The costume is called "The Ravager." The model wears fishnet stockings, a choker with chains on it, a black and red buckled bodice and a lipsticked pout.
It comes in sizes small enough for a 5-year-old.
The "Lovely Lolita" costume is for teens. The short kimono costume is pictured with thigh high stockings. "Lolita" is a classic novel about a pedophile and is named for the girl with whom he is obsessed.
Welcome to Halloween 2008. There's also the "Naughty Nurse," the "Cheerless Leader" and "Supergirl" with a costume that skims the belly and the bosom, leaving just enough room to squeeze in an "S."
One costume company has a line called, "Hottie Totties," for teen and pre-teen girls. This is what Disguise Inc., the company that makes them, says: "Fun, flirty and hot! Hottie Tottie costumes are a little on the sweet side with a splash of sass blending the look you want with the coverage mom will approve."
"Maid Purr-fect," a costume from the line, is a pink and black French maid/kitty cat outfit, with detachable tail, garter, feather duster and ears.
"That's the trend this year. The short and sexy has gone down to the little ones," said Debbie Meredith, who has been in the costume industry for almost 30 years. Her store, Akron Design & Costume Co., in Ohio, sells and rents costumes nationwide.
The store's more traditional costumes for girls -- a pilgrim and Little Red Riding Hood -- don't sell too well.
"Everything short and sexy has taken over Halloween," Meredith said.
She said her store sells petticoats to extend the length of the skirts and regular stockings to go with the sexier costumes instead of the fishnet thigh-highs they are shown with.
Walk into the kids' room at Dougherty's Masquerade, in Syracuse, and you'll be greeted by costumes called "Lovely Lolita," "You Sexy Witch" and "Very Bat Girl."
Bethany Fecteau, 29, who works at the store, wouldn't have been allowed to wear most of the costumes the store sells for girls. Her grandfather started the business, and it's owned by her aunt and uncle.
"Even the ones for younger kids are getting sexier," Fecteau said.
The more standard fare -- a knee-length Dorothy outfit, a pilgrim and an Indian -- was there, but it all looked dusty.
And most of them wouldn't accommodate the sweatpants and long sleeves often required for the chill of a Central New York Halloween, she said.
The Halloween costumes forced Jamie Virkler to talk about boys and the meaning of the word "trashy" with her 6-year-old daughter, Megan.
The Baldwinsville mother said her daughter decided she no longer wanted to be a princess for Halloween. So Virkler gave her one of the costume catalogs that came in the mail and told her to circle ones she liked.
Virkler hopped onto the computer, ready to place her order, when she looked more closely at what Megan wanted. Her reaction: "Are you kidding me?"
Her daughter wanted the "Cheerless Leader," a cheerleader from the dark side. A pouty girl wears a ripped shirt showing her midriff, which is covered over with red fishnet. The skirt is short, and ripped red fishnets peek out from underneath.
Virkler told her daughter: no fishnet. Megan asked what fishnet was. From there, the conversation went to a place Virkler hadn't considered. Megan wanted to know why fishnet was bad.
Virkler: It's trashy.
Megan: What's "trashy"?
Virkler: It's inappropriate.
Megan: What's "inappropriate"?
Virkler: It will attract the boys.
Megan: Why is that bad?
"I just thought, 'Oh my gosh. Where did I just go?'" Virkler said.
Her daughter goes to St. Mary's School, a Catholic school in Baldwinsville. The note home about the Halloween parade asked parents not to allow anything too gory. Virkler expects next year's note will be a little different.
"Pretty soon they're going to have to send a note home that says nothing trashy," Virkler said.
She went to a local costume store, too, but found nothing better. She looked in the boys' section for a doctor. Megan said she'd rather be a nurse. The nurses were all "naughty," with fishnets.
"No nurses. No maids," Virkler said.
Virkler ended up getting her daughter a costume called the "Very Bat Girl." It has long sleeves, a high collar and bat wings. The skirt is a little short, but it was better than anything else she'd seen. Virkler's ordering it a size larger than Megan wears, so it's not too tight or too short.
"What happened to the candy corn? The M&M?" Virkler asked, remembering the costumes of her youth.
One big costume manufacturer, Leg Avenue Inc., is a lingerie company. Pro wrestler and Maxim cover model Stacy Keibler wears their "Rag Doll" costume in a picture on the company's blog. It has a microscopic skirt and is shown with thigh-high stockings. That one, and several others like it, are available for teens.
And people are buying these costumes for their children. On Amazon.com's listing for a "Lovely Lolita" costume, it says people who bought that costume also bought Webkinz -- stuffed toys for 5- and 6-year-olds.
The sexy Halloween costumes are part of a culture -- television, movies, video games -- that tells girls what's important is being a sex object.
"We as a culture are teaching them the way to be valued is to be a naughty nurse," said Eileen Zurbriggen. "They're taking this message in. They're learning what we're teaching them."
Zurbriggen, who teaches at the University of California at Santa Cruz, was part of a task force of the American Psychological Association on the sexualization of girls. The task force studied the images of girls and young women in television, music lyrics, magazines and other media, and found that they were overwhelmingly depicted as sexual objects.
The task force said this sexual objectification is harmful for girls and young women and is to blame for anxiety problems, eating disorders and unhealthy sexual behavior.
But Zurbriggen said the costumes can be a teaching moment for parents. They can ask their daughters why they want to wear the Lolita or the naughty nurse costume, and what they think other people will think of them in that costume.
"And also give her the message, 'Well, here's how I see you as a person: You're a great writer. And your poetry is so beautiful. And you kick a soccer goal with the best of them,'" Zurbriggen said. "'I want you to be a whole person with all of the aspects of who you are. That's what I love about you.'"
The costume manufacturers are not to blame for the sexy costumes, said Howard Beige, vice president of Rubie's Costume Co., in Melville. His company has been making Halloween costumes for decades. This year, it has more than 1,000 styles. Some of them are a little flashier, a little sexier, he said. His company makes both the Ravager -- the one that shows fishnets, buckles and choker for a 5-year-old -- and a traditional princess with a knee-length dress.
"Here's one thing that no one's talking about
: It's the mother that's making the purchase," Beige said.
The costumes are not made in a vacuum, Beige said. Everyday clothes show midriffs, too.
"It's not just Halloween," he said. "It's the world we live in today."
Marnie Eisenstadt can be reached at
meisenstadt@syracuse.com or 470-2246
And then there's Noah Cyrus (Mley's little sis). She's nine
So they make f* me boots in kids sizes now?
Drinking Red Bull?
Halloween is officially out of control. As soon as 9-year-olds like Noah Cyrus start using the holiday as an excuse to dress sexy, that's when you know it's time to shut it down.
Miley's little sister dressed up—as a vampire? A witch? Her older sister?—for the 2009 Dream Halloween event held over the weekend, and once again we're forced to question Billy Ray and Tish's judgment. Or if they're even around...
This wasn't just a one-time occurrence either. Their tweener daughter hit up another Halloween event the next day dressed up as what we think is Minnie Mouse.
Obviously, these costumes are going to cause a stir, and the Cyrus family knows the Internet really can be a mean place—just look at all the scrutiny Miley deals with on an almost daily basis. So it seems odd they would willingly subject a 9-year-old to such criticism. But hey, they're getting press and attention...if that's worth it?
Many Halloween costumes for kids are more naughty than nice
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