Halloween brings both stress and excitement, specifically surrounding costumes. With this, the controversial discussion of the concept costume, and the creativity behind it, also resurges, with people on social media platforms, like TikTok, complaining that these types of costumes are lazy.

Wanting to alter or even just stray away from the pre-packaged Halloween costumes is not an indication of laziness or a lack of creativity; in fact, it is the opposite. Despite all the discourse, the concept costume deserves more credit than it receives. The ability to create a costume from scratch, based on a concept or character, not only exercises the creativity people possess but also allows them to tailor their costumes to their personal preferences in terms of comfort and style.

According to 34st, “Concept costumes are exactly what they sound like: One dresses up as an abstract idea rather than a well-known character or ‘spooky’ figure.” Alongside this, concept costumes include straying away from the pre-made character costumes. 

TikTok User @b0xcombonoslawextratoast posted a video to TikTok, expressing her dislike for the concept costume, even explaining that “part of the fun” is knowing others’ Halloween costumes based on first glance. 

Although the criticism of the concept costume may seem like a minor issue, it highlights the unsolicited criticism, both online and offline, of people and their personal choices regarding clothing. 

If Halloween is supposed to serve as one of the only nights where anyone can dress as anything they want, why should people confine themselves to being carbon copies of one another? If the argument that wearing a concept costume is both lazy and boring is being made, then what makes wearing a pre-made costume so original? 

Take dressing up as a Disney princess, for example. Even though companies like Party City and Spirit Halloween already create pre-made costumes for both adults and children to wear, not everyone wants to wear a floor-length ball gown. Not only is a floor-length dress impractical for partygoers, but it is also unoriginal. 

Additionally, the concept costume is more normalized in our culture than people realize. When going to a Halloween party or even looking online, the majority of the costumes people wear are not even the pre-made costumes from the store. This is because people want to be creative; they do not want to look like everyone else. 

This goes back to the idea that the concept costume allows for people’s personal style to shine through. The concept costume is going to look different on everyone; for some people, that includes wearing something simple (like a corset from Amazon and a skirt), and for others, it includes layering multiple pieces of clothing to create a concept, like representing a popular party game like “Kiss, Marry, Kill,” or a character. The amount of layering or accessorizing does not make a concept costume any more or less of a concept at the end of the day. 

What, then, is the point of hating on the concept costume? The answer is simple — there isn’t a point to it. Halloween is about dressing up however you want, and everyone should be allowed to express themselves through their clothing as they choose to, regardless of whether that includes a concept costume or not.