Gavin Vondercrone Arts and Entertainment, Student Life

Terrifying Creativity: ESU Students Dress to Impress this Past Halloween

Credit: Freepik

Meaghan Hunt

Staff Writer

This Halloween, students are showing full creativity and imagination through their Halloween costumes around East Stroudsburg. The Stroud Courier recently conducted a poll asking students what they are dressing up for Halloween.

This year, instead of copying an exact trend, students take their own twist on popular trends. 

“I’m a clown fanatic so I always do clown looks year-round, but I wanted to switch it up this year by being a character from one of my favorite childhood shows,” said junior fine art major Kovii LaBar. Kovii dressed up this year as a clown and Panini from Chowder.
The poll had 20 people who responded to it, 50% were juniors, 30% were sophomores, 15% were seniors and 5% were freshmen. The students that responded all had different majors, which was interesting seeing everyone’s different costumes and showed a wider variety of interests. 
Going out on Halloween night, there were some recurring Halloween and some unique costumes. Some of the most recurring trends around ESU were pirates, leopards and cheetahs, police officers, prisoners and princesses. 
A popular trend this year was dressing up as one of the characters from the movie “K-Pop: Demon Hunters.” In the poll alone two students dressed up as one of the characters.  
Some students showed off their love for music and movies. One student dressed up as Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit, a popular American metal band. Multiple students dressed up as characters from popular movies including Darth Vader, the Lorax and Onceler from “The Lorax” “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” Paddington the Bear, Scar from “The Lion King” and Max from “A Goofy movie.”
Some costumes were unique and put together by students. Instead of buying prepackaged costumes, they bought and layered different pieces of clothing to portray the costume idea.
One student was inspired by a 1995 anime movie, “Ghost in the Shell.” The student dressed up as Motoko Kusanagi, the main protagonist from the movie. The student was inspired by a figurine that her mother owned, and it always amazed her.
Most of the inspiration that students have come from social media, specifically TikTok, Pinterest and Instagram.
While everyone is encouraged to express themselves year-round, especially younger people, Halloween offers a chance where they can show off their unique creativity and personality. According to The University Daily Kansan, participating in Halloween promotes individualism, tradition and embracing the neighborhood you belong to.
From the results of the poll, most students are extremely creative and have fun with their costumes. They can take things that they are interested in and create a fun and beautiful costume that is budget friendly.
The Stroud Courier cannot wait to see what ESU students dress up as for next year’s Halloween.