Celebrity Halloween costumes 2026 leaned on tributes, with Kim Kardashian dressing as her daughter North West and Rita Ora channelling Dolly Parton as Halloween fell on Saturday, 31 October 2026.
According to Forbes, this was a year when stars dressed up as other stars instead of ghouls and witches, and the warmest homages went to Dolly Parton, who died on Tuesday, 25 August 2026 at the age of 80. Ora was one of several celebrities who turned up in a Parton look.
Which celebrity Halloween costumes 2026 got people talking?
Kim Kardashian went for the family angle, dressing as her 13-year-old daughter North West in electric-blue hair, facial piercings and goth clothing, a style North took to Paris Fashion Week. North went as Edward Scissorhands, with pale makeup, facial scars and scissor fingers.
Keke Palmer and her son Leodis recreated Janet and Michael Jackson from the 1995 Scream video, a mother-son tribute to two of the most famous siblings in pop. Palmer shared the photos on Instagram with a caption addressed to her son:
“You will take over the family business, your way, someday.”
Keke Palmer, in an Instagram caption
Why Dolly Parton led the celebrity Halloween costumes of 2026
Rita Ora paid her respects at a Dolly-themed Halloween party in New York’s East Village on Friday, 30 October 2026. She wore a big blonde wig to echo Parton’s trademark beehive, bright green eyeshadow, and a cropped white shirt worn open over jeans.
Parton died in Nashville, Tennessee, with her publicist announcing the death without giving a cause. She wrote hundreds of songs, among them Jolene and I Will Always Love You, and designed her wigs-and-rhinestones look herself, wearing it for six decades.
Who else dressed up for Halloween 2026?
Lisa Rinna recreated Kylie Jenner in the orange Chrome Hearts gown Jenner wore to the Marty Supreme premiere, wearing it for an appearance on a daytime talk show, and Jenner noticed. She left a comment under Rinna’s photo:
“Thought this was me.”
Kylie Jenner, commenting on Lisa Rinna’s photo
Paris Hilton went double, first as Britney Spears at the 2001 VMAs, with an albino Burmese python around her neck, then as Belle from Beauty and the Beast.
Lizzo took the anime route as Seiko Ayase, the grandmother character from Dandadan, and captioned her Instagram photo:
“Halloweekend don’t start till I hop in! granny seiko ayase – 80yrs old and still a baddie”
Lizzo, in an Instagram caption
On tour, Olivia Rodrigo wore Marie Antoinette at her Columbus, Ohio, show on the Unraveled Tour. KATSEYE split into DC Comics characters at a Montreal soundcheck, with Wonder Woman, Poison Ivy, Catwoman and Harley Quinn covered, and posted a caption that read:
“Good luck picking a side.”
KATSEYE, in a social media post
Parton’s pull showed up in the search data as well. Google’s Frightgeist rankings, which track the Halloween costumes people look up most, placed her 12th overall for 2026, in a year when Ora and others borrowed her wig, her eyeshadow and her beehive.
Sources
- Forbes, The Best Celebrity Halloween Costumes Of 2026 (So Far), Jeff Benjamin, 31 October 2026
- HELLO!, The most jaw-dropping celebrity Halloween costumes of 2026 so far, Jenni McKnight, 28 October 2026 (updated 31 October 2026)
- ABC News, See the best celebrity Halloween costumes of 2026, Bethany Braun-Silva, 31 October 2026
- Swisher Post, Dolly Parton dies at 80, leaving a mountain of songs
- Swisher Post, North West debuts lip piercings at Paris Fashion Week
