Costume Lookbook 2026
Hi everyone. Halloween is coming and I’ve been having a rough week, so I decided to do something fun and see how many of my favorite characters I can dress up as with just the clothes in my closet.
This was a challenge because I do not own a lot of clothes. I wish I had more, but I would not be able to fit them anywhere. My closet is small. The space I live in is small. I work with what I have.
But for not having a lot of options, I came up with 14 Halloween costumes! I tried to make them immediately recognizable, but a few would be best as a group costume.
The first costume I came up with is Lindsay from Total Drama Island. She is among my favorite characters and is definitely one of the most fun characters from that show to dress up as. I don’t own an orange skirt, but there are moments in the show when Lindsay wears a blue skirt instead. I wore my denim skirt for this look.
Lindsay also wears brown cowboy boots. Since I don’t own cowboy boots, I used some brown saddle-type shoes with heels. And, of course, I wore a blue bandana. I really like how this look came out, and I am so happy I got to incorporate Total Drama Island into my costume lookbook.
My version of Lindsay from one of my favorite shows, Total Drama Island.
The next costume is from my favorite show of all time, Gravity Falls–it’s Mabel Pines! Two years ago, I decided to knit her famous shooting star sweater without a pattern. I dressed up as her for Halloween that year, so I already had the rest of the pieces on hand: the purple skirt, the calf-high socks, and the black shoes. And let’s not forget her headband!
I think Mabel herself would be proud of how this sweater turned out..
Next up is an outfit I have actually worn many times because it’s super cute and cozy. It’s Rory Gilmore from Gilmore Girls, the show I get the urge to watch whenever the leaves change. I have a slightly oversized white sweater to recreate one of Rory’s most recognized outfits paired with dark wash jeans and black clogs.
Rory wears a choker-type necklace with this outfit, but I could not find my choker anywhere when I put this outfit on. I ended up choosing a crystal necklace I made several years ago and grabbed a book as a prop for this costume.
I think this outfit is one of Rory’s more memorable ones because it appears in the first episode of the entire series.
The next couple of outfits are from another favorite show of mine, That 70s Show. First I did a Jackie-type look because I have this really scratchy vintage seater that probably belonged to my mother, but it’s perfect for Jackie! It’s a white turtleneck with blue and purple flowers embroidered (I think) on with a semi-chunky yarn.
I paired the sweater with a pair of jeans that fan out at the bottom and the same brown heeled clogs I used to create Lindsay from Total Drama Island. This is not the last appearance from the brown heeled clogs.
Tell me this isn’t the most Jackie Burkhart sweater you’ve ever seen. You can’t..
I also made a look for Donna Pinciotti. I used the same jeans as the ones in Jackie’s look, but I paired them with a brown and white striped t-shirt, a light blue embroidered top that almost looks denim, and brown clogs. Oh, and how could I forget the bandana?
I will most likely start wearing this outfit all the time.
Okay, this is the final costume from my favorite TV shows before I move on to movies. I love Linda Cardellini so much, I had to do her character Lindsay Weir from the 1999 show Freaks and Geeks. I could go on a whole rant about how this show deserved more seasons, but this blog post isn’t about that. It’s about me trying to be fashionable, which is far funnier.
I decided to recreate Lindsay’s look from the episode “Kim Kelly is my friend.” She wears a red sweater, brown pants, and probably brown shoes to match. I don’t know, this isn’t a Dan Schnieder show, so there’s not a lot of focus on characters’ feet.
The green jacket completes any Lindsay Weir look.
Now that I have create looks from five of the best TV shows that exist in our world, I want to move on to characters from the best movies. The first look I want to share with you is Nicki Freeman from the hit movie Obsession. I have a bunch of pieces that worked really well for her first look in the movie.
I wore a green long-sleeve top even though hers in the movie is gray because I felt my green shirt matched the style the best. Then I put on black shorts, a denim jacket, leg warmers because I don’t have socks that go that high, and brown heeled boots.
It’s not an exact match to Nicki, but I think this works, and it was so fun to do.
Speaking of 2026, Backrooms was another fabulous movie that I have the means to incorporate into my Halloween lookbook. When I watched the movie and saw Mary’s outfits, my first thought was “I have those pants.”
So, I wore my khaki pants, and the top of this outfit is actually a dress that I tucked into the pants. The pants are so wide-legged that you can’t tell, but this was the closest I could get to a good Mary top because I don’t have the shoulder-padded vintage blouses she wears. I went with the brown clogs for this outfit, although I’m sure the Sperry boat shoes I have would’ve also worked.
This is my outfit, by the way. I’m the one paying for it.
This next outfit would be optimal as a group costume, otherwise nobody will know who you are and you’ll spend the entire night explaining to one person after the other. It’s also from a movie I don’t think a lot of people my age have heard of–1999’s Jawbreaker.
I have all the pieces to dress up as Fern Mayo, that is, before she becomes Vylette. When the movie begins, Fern is a shy, sweet girl. She wears a floral top under an oversized green cardigan with a black skirt. I decided on black clogs for this look.
Though one of the lesser-known 1999 films, Jawbreaker is still iconic.
Now I am getting into the costumes that were the most fun for me to put together and wear. The next one is the queen herself, Regina George.
I don’t own the “A Little BIt Dramatic” shirt, but they are for sale on literally any website you could think of right now that sells clothing. But this was my challenge to create the costumes from what I already had in my closet. Now, I’m not saying I bought this pink cardigan just in case I ever felt like dressing up as Regina, but also that’s exactly what I’m saying.
It’s so simple, yet so pretty and fun to wear–black skirt, white tank top, pink cardigan, the highest heels I own (which happen to be nude) and a sparkly handbag I found in my closet that also belonged to my mother at one point. I got sparkles everywhere. I think that improved the outfit. I even put on a necklace with my initial on it to match hers.
My shirt may not say “A Little Bit Dramatic,” but there is no doubt that I am Regina Goerge.
Now, I couldn’t do a Halloween lookbook without re-creating one of Cher Horowitz’s outfits from Clueless. I am very sad to report that I do not own a plaid yellow skirt, but the outfit that I was able to make from the clothes in my closet turned out really well.
This outfit is from the scene in the movie where Cher is sitting uncomfortably next to Josh on the couch. She wears a white t-shirt with a pink camisole over top and jeans. That may be a fashion sin to some, but I actually want to wear this out now. Nobody can stop me.
I decided on white tennis shoes to go with this outfit since Cher wears tennis shoes with her more casual outfits in the movie.
Clueless is one of my ultimate comfort movies, so it would be a crime not to include it.
The next outfit is from one of my favorite movies of all time, Heathers. While I think it would be more fun to do this as a group costume, I bet I could get away with doing this on my own and being recognized as Veronica Sawyer.
My skirt is bright blue, which doesn’t exactly match the more muted tones Veronica wears, but I’m choosing not to worry about it. I also wore black tights, a black corset top, and a light blue cardigan. I love how this one turned out because I created this outfit very last-minute compared to the others.
Veronice Sawyer, our queen in blue.
The next outfit is from a well-known film with characters I can never remember the name of, Dazed and Confused. I recreated Jodi’s denim outfit from the movie with a button-up vest and the same jeans I used in the That 70s Show looks.
By the time I put this outfit on, I found my choker, so I used it for Jodi. She also wears a bracelet. This is the final appearance of the brown heeled clogs. I love these shoes.
Great movie, favorite character, really fun outfit!
And finally, the costume I had the most fun wearing…Paulette from Legally Blonde! I don’t have the means to re-create one of Elle’s looks, but the denim vest sure comes in handy for Paulette. I also noticed she wears a white tiger shirt. Now, I could have just put on a white t-shirt, but I own a tiger shirt. This was meant to be.
I paired it with my denim skirt, and Paulette wears socks and heeled sandals, so I did the same even though it felt very wrong. I also did a half ponytail and added some hair clips I have that are shaped like strawberries.
Any Jennifer Coolidge is the ultimate character to be for Halloween.
I hope you enjoyed my lookbook. Feel free to look up these characters yourself and rate how I did re-creating their looks. I sure had fun. Happy Halloween!