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The research was conducted by creative resource Design Bundles, which analysed hashtag data from Instagram for more than 100 different fancy dress options to find the top ten most popular costumes.

The mermaid costume’s popularity is likely driven by classic Disney animation ‘The Little Mermaid’, first released in 1989 and set for a live action remake in May 2023. Fans looking for an edgier approach can also take inspiration from the ‘Sirens’ found in movies such as ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and ‘Peter Pan’.

In second place is the Spider-Man costume with a total of 66,117 total Instagram hashtags. The superhero is set to make his next appearance on the big screen in the new movie ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ set to release 17 December 2021.

Pirate costume came third in the rankings with a total of 58,231 hashtags, with popular Disney character ‘Jack Sparrow’ from the Pirates of the Caribbean no doubt the main inspiration for many party-goers.

In fourth place is the Harley Quinn costume with 51,443 hashtags, driven by Margot Robbie’s portrayal of the character in the ‘Suicide Squad’ films, and the solo movie ‘Birds of Prey’.

In fifth place is the witch costume, strongly associated with the Halloween season, which takes a total of 50,631 hashtags. Placing sixth place is the Wonder Woman costume with 41,326 number of hashtags after the character was brought to life by Gal Gadot, most recently in ‘Wonder Woman 1984’, released in in December 2020.

In seventh place is the clown costume with 29,959, with evil versions such as Pennywise from the film franchise ‘IT’ offering an ideal fright-filled option for Halloween. Fairy costumes rank in eighth place, providing an outfit that is more magical than terrifying, with inspiration from characters such as ‘Tinkerbell’ from the Disney classic ‘Peter Pan’.

Taking the spot for ninth is the Deadpool costume with a total of 26,777 Instagram hashtags. Following closely behind taking tenth is the hashtag #purgecostume with 26,638 posts after the movie franchise released a fifth instalment in July this year.

Commenting on the findings a spokesperson from Design Bundles said: “With Halloween approaching it has been interesting to see the most popular costumes on Instagram. There is an intriguing mix of inspiration from fairy tales, beloved cartoons, superheroes and horror films. As people begin looking forward to Halloween, this data shows that any one of the top ten costumes is likely to be well received on social media.”

Evie Switzer

The analysis was carried out by Design Bundles which offers high quality premium design resources and a marketplace which allows graphic designers to register and sell their products.