Popular Halloween Costumes (1985-1993)

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

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CORBIS, PEAY DESIGNS

We’ve shown you some of the best costumes from the last few Halloweens. Do you remember what you pulled on in 1993, though? We combed through old newspapers to find the top costumes from the 80s and early 90s. Anybody slip into one of these?

1993: “So Barney the Dinosaur, Aladdin, and Jasmine walk into a Halloween party…”

1992: Catwoman and Batman were hot sellers in the wake of Batman Returns, but so was a slightly less terrifying subject: Ross Perot.

1991: There was no clear winner in this year’s Associated Press story, but the Terminator, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Freddy Krueger, and Scarlett O’Hara all rolled out in full force.

1990: Ninja Turtles had been just as popular the previous year, and Homer, Bart, and the rest of the Simpsons moved some units of their own.

1989: Tim Burton’s Batman kicked off a wave of enthusiasm for borderline comically expensive Caped Crusader and Joker getups. A piece in the Richmond Times-Dispatch a week before Halloween noted that factories were working round-the-clock to crank out official Batman ($275) and Joker ($320!) costumes.

Revelers who preferred more realistic outfits had a big year, too. An AP story noted that imprisoned televangelist/hucksters Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker were hot costumes.

1988: Freddy Krueger and Elvira were the big hits, although the California Raisins garnered their fair share of costume sales, too.

1986: We’ll let this AP headline speak for itself: “Ninja, sexy witch top Halloween costumes.”

1985: Hulk Hogan and Elvira were the biggest sellers, although the AP noted Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan were hot, too. (This was truly a great Halloween for Patrick Swayze’s gang from Point Break.)