill: a white cropped t-shirt, a purple or blue 80s-esque button down or flannel, gray or light blue pants and white converse (preferably high tops).
For Ted: a white band t-shirt, a black waistcoat (alright, you might need to look outside your wardrobe for that one), an orange-red jacket, flannel or button-down, black or blue knee-length shorts (or rolled up pants), chunky socks and black converse.
If you really want to get into it, you could try locating the precise Van Halen t-shirt Ted wears throughout the movie, draw on the question mark on Bill’s pant leg and iron on the same patches Ted’s shorts feature. Party on dudes.
5. John and Paul or John and Yoko
On a list of pop culture costume ideas, you can’t not include the Beatles. With so many recognizable coordinated looks from John, Paul and Yoko, you and your partner or friend will have plenty of fun piecing together a costume from your wardrobe and thrift store visits. Plus, this one gives you the option to easily expand your duo into a group costume by recruiting a George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Not to mention the convenient excuse to recreate some iconic photos for your post-Halloween Instagram post.
6. Eddie and Chrissy
With the Stranger Things craze in full force, you’ll probably find plenty of Steve and Robin duos this Halloween. If you want to stand out a bit more, though, consider Eddie Munson and Chrissy Cunningham. Although these two only got a few minutes of screen time together, both characters left a pretty strong impression on fans. Given that we only see these two characters wear one outfit in the entirety of season four, you won’t find yourself explaining your costume all night.
For both of these, you’ll probably need to order a few pieces. While you can mostly complete Eddie with some ripped black jeans, white shoes and a leather jacket, you’ll probably want to order the classic Hellfire Club shirt from Hot Topic, Etsy, Redbubble or Amazon (or consider busting out some fabric markers to make one yourself!). Chrissy, meanwhile, will need a Hawkins High cheer uniform— easily located online or at many pop-up Halloween stores this season.
7. Morticia and Gomez
Looking for something a bit more on the spooky side? Look no further than Morticia and Gomez Addams. Whether you grew up watching the original reruns on YouTube, sat through Addams Family Values more times than you can count or find yourself highly anticipating Netflix’s upcoming Wednesday series, you’ll recognize this creepy but cute couple. For this costume, you only need a black dress, black suit and faux mustache (or pencil to draw one on with). We’ll leave it up to you how extravagant and T.V. accurate you go.
8. Pitbull (Mr. Worldwide) and the Earth
If you want to go the punny route, you’ll still possess plenty of opportunity in the pop culture realm. With several Pitbull variations, by coordinating the Earth aspect with your partner, the two of you will knock the rest of them out of the park wherever you end up on Halloween. While Pitbull gets any easy time picking up a bald cap, faux goatee, sunglasses, dark button down and dark pants, the Earth will need to get a bit crafty. One solution: you could cut a large cardboard circle for yourself, paint, then punch some holes to secure a rope or yarn you could then rest over your shoulders, and voila! Or you could simply order an Earth costume online.
9. Frog and Toad
Alright, so including these two on a pop culture list may be reaching a bit, but they nevertheless create a fun and recognizable look. Even if you get a few “What are you supposed to be?” the creativity of this one will ensure you don’t regret your choice. If your wardrobe doesn’t already include a tweed jacket or two, take your costume buddy along for a thrifting visit to try to locate some. You’ll also want white or cream button-down shirts and brown plaid or tweed pants. For shoes, consider brown or black laced boots. Whoever goes as Toad can finish off the look with a pageboy cap.
10. Sonny and Cher
A pop culture costume list doesn’t feel complete without mentioning Cher. Although your memory might serve you an image of your parents dressing as these two at some point in your childhood, they did so for good reason. With plenty of iconic looks to pick from, you’ll enjoy yourself as your flipping through Pinterest photos for inspiration. You’ll likely discover something in your closet that contributes to the night’s look, and whatever your wardrobe lacks you can probably find at low cost through a thrift trip or even a Target run.
