Ainsley Harris ’26
Staff Writer
Haunted houses, Rocky Horror, and 5C parties are alright, but we all know costumes make or break Halloweekend. From sustainable closet costumes to literal armor, Scrippsies once again ate up the costume scene. Halloween might be over, but don’t pass on this chance to revisit some of the epic costumes that graced the 5Cs this weekend.
For the first time since their freshman Halloweekend, Frances Currie ’26 went all out with three costumes: Girl with the Green Ribbon, The Other Mother from “Coraline,” and Joan of Arc. Girl with a Green Ribbon and The Other Mother were inspired by pieces Currie already had in her closet. Currie’s Joan of Arc costume, however, was the culmination of a year of planning.
“Literally the day after Halloween last year, I saw someone dressed as a knight,” Currie said. “They made a chainmail coif out of safety pins. It was so cool. I planned to make my own, but with the number of safety pins I needed, I realized it would cost about half as much as a real one. So, I bought a chainmail coif.”
As Joan of Arc, Currie dazzled in a silver sequined tank top, white tuile skirt, black stomper boots, metal bangles outsourced from friends, and the pièce de résistance, their chainmail coif.
Currie’s Joan of Arc costume is a roundabout homage to her mom. “In college, my mom was invited to a Halloween party where they assigned costumes. She was assigned Joan of Arc, and showed up without a costume. I told her I was thinking of Joan of Arc, she was like ‘You have to do it. I have regretted not doing that costume since college.’”
When planning her costumes, sustainability is always a priority for Currie. Other than the coif, Currie sourced costume pieces from her and her friends‘ closets.
“I try to reuse as much as possible,” Currie said. “If I buy something new, I always think about how I will reuse it. I work at Scripps Scraps, and I’m very involved in sustainability at Scripps. I read our waste reports, which have a huge uptick in waste around Halloween, and I’m very mindful of that.”
Alina Hernandez ’26, a senior on the CMS women’s water polo team, also rocked three costumes for her last Scripps Halloween: the Monopoly man, Willy Wonka, and a fruit ninja group costume with her team.
“The underclassmen are fruit and the seniors are the ninjas,” Hernandez said. “[The seniors] came up with the theme. I’ve worked on it on my own, but a lot of underclassmen worked on theirs together.”
Amidst a sea of fruit-toned underclassmen, Hernandez’s ninja costume consisted of all black attire with a black gaiter mask. “I bought the ski gaiter and already had the rest,” Hernandez said.
The water polo team uses group costumes as a way to bond outside of structured practice.
“We do team costumes because it gets us all out together,” Hernandez said. “Last year, we wore our costumes to lift. It gets the whole team having fun together. Everyone really loves doing it.”
Team costumes are part of Hernandez’s and her cohort of seniors‘ mission to build a strong community within the team.
“Last year we pushed our seniors to do a team costume,” Hernandez said. “I hope this will keep happening after we graduate. We‘re trying to start traditions and really cultivate team culture in ways we didn’t always have before.”
Seniors, of course, don’t have the monopoly on Halloween costumes. (Though Hernandez did go as the Monopoly Man.)
For her second Scripps Halloweekend, Anna Moen ’28 donned two Halloween costumes: a solo cowgirl costume and a cat-and-mouse duo costume with her roommate.
For her cowgirl costume, Moen wore leather cowgirl boots, jean shorts accented with a brass buckle belt, a cropped white button-down, and a straw cowboy hat. The adorable costume was pulled from her closet.
“For my individual costume, I picked a costume that I already had most of the pieces for in my wardrobe,” Moen said. “I also try to wear something I don‘t get to wear a lot. I don’t wear my cowgirl boots much, so I wanted to pull together something based on those.”
After the trial and error of her freshman Halloween, Moen has fine-tuned her strategy for costume creation.
“Last year I was super excited about my first college Halloween, and I bought some accessories that now I’m like ‘Am I ever going to use these again?’” Moen said. “This year I was trying to use what I already have and be more creative about how I can make it work.”
While the first college Halloweekend can be overwhelming, this year’s cohort of first-year students may have outdone their seniors. They certainly outdid my freshman self!
For her first Halloweekend at Scripps, Bella Heitner ’29 dressed as Abbey Bominable in a “Monster High” group costume and as a lime in a couples costume with her boyfriend, who was a Corona Beer. As Abby Bominable, Heitner donned a black mini skirt with pink trim, a white tank top, and a white faux fur vest, along with cuffs and boots.
Like many Scrippsies, thrifting is an essential part of Heitner’s life and her costume-making process.
“I was thrifting back home in Portland for fall break,” Heitner said. “I saw this sleeveless faux fur vest and I immediately saw the vision … then I got the cuffs and used some faux fur to make boot covers with my sewing machine at home.”
Mckenna Adams ’29 made her Scripps Halloween debut in two iconic, widely different costumes: Chappell Roan and Lord Voldemort. Adams and her friend made an unlikely duo as Voldemort and Dobby (Harry backed out…).
As Voldemort, Adams wore a white bald cap, white face paint, an open graduation robe, a sparkly bra leftover from a dance costume, and her mom’s knee-high black boots.
“It’s kind of a cunty Voldemort,” Adams said.
The detail of Adams’ costume is especially impressive given the challenge of sourcing a Halloween costume while living on campus, particularly as a first-year without a car.
“I definitely avoid Amazon,” Adams said. “I try to use what I have as much as I can or thrift a lot of my costumes. Normally, I like to go to in-person thrift stores, but DeeLux in the village is not a real thrift store. It’s been more difficult, but Depop has definitely been good.”
Unlike last year, where group costumes seemed to dominate, the 2025 Halloween fashion column cannot be reduced to a single category featuring group, solo, and duo costumes. Upperclassmen and underclassmen alike showed up and showed out. The costumes were silly, sexy, and saintly … and the one thing they all had in common: jaw-dropping creativity.
These 2025 Halloween costumes might be the best I’ve covered yet, fitting as I sign off on my last Scripps Halloweekend Costume Column!
Photo Courtesy of Ainsley Harris ’26
