A look at some of the best Halloween costumes at Pitt this year

Over “Halloweekend,” Pitt students dressed in elaborate, funny and creative costumes walking through the streets of Oakland. Many Pitt students showed out for Halloween, going above and beyond for their costumes. Here are some of the best ones from this weekend. 

Sexy pierogi 

Jackie Honkus, a senior marketing major, said she dressed up as a sexy pierogi — specifically Jalapeño Hannah, a mascot at Pittsburgh Pirates games. 

“So when I was thinking of fun Halloween costume ideas, I was like I wanna go as something that I like,” Honkus said. “I really like the racing pierogies from the Pittsburgh Pirate games. So I decided instead of wearing a giant pierogi costume I would take a cute spin on it.”

Honkus dressed as Jalapeño Hannah using clothes she already had –– a beige dress with a green bag and a hat with the letter “H” on it. 

Radiohead 

Olive Samsel, a junior ecology and evolution major, dressed as Radiohead this Halloweekend. 

“I decided to be a bit funny this year and pay homage to a band that I, and many of my friends, love –– Radiohead,” Samsel said. “One of my roommates got me into them when we were freshmen.” 

Samsel’s Radiohead costume consisted of a homemade cardboard radio covering their head with a ukulele to pair with it.

They created the costume with reused materials, such as a cardboard box from another roommate and some bottle caps. They went to Pitt’s Center for Creativity for the rest of the materials for their costume. The costume is made of paper, duct tape, hot glue, aluminum foil and, according to Samsel, a lot of love.

Samsel also added that they included “subtle nods to the band within the costume,” such as a 15 step transistor and the 2+2=5 on the volume knob, both in reference to Radiohead song titles. They also added that the stations on the tuning scale are the years each of their studio albums was released. 

They wore their costume while doing a live DJ set at Nightmare in the Quad for WPTS Radio. During the DJ event, Samsel said a lot of people asked if they could see with the costume on. 

“[It] is the closest I’ll ever get to being Daft Punk,” Samsel said. “The speaker is made of buckram mesh, the same material used to mascot eyes, so I can see and DJ just fine!” Samsel said.

Tricky from Subway Surfer

Cecily Craig, a senior anthropology major, dressed up as Tricky from the mobile game Subway Surfers. Craig explained why she chose to go as Tricky.

“One, I play a lot of Subway Surfers, and two, I do graffiti back at home — legally — so I thought it was fitting,” Craig said.

She said she got the idea while hanging out on a porch with her friends. 

“We were all playing Subway Surfers to see who could get the highest score, and one of my friends mentioned how I was just like Tricky,” Craig said. “It kind of became a little bit of an inside joke, so I figured it would be a cute costume to go as.”

Voldemort from Harry Potter

Emma Ricchetti, a junior economics major, went as Voldemort from Harry Potter. She decided on this idea because her and her roommates wanted to do an easily recognizable group costume. Ricchetti and her roommates all went as different characters from Harry Potter. 

Ricchetti said she landed on Voldemort and got creative with her makeup.

“[I] wanted the opportunity to be the one that was able to wear a bald cap and do some special effects makeup,” Ricchetti said.

Being Voldemort warranted a fake nose to capture the character’s snake-like nostrils, according to Ricchetti. 

“I looked up a few inspo videos on TikTok to help me prepare,” Ricchetti said. “I love dressing up as things that are funny and eye-catching, and it was a given that I would be Voldemort.” 

Most of the pieces for the costume came from Amazon. Ricchetti said her friends helped her with the makeup.

“[I had] to change my nose shape and basically paint my entire face white,” Ricchetti said.

DJ Khaled 

Aaron Kelemen, a junior rehabilitation science major, dressed as hip-hop producer DJ Khaled this year. Kelemen said he aimed for name recognition.

“I just wanted to do something funny and slightly niche, but still recognizable,” Kelemen said. “It’s also a plus that I have a ton of phrases I’ll be able to yell all night.” 

Kelemen unpacked the key characteristics of pulling off the DJ’s look. 

“He’s always wearing some sort of short-sleeved button-up and shorts so I’m going with that,” Kelemen said. “[I] also got some glasses and an iced out watch and chain. Oh, and a beard.”