20 Years of Wardrobe

Ah, Halloween. A lot of people love this holiday. I've noticed that around the holiday, people have been posting retrospective Halloween articles on this site, so I figured I'd try one of my own.

This article is going to be a retrospective of the Halloween costumes I've worn from the past to the present. I was born in 1985, but I can only remember as far back as 1988. Maybe I didn't wear any costumes my first three Halloweens, but I'm sure my parents remember better than I do. I think my dad recalls me wearing a bunny costume in 1987, but that's just a legend for me. I'm also going to throw in some of the costumes my brother wore (only the ones I can remember).

Disclaimer: None of the pictures below are of me in my costumes, so bear with me on my pic selections.

1988: Peter Pan - The earliest costume I can remember was when I was three years old. I was dressed as Peter Pan, which is more of a girl's costume, I know, but he's a hero to a lot of little boys. The only reason I remember this is because it was from an old photo one of my parents took of me.


1989: Dinosaur - I think I remember both my brother and I were dressed as dinosaurs this year. I was in preschool this year, and I seem to remember the most popular costume this particular year was Batman. A lot of the kids at my school (including my best friend at the time) dressed up as Batman this year (it was most likely the popularity of the Tim Burton movie that caused this). Anyway, I still kept this green/yellow dinosaur costume up until 1991 when my parents remade it to make a pea pod costume for a baby that a friend of their's just had.


1990: A Bat - Interesting concept for a costume, huh? Well, the reason I decided to be a bat this year was because I remember my brother kept saying he wanted to be a pumpkin, and for some reason, I thought, "If he's gonna be a pumpkin, then I'm gonna be a bat." It was a complicated costume to make, but I was pleased with how it turned out.


1991: A Knight - I remember having some knight armor. I think it was my Halloween costume before I added it to my toy chest. Ah, the joys of wearing plastic armor sure felt great when we were kids.


1992: The Ghost of Jacob Marley - This costume turned out to be a big hit, and even to this day, my parents still rave about me dressing up as this character. My dad once made a statement that I combined Halloween with Christmas before Tim Burton did. What's even stranger is all the teachers at my school knew who I was supposed to be!


1993: Captain Hook - I wasn't really given a choice this Halloween. If I remember correctly, my mom was looking through a costume catalog and gave me a choice of what to be for Halloween that year. She gave me two choices: either Captain Hook or some kind of ghost. I didn't like the ghost costume, so I went with Captain Hook. I think I made a wise decision.
My brother dressed up as Spider-Man this year, though I don't think he was all that pleased with it.


1994: A Pirate - The big costume this year was Power Rangers. I was thinking about being the Blue Ranger, but my mom talked me out of it since they were all too small for me, and she warned me that there will be thousands of Power Ranger costumes out this year. So, instead, I just went with a standard pirate costume that we ordered out of a catalog.


1995: The Scarlet Pimpernal - I was actually dressed more like the Scarlet Pumpernickle (Daffy Duck's parody on the hero). I don't know what inspired me to come up with this costume; I think it was a "Winnie the Pooh" episode where Tigger tried to be some kind of superhero but failed miserably. Regardless, many referred to me as just Zorro with a red mask.
Oh yeah, and I remember my brother dressing up as Jason Voorhes (from the "Friday the 13th" movies) that year.


1996: The Mask - I think it was the "Mask" cartoon series that inspired me to dress up as this guy this year. I think this was one of my coolest costumes as well as one of my most well-made. I was surprised that a lot of the kids at school recognized me...I guess they all knew that I always came up with cool costumes.
I remember my brother dressed up as a Hollywood director that year.


1997-2000 - I didn't dress up any of these years for two reasons: 1) I was going through a state of depression in '97, and 2) I felt I was too old to do this kind of stuff. I now kinda regret not dressing up those years, and if I could go back in time, I'd probably change my ways. Well, I did dye my hair green on Halloween in 2000.

2001/2002: Elton John - I was invited to a costume party in 2001, and I decided to dress up as Elton John for that party. I knew that Elton John liked to dress up in crazy outfits with wacky glasses on his performances, so I thought it would be fun to dress like him. I was invited to a post-Halloween party the very next year, and I decided to wear the same costume since I couldn't think of anything else.
I seem to remember in '01, my brother was 2D (of the Gorillaz), which was a simple costume, yet nobody knew who he was.


2003: Jareth - Around this time, I was on a David Bowie kick, so I thought maybe it'd be awesome for me to dress up as the villain from "Labyrinth" (who was played by David Bowie). I didn't think I would be able to top my Ghost of Jacob Marley costume, but I think I did this year.
I remember this year, I went to a Halloween dance, and I think my brother and I blew everyone away with our costumes (he went as Magnet Man from Mega Man 3).


2004: A Card Dealer - I had a rough time coming up with a costume this year. I was thinking of getting together with my brother and a male friend of ours and having us all dress as the Powerpuff Girls, but then I thought it wouldn't work too well. I got this last minute suggestion from my mom, and it turned out I liked the idea, so I went with it.
My bro decided to be Luigi, and if I knew this ahead of time, I would have been Mario. He happens to be my younger brother, plus he's taller than me!


2005: A Security Guard - I had a couple ideas for a costume this Halloween. I was considering Willy Wonka; I also heard that my brother was going to be Napoleon Dynamite with one of his friends as Pedro and a girl as Deb, and I was thinking of joining their crew as Kip. Unfortunately, these ideas were scrapped since the Halloween dance this year was canceled. Instead, we ended up going to a black and white dance after Halloween, and I considered myself to be dressed like a security guard.


2006: Yummy Mummy - This was around the time I became a true retrojunkie, and I was interested in General Mills' monster-themed cereals. My favorite one happened to be the now-retired Yummy Mummy, and so that ended up being my costume. I was actually thinking of getting together with four of my friends and having us dress up as all five of the GM monsters, but then I reconsidered thinking it wouldn't work out. I gotta say, it took a long, frustrating time to put my costume together, but it was all worth it.
I remember my brother dressed up as Malcolm from the "Sam and Fuzzy" web comic. I remember at the Halloween dance that year, I was the runner-up for the costume contest (lost to a cop), but my brother was one of the first eliminated since nobody knew who he was supposed to be.


2007: Gene Shalit - This year, the theme to the annual Halloween dance I've been going to was "the movies". I decided to dress up as movie critic, Gene Shalit. It was "Family Guy" that introduced me to this guy, and I thought it would be a pretty wacky costume for me.
My brother ended up being Doctor Emmett Brown (from the "Back to the Future" trilogy).


2008 - That leads us to this year. I'm not going to a Halloween dance this year, but I will be having a little costume party at my house. This year, I'm dressing up as the Angry Video Game Nerd. You can never idolize someone too much.


Well, I hope that was all fun for you guys reading about my little Halloween costume history. Hope you were all ammused. I also hope this gave you guys some ideas for future costumes you may consider.

Let me conclude by giving you a little bit of advice. If at all your girlfriend says that she's dressing as Raggedy Ann for Halloween, do not attempt to side with her and dress as Reggedy Andy. I assure you she will change her mind at the very last minute. Believe me, this always happens! I learned this from watching a Halloween special of "South Park" and "Home Improvement".

Well, I guess that's all I gotta say.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, EVERYONE!!!