Dress up as one of these 10 well-known Wisconites for Halloween, and you’ll have the most interesting costume around.
If you like to support local businesses, chefs, and artists, then shouldn’t your Halloween costume also have local flair? After all, if you’re going to a Halloween party in this state, then an outfit that’s easily recognizable is going to help you win the contest. Or at least garner some laughs!
Here are 10 ideas for Wisconsinites to dress as for Halloween—both living and deceased, and maybe even fictitious.
1. Barbie
Surprise! She’s a Badger Girl at heart. The fictitious doll was born in Willows, Wisconsin, in 1959. With platinum-blond long hair and lots of bright-pink clothing (maybe even what you wore to the Barbie movie premiere starring Margot Robbie last year?), you can easily pull this one off. Looking for a couple’s costume idea? Barbie definitely needs her Ken!
2. Oprah
This talk-show personality, magazine publisher, and movie producer was raised in Milwaukee. To nail a costume in her likeness, wear a bright, solid color (like purple or red) from top to bottom, pantsuit-style. Glasses, pearls, and a voluminous head of dark hair are also key to the costume. You could go around the room and say, “You get a car! You get a car!” and Oprah fans will immediately understand this reference to her talk show.
3. Vince Lombardi
As Green Bay Packers fans and cheesehead historians know, one of the greatest NFL coaches of all time was the Brooklyn, New York-born Lombardi, who coached the team from 1959 to 1967. Don a khaki trench coat, fedora hat, and glasses with thick, black frames—and maybe a watch set 15 minutes ahead (“Lombardi Time” meant to be 15 minutes early)—and you’ve just channeled him.
4. Paul Bunyan
America’s favorite folk hero/lumberjack wears a flannel shirt and has several possible birthplaces to his name, including Hayward, Wisconsin. In addition to the flannel shirt and jeans, find a faux axe and a fake beard, and this costume is done. Easy peasy!
5. Trixie Mattel
This Milwaukee-born drag queen is a huge star, with a motel (in Palm Springs), cosmetics line, and reputation as both a folk-country singer and previous contestant on the seventh season of the reality TV show “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars.” Just like her hotel, what makes her stand apart is a distinctly 1960s vibe. Start with an over-the-top blonde or cotton-candy-pink wig and eye makeup no one can miss, and then build out the costume from there.
6. “That ‘70s Show” characters
If you’re looking for an ensemble costume, dressing as the cast of “That ’70s Show” is perfect, and you can probably get everything you need at a local thrift store. “That ‘70s Show” was set in an unnamed Wisconsin suburb during the, you guessed it, 1970s, so think bell-bottom pants; polyester, button-down floral-print shirts; striped T-shirts; and corduroy pants.
7. Arnold Schwarzenegger
Yes, the muscle man was born in Austria, but did you know he also lived in Wisconsin? This was while attending college at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, in the Northern Wisconsin city of Superior. For a costume resembling him, pick up a padded body-building suit and practice your accent.
8. Laura Ingalls Wilder
If you’ve got some prairie-girl-style dresses hanging in your closets, put them on and dial it back to the late 1880s, when the Pepin-born pioneer and author Wilder was living in Wisconsin. This is, of course, the thesis of her books and subsequent television show.
9. Liberace
Before his death in the 1980s, this West Allis-born singer, musician, and pianist became the highest-paid entertainer in the world and a major pop-cultural icon. This was during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He even had a Vegas residency. If you like the “Mad Men” era and anything that glitters, has ruffles, or is otherwise flamboyant, then go for this costume—with a martini in hand, naturally!
10. Frank Lloyd Wright
America’s most famous architect, known for his Prairie-style homes and organic architecture, shuttled between his Spring Green estate and his snowbird property in Arizona until his 1959 death. His signature look was a pork pie hat, tan cape, light-gray suitcoat, and cane.
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