What if we dressed up in Halloween Costumes every day?

The wearing of costumes on Halloween comes from the belief that supernatural beings, or the souls of the dead, roamed the earth at this time. The traditions and folklore of Halloween are a hybrid of Pagan, Celtic, Catholic and ancient Roman traditions. People would dress up in costume to ward off any evil entities or spirits. Even though this was the initial reason for dressing up on Halloween, in modern times people use this tradition to come together as a group and socialize.

Every year, kids — and sometimes adults too — dress up in ridiculous outfits and storm the streets, on a mission to ring strangers' doorbells and fill up their bags with candy. This custom is celebrated in most of the western countries. Overall, this event is filled with glamour, prestige and a lot of chocolate.

People dress up like all sorts of things – witches, ghosts and even their favourite movie characters. They use this event to express themselves without having anyone judge them. To the apparent dismay of older generations, millennials are still enthusiastically celebrating Halloween well into adulthood. This has visibly impacted the next generation to openly dress up and celebrate too. Dressing up on Halloween is no longer something that is restricted to children.

But have you ever stopped to wonder - what would happen if we dressed up in Halloween costumes daily? Well, for starters, it would be pretty inconvenient. Putting together one Halloween costume is work enough. Imagine having to do it every single day. People won’t have the time or the patience to dress up in showy costumes. Older generations are typicallyclose minded and might not accept this new trend in fashion.

On the other hand, some people might use this as an opportunity to dress up in a way that they feel seen in. As Marc Jacobs, famed fashion designer put it, “To me- clothing is a form of self-expression- there are hints about who you are in what you wear.”

Dressing up encourages creativity. Frankly, if everyone dressed in a way they fancied, the social constructs and the stereotypical beliefs around assigning a gender to clothes will cease to exist. It will cause people to be more open-minded and not judge someone solely based on their clothing.

All in all, dressing up in Halloween costumes might be an inconvenience to some but a blessing to others; it all depends on an individual’s perspective. No matter how we dress, our worth, our gender, or our sexuality is not defined by our clothes. Clothing is a way of expressing our emotions in a way in which we feel represented. And costume or not, the person matters more than the clothing.

- Rtr. Saniya Deshpande.