What are “Gay Halloween” costumes? Explain the Internet trend

In the gay world, Halloween is the one night of the year when people can dress up “chronically online” as a ghost, a cowboy, or the fashion designer Queen of Melrose to explain at a dysfunctional family dinner how their grandmother converted from Catholicism to Jehovah's Witnesses.

The latest trend online is people showing off their hyper-specific Halloween costumes with references to niche pop culture. These elaborate outfits pay homage to a wide range of materials, including viral memes, song lyrics, reality TV scenes, celebrity interviews, AI-generated images, and objects in films. There really are no limits.

On Popular examples include Beyoncé's horses, the tired DW meme from the cartoon “Arthur” and the tennis ball from the movie “Challengers.”

For Dylan Guerra, a 30-year-old writer and director from New York, finding the perfect costume for his friend's gay costume party is a mission.

His original concept of merging Marvel's “Madame Web” with “Survivor” contestant Amanda Kimmel couldn't come to fruition in time for his party. Instead, Guerra found a tattered green wig in his closet that reminded him of the Willy Wonka fiasco in Scotland that went viral earlier this year. And so he dressed up as a female Oompa Loompa actor.

“What makes it really funny is that you feel like you're in on a joke,” Guerra told USA TODAY on Tuesday. “There is a bit of communal laughter in the niche. We find the right pockets of cultural intersections to laugh about in what I think is the best vacation.”

Even if posts like Guerra's, on

From the Taco Bell item to the Four Seasons Baby Dad, “Gay Halloween” costumes stand out

Gabe Bergado, a 32-year-old editor and comedian from California, always goes all out during the holidays. He explained that while the concept of “gay Halloween” has been around for a long time, he is excited to see it create a new way of life.

This year, he portrayed the father in the viral video of a baby looking forward to a trip to the Four Seasons Resort Orlando. In recent years, he's been the “Last Gasp” challenge of “Survivor,” a tweet from Pop Crave, and Chris Pine during the “Good Luck Darling” press tour. In 2018, he combined a Taco Bell Crunch Wrap Supreme and Sarah Paulson as “The Supreme” in American Horror Story: Coven.

Whether it's reimagining two ideas or subverting popular Internet moments, Bergado said he appreciates seeing other people's creativity.

“I hate pure Halloween. What do you mean you’re a nurse or a witch,” Bergado said, mentioning another popular post. “The world of the Internet is now oversaturated and everyone is trying to find something that makes them a little different.”

Couples can opt for niche costumes

Queer couples are also trending, including Motti, a 28-year-old comedian from New York who goes by his first name only.

While her redhead friend Britt Migs was already planning on becoming pop star Chappell Roan, Motti wanted a costume that matched hers. So they opted for a passenger seat, referencing a lyric from the singer's track “Casual.”

“I like making silly costumes, I don’t care about necessarily looking good,” Motti said. “I wanted to challenge myself and have never really built a costume for myself, so I decided to take it on.”

Motti spent around $60 and transformed into a passenger seat using a black morph suit, car seat covers, a thick cardboard poster, packing bubbles, frame hanging wire and a go-kart seat belt. They began making the costume in early August, and as the “gay Halloween” posts gained popularity, it was clear how the couple would share it with the world.

“I think people just end up confusing everything that’s popular on the internet as a meme,” they said. “Some of them are memes, but I think that makes it a little cheaper. People have thought about it a lot and we’re like pulling out real niche references.”

Last minute costume for “gay Halloween”.

Some spend months planning the perfect “gay Halloween” costumes, but Holly West had less than a day to put together a costume for a party she was invited to at the last minute.

The 27-year-old theme park actress from western Ohio quickly decided to play the young girl with purple glitter in the viral video on the former platform Vine. With the right shades of eyeshadow and glitter, as well as an Oscar-worthy impression of the child, West nailed the look.

Although it took guests a while to figure out what her costume was, her X post was viewed over 3.6 million times. She explained that the niche costume trend has become so popular because of the creativity of queer people.

“People in the LGBTQ community are very aware and know how to jump on a trend,” West said. “Some of the funniest people I know are gay and I think a lot of online culture comes from the queer community.”

Couples can opt for niche costumes

Last minute costume for “gay Halloween”.

“Gay Halloween” costume posts are going viral online

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