Enter, Vampires!
Since the 1930s, one of the most popular costumes, along with ‘witch,’ is the vampire, a trend that continues to this day. While vampires have their roots in eastern European folk legend, these shape-shifting bloodsuckers became popular culture darlings in the 1890s, when Bram Stoker published his novel Dracula.
Bela Lugosi shaped the image of Dracula as a monster-in-a-man-suit when he donned the fangs to play Dracula in a 1931’s highly popular movie. Lugosi’s Dracula was a handsome sophisticate, donning a tuxedo and flowing cape, using his charm and cunning to dominate his victims. Vampire costumes since then have been less pale-skinned and pointy-earned beasts like Nosferatu and more sophisticated, tuxedoed, deadly glamor icon.
