There are plenty of larger-than-life women—real and fictional—you can base your Halloween costume on. And while it’s super fun to craft your own costume, going DIY is affordable, too.

1. Lorelai Gilmore

Let’s start with the best, young, fictional, cool mom we all wish we had.

Lorelai Gilmore is one of the iconic lead characters on “Gilmore Girls,” a show that aired in the late-1990s through the mid-2000s. The show is making a big comeback this year on Netflix—fans will get to see four new episodes!

Celebrate this event by recreating any iconic outfit Ms. Gilmore donned. My favorite? The get-up Lorelai wore when she dropped off Rory on her first day of school at Chilton. And remember: before you leave your house for the party, don’t forget the coffee.

For this costume, you’ll need:

• Cut-off jean shorts
• Pea coat
• Cowboy boots
• A to-go coffee cup
• Leggings or tights to go under shorts (if it’s cold)

2. Little Edie

Edith Bouvier Beale, also known as Little Edie, is one half of the mother/daughter subject in “Grey Gardens.”

“Grey Gardens” is known as the first—and probably one of the most intimate—documentaries ever made. Anyone who has seen “Grey Gardens” is well aware of Little Edie’s impeccable, albeit strange, personal fashion. Dress like Little Edie on Halloween to embrace your inner fierce female who is entirely self-reliant. Be S.T.A.U.N.C.H.

For this costume, you’ll need:

• Black body suit
• Black tights
• Booties (preferably red)
• A faux fur coat
• A large scarf (preferably floral)

3. Pussy Grabs Back

We’ve all heard the super degrading things Donald Trump has said about women. To show your support of women of all colors, backgrounds, ethnicities, we suggest dressing up as Pussy Grabs Back.

Yes, you can create a feeling of rage with a simple, totally feminist Halloween costume…

For this costume, you’ll need

• The official Pussy Grabs Back shirt
• Black leggings
• Ass-kicking boots
• Faux leather jacket
• Black cat ears
• A voting ballot (DIY will do)

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This year is not the year to go out and buy a boring prepackage costume for Halloween. It’s also not the year to get lazy about dressing up and coming up with Halloween costume ideas at the last minute. No, 2016 has been far too eventful in terms of world news and pop culture to let the opportunity for an iconic 2016-apropos Halloween costume slip between your fingers.

Halloween Costume Ideas for 2016

1. Presidential Candidates

This is a given. The world is submerged in the general election, so it’s no wonder dressing up as Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump would make the cut. Grab a wig and a suit and harness yourself with the candidates’ respective mannerisms.

2. Bill Clinton and the Balloons    

Keeping up with politician-themed costumes, dress up as Bill Clinton! If you remember Bill’s cute, someone strange affinity to the falling red, white, and blue balloons at the DNC, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. Dress in a suit and stick red, white, and balloons to your body. Toss them around wherever you go to really get into character.

3. Harambe

Some of you may think this idea is tasteless, some of you may see the humor in it. Either way, it’s relevant. Dress up as a gorilla and carry around a doll.

4. Brad & Angelina

This year was the year that Brangelina realized its fate. If you are going to a Halloween party as a couple, have your significant other dress up as Brad and you as Angelina. Look disgusted at one another all night long.

5. Evil Clowns

Creepy clowns are sweeping the nation by showing up in random cities for no apparent reason. It’s confusing, weird, funny, and eerie all at once – perfect for Halloween! Dress up as a clown, but make yourself look a bit threatening.

6. Harley Quinn

The “Suicide Squad” movie raked in $300 million at the box office. The Harley Quinn character played by Margot Robbie snagged the most attention for her quirky style, which includes blue and pink makeup, pigtails, red and blue shorts, a tattered white t-shirt, fishnet stockings, boots, and a choker.

7. Beyoncé

When Beyoncé’s Lemonade came out, the whole world seemed to immerse itself into the beautifully poetic masterpiece that inspired as much as it entertained. The video sequence for “Hold Up” put us all in envy. Put on a long yellow dress and a blonde wig and equip yourself with a bat. It’s a fuss-free costume everyone will recognize.

8. Pokemon Go

I know next to nothing about Pokemon Go, except that it’s apparently very popular. If you’re a fan, I assume you know exactly what to wear, so I’ll leave the idea here and the creative activity up to you!

9. Ghostbusters             

If you are hitting the town as a group, dress up as the Ghostbusters. Put on a khaki jumpsuit, a backpack, gloves, boots, toy guns, and a Ghostbusters symbol cutout. #squadgoals

10. Simone Biles

In her first Olympics run, Simone Biles took home five gold medals in 2016. Forget fictional superheroes; instead, dress up as a real-life inspirational role model, Simone Biles. Slip into a red or blue leotard and then adorn yourself with patriotic symbols (think: paint, hair ribbons, etc.). And of course, make five faux gold medallions to wear around your neck.

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The year 2015 is on its way out, and has been quite the source of inspiration to all of us – food, fitness, and beauty trends are ablaze. But this month, the inspiration we get from 2015 for Halloween costumes is all that matters. The following 5 Halloween costume ideas are inspired by this year’s biggest people and events.

You can’t deny it: the most clever, envy-worthy, and funny Halloween costume ideas are often those that are relevant to the times, drawing on current pop culture topics and trends, political events, TV shows, and movies. The key to winning the Halloween costume popularity contest is to go beyond the classics (you can do better than the French maid, ladies), and to reflect who or what is in, right here and right now. From the presidential race to celebrity fails to viral sensations, the material we have to work with from 2015 is overwhelming, at worst.

5 Halloween costume ideas that keep you relevant

1. Ariana Grande and the Doughnut

Remember the doughnut incident? Ariana Grande was recorded licking a doughnut on the display counter at Wolfee Donuts in California. The video went viral and, well, now you’ve got yourself a potential Halloween costume. If you are going to a Halloween party as a couple, one of you needs to dress up like Ariana Grande and the other like a doughnut. For the Ariana ensemble, you’ll need to pull together a costume with all of the singer’s signature garments, such as matching cat ears, a romper, and knee-high boots paired with a dark ponytail wig and a mic. The doughnut costume is pretty straightforward – make or purchase it. If representing the theme solo, dress as Ariana Grande and carry a doughnut around, occasionally giving it a lick.

2. Cookie and Lucious from “Empire”

“Empire” has got to be the greatest television series to emerge in 2015. It follows the family drama and power struggle among music industry mogul Lucious, his ex-wife Cookie, and their children. If you’ve watched the show, you’ve likely yearned to have the opportunity to dress as fabulous as Cookie or as suave as Lucious. To pull a Cookie, put on heels, an animal-print dress, and a fur coat – the more outrageous, the better. For Lucious, put on your slickest suit and top it off with a fedora.

3. Donald Trump

No one is being talked about more than billionaire and presidential candidate, Donald Trump. Love him or hate him, it’s hard not to mock his style and mannerisms. Halloween is not the time to be politically correct. Instead, it’s the perfect time to showcase just how honed you are at replicating Donald Trump’s smug pout, squinted and probing eyes, and side-combed hair. All you need is a suit and a Donald Trump wig. When you talk to people, point at them aggressively in the face. It’s your turn to do the firing.

4. Gay Marriage

One of the most historic and celebration-worthy events to have happened so far in 2015 is the legalization of gay marriage in the United States. Use Halloween as an occasion to celebrate all over again. Deck yourself out in rainbow pride gear with a same-sex friend or significant other. You can also dress up in wedding gowns or tuxedos to emphasize the costumes even further.

5. Taylor Swift Squad

The you-can’t-sit-with-us crew of the year award goes to Taylor Swift and her close-knit celebrity entourage, including Selena Gomez, Gigi Hadid, Lena Dunham, Karlie Kloss, Cara Delevingne, and Lorde, among others. Gather your girlfriends and have each one of you channel her own Hollywood starlet who is on the squad. Dress in coordinating outfits, just like they do in the closing scene of Taylor’s “Bad Blood” video.

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Ariana Grande image, Donald Trump image, Taylor Swift image from Shutterstock

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This year, why not make a statement? If you are one who prides him or herself on reeling in the most clever and witty of Halloween costume ideas each year, perhaps it’s time to bring some consciousness to this year’s choice.

The following 5 eco-themed Halloween costume ideas are meant to get your creative juices churning. They not only are cute and fun, they also make you and those around you think, walking away with a greater awareness about the environment and the detrimental effects of climate change.

1. Greenwashing

Deck yourself out in green from head to toe and you can even go as far as to paint your face green. Stick “greenwashing” labels to yourself, such as “environmentally safe”, “eco-friendly”, “all-natural”, “non-toxic” or “made with 3% recycled materials”.

2. Captain Planet

Dress up as a superhero, but one that saves the planet. Your eco-warrior costume requires a color-coordinated bodysuit and cape (preferably green and some other neutral color). Write “eco-warrior” on the front and get creative with details.

3. Great Pacific Garbage Patch

You may have heard about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch located in the Pacific Ocean. It’s comprised of two areas of concentrated marine debris, mostly non-biodegradable litter. Take advantage of your recycle bin and attach plastic bottles and other recycled items to your outfit so that you look like a patch of material.

4. Reusable Costume

Wear a costume from a few years or even a decade ago, making sure it has an obviously tight, undersized fit. Attach a label that says,“reduce, reuse, recycle”. What better way to make a statement? Just be careful nothing rips.

5. Polar Bear

Polar bears are bearing the brunt of climate change and your Halloween costume can get the message across. Dress like a polar bear with a full white jumpsuit, claws and white ears. Wear goggles over your eyes, as if to indicate you are now swimming where ice used to be.

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Photo Credit: Valerie

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ColumnThere’s an entire community inside you. Why fight it? Here’s a case for the more the merrier and why you shouldn’t let internal demons dis your Multiple Personality Order.

Some years ago, one of my dearest friends invited me to a Halloween party. It was an annual event at his place and, being seriously costume-slow, I went into curse-his-name-for-making-me-do-this-again mode. I finally decided on what I thought was a simple and pretty cool gotcha plan—to go as him. But as is often the case, simple became elusive as it quickly dawned on me that this wasn’t something I could do alone. My pal is, as much as anyone I have ever met, several people in one.

Equal parts doctor, art connoisseur, sports junkie, intellectual, party pal and erotic photographer, the costume would require my recruiting about a half a dozen people from our tribe of comrades. One of us would dress in a lab coat (with stethoscopey bling), another in a black turtleneck (avec le béret), another in an old Michigan football jersey (Go Blue!), and so on. The finishing touch was equipping each “personality” with a life-sized cutout of our friend’s face (we used an old close-up of him with a cigar dangling from his mouth) attached to a Popsicle stick to use as a mask. Voila! Off we went, finally positioning ourselves in a line-up in the hallway outside his apartment door.

We knocked.

We scared the shit out of him.

Looking back, I think what attracted me to this friend in the first place was not only his eclectic nature, but how each of his “selves” is so vivid and fully formed. We’re not talking Sybil here, it’s just that whichever one of his personalities you encounter on a given day isn’t just a little of this or a little of that—each is robust, well-developed and sometimes even extreme. He’s kind of a jack of all trades, master of many.

Of course, most of us can lay claim to multiple personalities.* But unfortunately, this boon all-too-commonly results in an internal dissonance that’s at best uncomfortable and at worst a powerful angst driver. Part of this unease comes from the fact that our culture is so wound up with us finding our “one true self.” (Thank you Deepak, Oprah, et al.) This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it tends to beg for a binary solution, as in “I am this, not that.” The search for authenticity has become about discovering “that certain something”—not those certain somethings—with everything else thrown overboard, or at least diminished.

Moreover, various aspects of our personalities may seem destined to be mortal enemies. This plays out on many levels, from the domestic to the professional, and even in the bedroom (or wherever you like to play). What’s a devoted father to do with his inner party boy? A corporate-ladder climber with her free-spirit artist? Straight-laced missionary lovers with their desire for kink? And there’s this: being on the fence is considered bad form, so we must have a winner. As I once wrote in these pages, whether it be Ginger or Mary Ann, the Stones or the Beatles, or whatever other clash our culture serves up, we’re pushed to choose, lest we risk seeming uncommitted, apathetic or even flaky.

Of course, these challenges can fuel some significant inner turmoil—and, as with any conflict, conventional wisdom suggests two clear options: negotiate a settlement or go to war. Personally, I know that I have a number of inner selves going at it at any given time, and indeed they’re often engaged in either a struggle to compromise or an ongoing blood feud. Recently, my fight card has featured two heavyweights—the public me vs. the private me. Step right up and see the battle of the century (well, half of one in my case): The socialite vs. the homebody. The writer vs. the reader. The exhibitionist vs. the voyeur.

But is internal shuttle diplomacy or coming to self-inflicted blows really our only choice? How could it be when there are people like my friend (though they are few and far between) who seem to not only have multiple selves, but selves that are simultaneously uncompromised and at ease with each other? Do we really have to choose? In my case, can I maybe be both an introvert and an extrovert? (Note that this link goes to a test that will supposedly determine if you are one or the other. Bah!)

Battle Fatigue – or It Takes a Village

When it comes to reducing internal dissonance, there are many problems with the “negotiate or fight” model. Let’s start with the first part—the compromise, or the give-and-take method. This involves one “you” surrendering something to another, and vice versa. (“I’ll stop doing this if you stop doing that.”) The danger here is a form of dilution, with neither impulse being purely or fully explored. Of course, there are many situations in our lives where we have to make tradeoffs (I’m a father—I know that some life compromises are not optional), but perhaps it’s not a good idea to surrender everything to the half-this/half-that technique. That’s the Jack that we don’t want to be, right?

As for the fisticuffs approach, well, ouch! The fact is, no one part of you is going to offer full-scale, unconditional surrender (short of your employing some sick “Clockwork Orange” approach), so something inside you ends up doomed to live in indefinite torment. Call it beating yourselves up. On top of that, the search for a singular authenticity seems to me plagued with the square-peg/round-hole problem. It’s simply not based on an accurate assessment of who we are. There are so many roles to play, so many tastes to consider, such a quilt to be woven. In the end, we not only are different things—we have to be. At least if we’re going to stay sane.

All this raises a favorite question: Who says? Who says we have to dumb down our different selves? And who says there has to be a winner? Isn’t it possible for each of our internal players to simply behave and take turns? Here’s a thought: rather than bringing your inner selves to the negotiating table (or the battleground), why not bring them to the round table? Serious clinical issues aside, multiple personalities don’t have to suffer from disorder. Like with any diverse set of folks trying to inhabit the same territory, if they dial down the judgment or need to dominate, they just might end up being solid citizens in a wonderfully varied universe—with experiences to match. Hell, they might even inspire each other.

As for the charges of being flaky or hard to pin down (or even a bit schizophrenic), I call bullshit on that too. While those who embrace their multiple selves without (too much) compromise may be uncommon, I find them to be interesting, strong and attractive. I recall what I refer to as my “Last Tango” moment. It was, I think, the first time I realized I possessed a fetish for what I have since lovingly termed “Walking Dichotomies.”

I was apartment hunting outside Boston at the beginning of my third year of undergrad and exploring (alone, I thought) what would turn out to be a perfect place to hole up for the winter. I was in the kitchen (nice stove), when a vision appeared in the hallway—she wore patent leather designer red pumps and carried a splendid handbag that must have set her back more than a month’s rent. Her ears, neck and wrists boasted jewelry more lovely than I had seen on just about anyone, let alone a student. And this: a well worn, but still bright Grateful Dead tie-dye tee (gloriously braless) and an old pair of bright red sweatpants. There was a chic-meets-hippie air about her and a smile that accepted it all perfectly. And I was in lust. And she turned out to be brilliant and fascinating (and a great roommate)—as well as a lifelong friend.

While it took some time to get what I so dug about this person so many years ago, today I can honestly say that—almost to the man and woman—the people I’ve most respected and been enchanted by have in common the ability to pursue and enjoy multiple, seemingly conflicting internal impulses. Whether it be the doctor/fine-art photographer/football geek, the champion skier/immigration activist/über-intellectual, the mother/neuroscientist/talk-show host, the writer/wrestler/dominatrix, my all-over-the-map kids or my wonderfully multifaceted life partner, the cast of characters within characters in my life has been riveting—and it happily marches on.

When all is said and done, the special ones aren’t half this or half that. They’re this and that. And they’re all that. The truth is our culture makes bank on giving us false choices. But when it comes to what’s inside, it’s we, all of us, who get to decide—or not.

Scott Adelson is, among other things, EcoSalon’s Senior Editor of HyperKulture, a monthly column that explores opening cultural doors to initiate personal change. He is also the author of InPRINT, which reviews and discusses books, new and old. You can reach him at scott at adelson dot org and follow him @scottadelson on Twitter.

* Disassociate Identity Disorder (previously know as Multiple Personality Disorder) is serious mental-health diagnosis. The author is in no way making light of the actual condition. 

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Images: Papa Lima Whiskey (top) and David Goehring(cropped).

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 It happens every year. You just start to notice that the days are slightly cooler and that the leaves are beginning to change and BAM, the next thing you know, it’s almost Halloween—and you need to come up with Halloween costume ideas. 

But who has time to go shopping or to sew anything? And spending money on a costume for one evening is annoying (and some of those costumes are really wasteful). Wouldn’t it be nice to put a costume together from stuff around the house? And that doesn’t necessarily look totally last minute…even though that’s exactly what it is!

Whether you are like the week-of-Halloween-last-minute or the day-of-Halloween-last-minute, we’ve got great, silly, classic and (importantly) comfy Halloween costume ideas below.

1. Static Cling – Wear all back and safety pin various articles of clothing, socks, washcloths, etc to yourself to depict static cling.

2. Raining Cats and Dogs – Dress up in your rain gear and affix stuffed cats and dogs to your umbrella, rain hat and/or slicker.

3. Risky Business – Show up at your neighbor’s Halloween party sans pants and don a oversize blue oxford shirt with white tube socks and a pair of Ray-ban sunglasses (pull your hair back) to channel that classic 80s flick. (Yes, wearing bike shorts under the button-down is recommended!)

4. Target Team Member – Most of us own khakis and a red shirt. Add a name tag and a headset and it will give you an excuse to be super-friendly and welcome people to the store—or party. Just don’t stop at Target on your way home!

5. Annie Hall – Borrow a vest and a tie and add baggy khaki pants to go as that iconic Diane Keaton heroine.

6. Rockabilly Chick – Roll up your jeans, find or borrow some Chuck Taylors and a plaid shirt, and roll your hair up in a bandana. Match it with a super red lip and lots of black mascara.

7. Lumberjack – Wear some work boots, a red plaid flannel shirt, a knit cap and yell timber every so often. If you do elect to carry an axe, consider a toy one!

8. Bats in the Belfry –  Cut out some bats from black construction paper and use wire or pipe cleaners to affix them to a black headband. Simple, fun!

9. Little Red Riding Hood –  Wear a red hoodie and carry a picket basket for a modern interpretation of Little Red Riding Hood.

10. Skeleton -Use this tutorial to take a plain white tee and turn into a sexy spooky cut out tee. Wear it over all black leggings and cami.

11. Minecraft – Craft a Minecraft blockhead from a cardboard box reclaimed from the recycling bin and covered with some construction paper to replicate that pixelated retro look.

12. Private Eye/Press –  If you are lucky enough to already own a khaki trench coat and a fedora, you’ve already got a cool costume. Add a “press pass” for a retro reporter look instead.

Top Image: SevenLittleRabbits

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