When Hollywood movies and American sitcoms blinked on our television screens in the nineties, we were left wondering at a lot of things. One of them being this seemingly wonderful festival when kids had the licence to annoy neighbours and ask them for free candy. And as years passed, supplemented by carved pumpkins and glowing lanterns, Halloween seemed an alien festival. Until two years ago, when the cosmopolitan, bling-loving Delhiites found yet another occasion to dress up in high drama.
Thenny Mejia, a regular in the social circuit and an event manager, politely informs us that the Halloween revolution in the city could very well be credited to her black book. “Before 2008, Halloween was organised but in low-end pubs and bars, which did not get any coverage since it never attracted the right crowd. But two years ago, the managers of the erstwhile Indo-chine (now Lure) met me and we hit upon this idea of bringing this super fun festival to Delhi,” she says as she quips that the Halloween A-list gathered phenomenal media coverage. “Delhi crowd has a habit of not following the dress code, but I ensured that no one would enter unless they were in costume. It was the spooky atmosphere, the moonlit ambience and slight chill made it perfect for the occasion,” she informs, adding that it is still difficult to find a perfect Halloween costume in the city and one needs to be highly imaginative.
Designer Shantanu Mehra of the label Shantanu and Nikhil, tells us that though they have never attempted full-fledged costume making, they have contributed several pieces to make a Halloween outfit. “We have done outfits with string gothic and vintage tones which have been used by people to string together in an outfit,” he says.
But imagination is never out of stock when it comes to our city peeps. Ramneek Paintal tells us that though earlier no one followed the dress code, now one would stick out like a sore thumb if there were no efforts made to dress up. “I have dressed as a 60’s Hollywood star, a nun and a schoolgirl for Halloween parties in the past and this year too will have some thing spectacular planned out,” she tells us.
Though devil is out of the bathwater this year and most people look to the pop icons for inspiration, with popular ones being Snooki from Jersey Shore, Sue Sylvester from Glee, Canadian boy wonder Justin Beiber and goth-chic, American Idol finalist Adam Lambert among the usual Superman and Ninja Turtles, Emcee Mehar Bhasin swears by the sexy yet scary look. “I will try and emulate the Twilight series and its characters, which are so universally popular. Whenever I am in the US, all my friends do the same, trying to resemble the Adam’s family,” she tells us.