Makeup Artist's Meme-Themed Birthday Party Will Inspire Your Halloween Costume
If you need Halloween inspo, this woman and her friends' hilarious meme costumes have you covered.
@prettytrishie / TikTok It's October, and that of course means one thing — it's time to figure out your Halloween costume.
Of course, you could just go rent some Dracula or Cinderella costume, but wouldn't you rather be something a bit more timely and unique? Like, say, Wendy Williams fainting while dressed as the Statue of Liberty?
A makeup artist's meme-themed birthday party is full of hilarious Halloween costume ideas.
Perhaps you're not so much a Wendy Williams guy or gal but more of a Tiffany Pollard devotee. Or perhaps early 90s pre-fame Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and his iconic fanny pack is more your speed.
Whatever your online-culture obsessions, New York-based makeup artist Trish, aka Dolled by Trishie, has you covered after posting a selection of the hilarious costumes her friends wore to her meme-themed birthday party.
As Trish put it in a TikTok comment, her friends definitely "understood the assignment." Her party guests are basically a who's who of some of the most hilarious and ridiculous internet moments of the social media era, and some of their costumes are deceptively simple.
Some of the meme-themed costumes honor iconic moments in the news or pop culture.
Are you looking for something topical for your next Halloween costume idea? Well, Trish's friends 100% have you covered. For starters, there was the aformentioned Wendy Williams moment.
Who could forget October 2017 when Ms. Williams, dressed as Lady Liberty, suddenly fainted during her Halloween-themed episode of "The Wendy Williams Show," the cancellation of which is arguably the single greatest tragedy of the 21st century so far?
No one will ever compare to Ms. Williams' performance, but Trish's friend certainly comes in very close second — the way she stumbles around before hitting the decks is almost as iconic as the original.
Photo: @prettytrishie / TikTok
Then there's the unforgettable moment when Vice President Kamala Harris called President Joe Biden with the news that they'd officially won the 2020 election. Who among us hasn't said "we did it Joooooooeeeeee" approximately nine million times since that deeply award moment?
Trish's pal's version of this is as impressive for its accuracy as its simplicity. Just throw on some running clothes and sunglasses, grab your phone and a pair of hastily coiled earbuds and looked like you're maybe intoxicated, maybe sobbing and boom — you've done it.
Photo: @prettytrishie / TikTok
But for the ultimate pop culture moment? Another one of Trish's friends really takes the cake.
It seems safe to say that there's not a Gen Xer or Millennial alive who doesn't remember where they were the moment they heard the news that TLC's Lisa "Left Eye" Lopez had been arrested for burning her ex, Andre Rison's, house down.
So, of course, the friend had to immortalize the moment by flawlessly reproducing Left Eye's iconic mugshot. Perfect.
Photo: @prettytrishie / TikTok
Other meme-themed costumes honored viral moments from social media.
Much like Left Eye's arrest, if you're the type of guy or gal who spends entirely too much time on the internet, you likely remember the first time you saw a hilarious photo of a disgruntled, five-year-old Belcalis Almanzar, who would one day be known as Cardi B, glaring indignantly with one hand on her hip.
Within seemingly moments of the photo surfacing, a meme was born, and it reached such a fever pitch over a few weeks in 2018 that Cardi's husband Offset had a necklace made from the photo, and Cardi herself started reposting them to jokingly tell people to "leave five year old Belcalis alone!"
The meme has now been further immortalized by one of Trish's friends, who perfectly replicated it at her party.
Photo: @prettytrishie / TikTok
Then, of course, there was the bizarre phenomenon that was Salt Bae, the enigmatic Turkish chef who vent viral again and again and again for his flamboyant, deeply weird — and somehow very sexy in the most off-putting way possible — videos of him salting sizzling meat.
Well, if you don't remember him, allow no less than three of Trish's guests to remind you. A deep-V t-shirt, a slicked-back manbun, sunglasses and some salt, and you've got an iconic Halloween costume that, sure, a lot of people are going to greet with "what are you?" But the ones who know? Oh, they'll know.
Photo: @prettytrishie / TikTok
GIFs, hilarious celebrity photos, and the myriad repurposed stills from film and TV we've all been sending for years made for some of the best costumes.
Listen, a young, pre-fame Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was apparently iconic enough to warrant a sitcom called "The Young Rock," so it's probably no wonder that a hilariously embarrassing photo of him in full early-90s fanny-packed regalia went viral in 2022 — and made for a perfect costume at Trish's party for no fewer than three like-minded attendees.
Photo: @prettytrishie / TikTok
Then, there were perfect reproductions of practically everyone's favorite reaction images to use online: children's show character Arthur's balled-up fist, and reality star Tiffany "New York" Pollard sitting on her "Flava Of Love" bed pouting. The latter comes with a special bonus — you get to sit down the entire time!
(Personally, I'm more a fan of Ms. Pollard's magnum opus, her "Celebrity Big Brother" diary-room monologue telling off UK reality star Gemma Collins as only she could, but it's hard to replicate that as a costume and it's also so deliciously profane it cannot be reproduced here. Let's just remind Collins that she "doesn't have the vernacular she thinks she has" and leave it at that.)
Photo: @prettytrishie / TikTok
But if there's one winner from Trish's party, it has to be the birthday girl herself, who perfectly replicated what is arguably the biggest viral meme in the entire internet's history: The Dress™.
Surely you remember the "is it black and blue or is it gold and white" debate that raged on for weeks and broke every one of our brains in the process?
Photo: @prettytrishie / TikTok
To say that Trish nailed it would be the greatest understatement of the internet era. And when it comes to Halloween costume ideas? Well, best to leave this one alone, because no one is besting Trish on this one. Hang her homemade dress in the rafters like a retired MVP's jersey!
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.