On Halloween, you can be anyone or anything you want for an entire evening. It’s the one day out of the year when it’s acceptable to throw the truism “just be yourself” out the window and instead be, and wear, whatever you want, no matter how outlandish or fantastical.

While checking out the latest costume trends online, I couldn’t help but notice the inordinate number of costumes that are based on popular TV shows and other snippets of pop culture. For example, there are “sexy” hazmat suits that you can wear unzipped – with very little underneath – and claim you are a strange approximation of Walter White from the beloved show “Breaking Bad.”

The Internet also suggests that you don some camo and a fake beard to be Si from “Duck Dynasty.” Or, if you happen to have a tiara and an old prom dress lying around, you could cover yourself with red paint and create a “Carrie” getup just in time for the release of the remake.

But hearing people profane the sanctity of such a day by proclaiming that they want to be Miley Cyrus for Halloween breaks my heart. You can be anything imaginable and you choose to be the girl who is famous for twerking?

I fail to see the appeal of parading around in a fuzzy teddy bear leotard and forcing your tongue to loll out of your mouth all night. Not to mention the fact that the costume itself is really just a furry bathing suit, which is not the most fashion-forward choice any time of year.

But by far, the most disturbing costume I came across consisted of a short, tight black dress with a boney ribcage, spinal column and pelvis painted on it with a matching gold belt, which functions as a tape measure. The costume is called “Anna Rexia” and it’s a repugnant display of how the innocence of Halloween has been lost.

The “Anna Rexia” costume sends the message that depriving yourself of food and being dangerously thin — literally skeletal — is sexy and fashionable. This could not be further from the truth. Anorexia is a serious medical condition the fashion industry has only just begun to acknowledge as dangerous. By no means should this be a “costume.” Being a healthy weight is both sexy and fashionable. Not just on Halloween, but every day of the year.

I fear Halloween has become nothing more than a day to regurgitate every TV phenomenon and pop-culture oddity of the past year in the most provocative way possible, and that isn’t what it should be. Where is the imagination? The originality?

It is far more fun if you attempt to create your own costume using some basic staples from your current wardrobe and supplementing them with thrift store finds and the right accessories.

For instance, if you happen to have a gray or silver dress lying around in your closet, you could pair it with a black cape or long jacket, lots of bangles and rings and fashion a pair of antennae using an old headband, some pipe cleaners and a hot-glue. And voilà. You can be an alien.

This Halloween, don’t get tricked into wearing a costume that you aren’t crazy about, and make sure that you treat yourself to a fun, fashionable and safe evening.

Jenna Belmonte is a magazine, newspaper and online journalism graduate student. Her fashion column appears every Monday in Pulp. She can be reache

Published on October 27, 2013 at 11:05 pm