40 Halloween Costume Trends Over The Last 40 Years

Coming up with an original Halloween costume is hard, so why not take some inspiration from the past? Every moment has its own Halloween trends: 2008 was the year of the Joker from "The Dark Knight" and the past couple of years had a lot of "Star Wars" and Donald Trump costumes. But in general, you'll see the same types of things over and over again. Disney characters, the Wizard of Oz, and classic monster characters like Frankenstein are perennials. Here are what Halloween costumes looked like every year you — or your kids — were born. 1976: Horror movies have long been an inspiration for costumes. AP Photo Bill Schuck turned his parent's quiet residential home in Florida into an intricate horror fantasy. Bill Schuck's cape, ruffled shirt, and mustache could make him the villain of any movie with a spooky castle. 1977: Burlesque-like costumes are also nothing new. AP Photo/Richard Drew The attention to detail is impressive. Here are two revelers at New York's Studio 54. 1978: Pharaohs and bug-eyed aliens are Halloween perennials. AP Photo/Richard Drew A pharaoh with a big headdress. The annual Halloween party at Studio 54 was a major event. 1979: Halloween costumes can double as a wedding dress and tuxedo. AP Photo/Woolliscroft The bride wore white and the groom rose out of a coffin at a real wedding held Halloween eve. At a wedding in Grants Pass, Oregon, a couple got married in Halloween outfits. Their guests showed up in costumes, too. A Bride of Frankenstein dress is still a Bridal dress, after all. 1980: The Groucho Marx glasses are always in vogue. AP Photo/Luongo Policemen from an upper Manhattan precinct dressed in matching Groucho masks. If you want to lighten the mood — like a cop might want to on Hallow's Eve — Groucho glasses, eyebrows, and a moustache will do it. 1981: Everyone loves it when people swing a big axe. AP Photo/Jeff Hinckley Customers scream while a volunteer psychopath steps on a severed head and swings an ax at the victim in Halloween Haunted House for charity. Want to bring your haunted house up a notch? Have a woman pretend to be a psychopath and swing around a big axe. The image is a Halloween classic, especially after the release of "The Shining." 1982: "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" was all the rage. AP Photo/Mike Kullen Youngsters wearing E.T. masks look at a phone at a Halloween party at the Museum of Science in Boston. Steven Spielberg's charming and creepy alien, introduced in his blockbuster the summer of that year, had a pop culture moment during Halloween. 1983: Really clever costumes have always been important. A participant in the 10th annual Village Halloween Parade. Making a witty costume has always been a fun part of Halloween. This Mona Lisa one at New York City's Halloween parade is one great example. 1984: Raunchy costumes are also a classic choice. AP Photo/Richard Drew A big banana (?) seen with a fudge sundae. This group costume at New York's 11th annual Halloween parade seems to be a banana split, but it looks like the banana has something else going on. 1985: In space, it's hard to get the materials for an impressive costume. AP Photo/NASA-TV Space shuttle Challenger crew members in Halloween disguises. Members of the Challenger crew did their best with the materials they had. 1986: Even professional baseball players dress up. AP Photo Al Nipper of the Boston Red Sox sports a Halloween mask before a game. Putting on a mask that makes you look like an old man is sure to disarm any opponent on the field. 1987: The Wall Street crash didn't stop people from dressing up as bulls. AP Photo/Mario Cabrera A herd of bulls on stilts outside the New York Stock Exchange. Wall street "bulls" are optimistic and aggressive about a growing market. 1988: Every four years, people dress up as presidential candidates. AP Photo/Mark Lennihan Mark Gordon as Vice President George Bush, left, and Ray Caban as Gov. Michael Dukakis pretend to fight it out. In an election year, Halloween takes place just a few days before Election Day. In 1988, eyes were on George Bush and Michael Dukakis. 1989: More people were focused on realistic, scary masks. AP Photo/Elise Amendola Some frightening masks at the Boston Costume Shop. The Associated Press ran an item saying that "experts in child psychology say that parents should be careful in exposing small children to the more scary aspects of Halloween." 1990: The most important part of any convincing Halloween costume is the mask, like these here. AP Photo/Jonathan Elderfield Marchers in the annual Greenwich Village Halloween Parade. Whether for pop culture or politics, putting on a different face is the whole point of a good costume. 1991: The details matter. AP Photo/Susan Ragan A mummy with a giant rat crawling up its head. Want to make your mummy costume creepier? Add a rat crawling up your body. 1992: Comic book characters were popular costumes before they were big movies. AP Photo/Dennis Cook Marilyn Quayle, wife of Vice President Dan Quayle, handing out treats from the vice president's residence. In 1992, Spider-Man was neither a big-screen hero or the star of the popular animated TV show (that would be a couple of years later), but kids still dressed up as him and other superheroes because of the popular comics. 1993: Costumes that stereotypically depict a culture won't go away. AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee Vice President Al Gore and his wife Tipper handing out candy from their home. Definitely, don't do this, but here's a dude dressed up in a stereotypical Mexican outfit with his kids while trick-or-treating at Al Gore's house. 1994: The O.J. Simpson trial gripped the nation. Victor Pahl made a costume with a mask, bloody football jersey, and fake knife. Reporters outside of the Los Angeles courthouse wore Robert Shapiro masks as they waited for him to leave the building. People made custom-made, gruesome costumes of Simpson himself, like the one above, which cost $50. 1995: Disney couple's costumes are a firm staple of every Halloween. AP Photo/The White House Vice President Al Gore and Tipper Gore. The late 1980s and early 1990s marked the Disney Renaissance, with movies like "The Little Mermaid" and "Beauty and the Beast," introducing their iconic outfits to the world. Here's Al and Tipper Gore dressed as the characters from the latter movie. 1996: Dressing up your kids as peas in a pod is a fail-safe move. CP Photo/Winnipeg Free Press-Jeff De Booy They're two-and-a-half weeks old. Here's a group of quadruplets in Winnipeg. 1997: Also, dressing up your dog. AP Photo/Jennifer S. Altman The dog won first prize in the costume contest, which consisted of 40 pounds of dog food, free grooming, and free boarding. This golden retriever doesn't really have three heads. 1998: The sexy feline costume is yet another classic look. Star Max via AP Images Jamie Lee Curtis. Here's Jamie Lee Curtis dressed up as a leopard for a benefit event. 1999: The campy costumes of "The Wizard of Oz" are another perennial favorite. AP Photo/Ted S. Warren Where's Dorothy? Even in the movie, they look like they're in Halloween costumes. 2000: The Lewinsky Scandal was the butt of every joke. Photo by Tim Boyle/Newsmakers/Getty Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky Halloween masks. With Bill Clinton's presidency winding down, his affair with Monica Lewinsky was still on everyone's mind. It was reflected in the Halloween masks. Credits: thisisinsider.com Share this story on Facebook with your friends.