Night of the living gen Zs: Halloween will eat your social life alive
The occasion is no longer a mere party holiday, but the zenith of social economy
A Spirit Halloween costume is not niche enough for gen Z. (Mike Mozart/Wikimedia Commons/Cypher Neri) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spirit_Halloween_Shop_Farmington,_CT_(29107804534).jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spirit_Halloween_Shop_Farmington,_CT_(29107804534).jpg
Thigh-high boots. Fishnet stockings. Leather skirt skimming the tops of my thighs. Corset pulled so tight I can’t breathe.
“What even are you?” a friend asks.
Oops, I forgot. I throw on a Dollarama headband with two cardboard half-moons glued on top.
“I’m a mouse.”
It’s 2019 — my first Halloween at legal drinking age, and I plan on blacking out.
Five years later, it’s Halloween 2024. Cowboy Carter just came out, and I plan on paying homage to Queen Bey.
No, not the iconic white jumpsuit. I’m not some bandwagon fan. Instead, I go for a deep cut. Huge round sunglasses. Highlighter yellow cowboy hat. Skin-tight dress in the exact same shade.
“Who are you?” I’m asked repeatedly at a speakeasy on Georgia Street.
“Beyoncé? From ‘Telephone?’” I roll my eyes.
“Oh right, I remember.” They don’t, but to say so is to admit they’ve been out-cultured.
I can’t afford to get drunk, so I order a $20 cocktail called The Power of Cognac Compels You, and when I post it to my story, the 50 likes I get are intoxicating enough.
What happened in those five years? Millennials aged out of Halloween, and gen Z staged a hostile takeover.
In the gen Z world, Halloween is the one night a year when a cool person can dress like a total show-off and no other cool people can say anything about it. It’s when you demonstrate to the world (or your social media following) how relevant you are.
Alternatively, it serves as evidence on how far you’ve fallen off.
Spirit Halloween doesn’t cut it anymore (besides, do you have any idea where they source their materials?). A gen Z Halloween is curated. It’s fine if no one gets your gen Z Halloween costume, actually, it’s better they don’t.
It’s not enough to keep up with pop culture. You need to move beyond it — create it, even.
There will be hundreds of Freaky Nikkis from Obsession and Odysseuses moving around Granville, waiting in line at Aura, Fortune, or whatever nightclub they think is worth the jacked-up $50 cover. This year, in a sea of Shane Hollanders and Ilya Rozanovs, the coolest thing you can dress as is “The Cottage.”
Halloween is the core of the gen Z social calendar. You really find out who your friends are when they plan a group costume without you.
“We can only have so many Bad Bunny bushes before it gets ridiculous.”
If you’re dating, Halloween is only the first of a series of trials — Christmas, New Year’s, Valentine’s Day — that will break the relationship. Did you get them a boo basket? Do they hate your couple’s costume idea? Are you going out with your friends or theirs?
It’s no better for singles. It’s the last chance to secure a relationship before the holidays begin, otherwise you’re riding solo until spring. You better call up your situationship and make sure they’re free. Otherwise, you won’t be seeing them until the groundhogs poke through.
You’re not really you on Halloween anyway. If the cutie at the bar turns you down, are they really rejecting you, or are they rejecting Weird Barbie?
The worst mistake you can make this spooky season is not treating the holiday with the respect it deserves. I may not be Cole Sear, but I see dead people — the socially dead — who didn’t get it together in time for Halloween 2026.
