Creeping Up On Halloween With Diversity In Costumes

While there are many issues in costumes at Halloween, we are seeing some improvements. We are seeing more range in the costumes available.

We've moved on from only having cheap plastic masks and cheap plastic smocks printed to match a character. Those still exists, but we have more possibilities to play with.

On of the more pleasant finds is with the Green Lantern costumes. There are a set of Hal Jordan costumes out there. But we can actually find a selection of John Stewart as well.

It's a bit of a surprise. After all, even on the cover they have Hal Jordan butting his head in, and in costumes it's all about the Jordan. But the GL people know best these days is John Stewart, from the Justice League cartoon series. So we better damn well have some John Stewart to dress as!

And we do.

Saves the universe, looks awesome.

There are also Falcon, from Marvel, costumes. When a nonwhite character costume does pop up in a store, they do chose models to make a racial fit. But with John Stewart, it's a choice to actually say and see that there are people that might want to...not be white?

No, I'm not talking the chance for white folks to dress like other races. I mean the appearance of any representation in a costume shop other than for white people.


As I was thinking on this John Stewart costume it suddenly clicked in my head how white costume shops are. Just rows of white people in various jobs and genres.

White doctors.

White mystics.

I immediately thought of the wall of fantasy costumes in every store, with huntresses, wizards, kings, knights, etc. All white folks.

Halloween isn't just for white people...Isn't it? It's for everyone to enjoy.

Maybe it's the part of the country I'm in, so the stores aren't bothering to order alternate packaging. I don't know.

But I do know that the shops I visit to have diverse people visiting them. They just want a costume and a laugh. But they also deserve representation.


I do want to give a little respect to California Costumes. As I was looking around some shops to see if I was remembering the whiteness correctly, I did notice that this company does actually seem to mix in some people that aren't white in some of their package promotion. It's nice. We all can do better.