Trick or treat your costume

  Daily Bruin file photo

By Kenny Chang
Daily Bruin Contributor

Ninjas and pirates, princesses and fairies. In the days of
childhood, when Halloween was one of the biggest holidays of the
year, every candy corn-loving, chocolate-fiending, red-blooded
American kid was out on the streets hounding out candy from house
to house.

Never on their minds were the problems that college students
have to deal with today; not a midterm or a final in sight for
years to come. Worse yet, no giant dilemmas over finding a
fashionable costume.

As always, fashion follows the current trends. Given the Sept,
11 terrorist attacks still fresh in the world’s collective
memory, popular costumes this year deal a great amount with
patriotism and the United States.

“There are patriotics ““ it’s Uncle Sam and the
Statue of Liberty,” said Leland Vanandler, owner of the
costume store Leland’s Just for Fun. “They’re
very hard to get because nobody was really expecting what happened.
That’s the only two that I get constant requests
for.”

On a similar note, other stores have reported that demand is
also great for former presidents and even Osama bin Laden.

  Daily Bruin file photo

According to an employee at Aahs in Westwood, college students
are into the humorous costumes, like those of South Park characters
and Austin Powers. President costumes are also doing well there but
the popular requests are for Osama Bin Laden masks, although
Aah’s couldn’t get those in. However, the store does
offer Saddam Hussein masks.

Though not particularly individual or creative, patriotic
costumes do give respect to the hardworking Americans who are busy
serving the country.

“I’m really glad to see that young kids under 12 are
highly interested in being firemen, policemen, SWAT team members,
even doctors,” said Theresa Saidy, owner of Adele’s, a
costume store in Hollywood. “It’s about time they got
some recognition because people just take them for
granted.”

Other than the sudden surge of patriotism, there has also been a
great return to normalcy.

“Kids have kind of gone back a lot to Disney, Superman,
Spiderman, a lot of the traditional costumes,” said
Vanandler. “Because of the (terrorist) events I think that
people are reminiscing a little bit.”

  Daily Bruin file photo

“We have especially for women now, costumes a little bit
more sexy. These would be French maids, cops, fire fighters, and
then there’s the uniforms of Catholic school girls, like
those of Britney Spears. About the college age you get into the
same thing, where it will be pimps and gangsters, but it’s
all sort of trendy – ’80s, ’50s, ’70s …
something that will be a little more realistic in time … and
sexy, that age is sexy,” he added.

In addition to the recent nostalgia, there also isn’t a
dominant trend for people to follow.

“Trends have almost died. For a while we had the Power
Rangers or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, so every kid in town
looked like that,” Saidy said. “Now they are what they
want to be, not what the movies dictate.”

Now the looming question that always grinds away at the
attention-seeker’s mind is the quandary between buying
one’s costume, or making it. It’s not about wearing
last-minute costumes and getting away with it, but quality clothing
that will make an individual stand out and be remembered for
Halloweens to come.

  Daily Bruin file photo

The main issue at hand is the skill and time required to make a
grand, off-the-wall, creative costume.

“The time involved is a problem, and the fabric has gotten
really expensive,” Vanandler said. “When I first got
started, a lot of people bought pattern and made costumes out of it
and did it themselves. Now a lot of people just don’t sew,
not for the last two generations.”

“It’s kind of easier to do, or cheaper if you just
want to get accessories. Like if you’re going to be a devil,
get a red leotard, and ears and tail, the same with cats and
kitties and things like that,” he added.

Regardless of the time and expense, there still is a possibility
for creating great costumes.

“It astounds me how creative customers are,” Saidy
said. “We don’t think we are creative enough but they
usually come in here and pick my brain. We exchange ideas and then
they decide they don’t want anything. Then they go home and
make these incredible costumes.”

One problem is that perhaps there won’t be a large amount
of costumed people out this year. At some stores, sales for
costumes have not been as high as they have been before, and there
appears to be a type of reluctance for lightheartedness.

“Business is much slower … People are saddened and they
don’t know what they want to do, whether or not they want
anything,” said Saidy. “It’s different. The tone
is different and the pace is slower.”

However, in the end it doesn’t even matter. All that
matters is fun and safety. If someone can’t set the trend,
hey, at least it’s possible to follow one or recycle one from
years past. Halloween is a great time to dress up and have fun, to
hide behind another identity, and unleash some inner schizophrenia.
Costumes equal fun, and college students know how to have it.

“I can almost guarantee you that there will be a lot of
costumes out there. It’s a big business and it’s fun,”
Vanandler said.