MUST SEE: Halloween’s Hottest Costumes

If you can bare it, you can wear it. For this year’s Halloween in West Hollywood, the best costume is almost none at all.

It’s gotta be sexy, and it’s gotta be short says Matt Dahan, 24, who wants to be a construction worker this year, “a dirty construction worker,” he emphasizes. He plans to take a pair of construction pants and cut them off, or “if it’s going to be overalls, only one side of the overall will be up. The other side will be open,” he explains. Add a fake tattoo, and voila it’s hot, hot, hot. Make it sexy this year with a bit of extra skin, he says. “Because that’s what Halloween is about.”

His friend, Jaime Salgado, 32, agrees completely. In fact, he’d like to show even more skin than Dahan. This year, he’s inspired by the Spartans from Gerard Butler’s 2006 movie 300. Hello, Mr. Scotland in a teeny bikini bottom. Yes, please.

Jaime knows exactly how he’s going to copy the look. He only needs two elements. “The cape and the Speedo,” he says, “And that’s it.” So, what color is his Speedo? (Butler wears a gold bottom in the movie.) But Salgado is making an adjustment. “Red,” he says. “It has to be red.” There’s really no other way to do it, unless you go gold. A solid red Speedo costs about $24 and the red cape runs anywhere from $14.95 to 19.95.

The Speedo, or “boy shorts idea,” as we’re calling it, can really go a long way. We popped into Ozzie Dots vintage and costume shop on Hollywood Boulevard and found that silver hot pants in particular were flying off the shelves.

A Halloween shopper, Greg Wolfson, from West Hollywood, bought a pair of silver boy shorts for $18.99 to go with his Mexican Lucha Libre Wrestling Mask. We found one on ebay for $7.99. But several costume shops sell them for $13.99-$15.99.

The owner of Ozzie Dots, Daniel Hazen, who has been in the Halloween and costume business since 1985 says there’s a lot you can do with a mask and boy shorts. He points out his own creation, a space helmet.

It matches perfectly with the silver boy shorts. No wonder he can’t keep them in stock. These popular bottoms also come in tan, pink, purple, red, black, gold and white. The costume possibilities are endless.

Let’s not forget the most obvious Speedo costume scenario, to go dressed as Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte. We suggest giving a little cut to a George Harrison 70s style wig (you can get one on Amazon for about $10), add the pink Speedo (our favorite – we found one on eBay for less than $30) and don’t forget your gold medal.

In the name of Christian Bale and The Dark Knight Rises, the black Speedo with a simple Batman mask is always a winner. Often times, you can buy a mask with a cape together. We found one for $14 on the Official Batman Costumes site. Hello, Bruce Wayne.

These were some of the most popular ensembles we saw while shopping in West Hollywood this weekend. Many men have been flaunting the sexy look for a while, only this year, it seems, more people than ever are venturing into the realm of Halloween skin costumes, says Michael Bryne, a salesman at Ozzie Dots. “People who grew up in the 90s who are older, definitely are in tune with their sexuality.” So, going sexy is booming.

What else is popular this year? Boy Scout costumes. “We’ve sold a lot of them,” he says. And he’s not the only one; a clerk at American Vintage, a costume shop in West Hollywood also reported the same thing. They are practically sold out of Boy Scout costumes. Want to jump on the bandwagon? Here’s how you get the look: Grab a khaki shirt and khaki pants off of eBay, pair with a walking stick, a yellow bandana and a few patches and boom, off to the woods you go.

And if men are showing it all this year, it seems that women are covering up. Hazen remarks on how this year women are shying away from the pre-packaged sexy tramp costumes. “They’re tired of it,” he says. It has been a trend for a long time, and now people are looking for something different.

Laurie German, a saleswoman at American Vintage agrees. She says she’s seeing a trend of women turning toward the past. This year, flappers’ costumes, cowgirls and vintage wear are in full swing.

Sex is still on the table, of course, but now it’s a bit more seductive. To get the cowgirl look, try a long white dress with ruffles, cowgirl boots and a big Texas hat. Add a vintage gun belt and you’ll transform into Olivia Wilde from Cowboys & Aliens.

The classic flapper is always fun, especially if you have a feather in your hair. American Vintage has an entire area dedicated to flapper headwear. They also have 20s style dresses of every color (prices range from $40 to over $100). Don’t forget the cigarette stick for $12.

But it’s not all buttoned up blouses and 50s shoes for women.

The Dark Knight Rises has inspired many to take on Catwoman as the challenge of the season. Just how are you going to fit into that suit?  There’s only one way to find out.

And it wouldn’t really be Halloween if you couldn’t do blue hair (fluorescents are something of a thing this year – especially when it comes to body glitter). Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and many more have jumped on the seapunk bandwagon of blue hair. (We found a blue wig at Party City for $19.99). Go classic Perry from the MTV music awards and all you need is a glittery dress (we found one at Lastcall.com for $34.50) and heels. Don’t forget the yellow nail polish ($5 at Drugstore.com).

What’s everyone prepping for? One of the biggest nights of the year. The West Hollywood Costume Carnaval takes place on Santa Monica Boulevard. The streets are cordoned off between Doheny to La Cienega. The City of West Hollywood estimates that this year anywhere from 300 thousand to nearly half a million people will show up in the most outrageous costumes L.A. has to offer. That’s a lot of skin.

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WEHOville’s Top 5 “Hope You Spot it on Santa Monica Boulevard” Costumes

1. Fat Lady Gaga
2. Honey Boo Boo
3. “Trampire” Kristen Stewart
4. Human centipede
5. Someone dressed as bacon!

WEHOville’s Top 5 Political Costumes

1. A fist full of chair – Clint Eastwood circa 1964 with a kitchen chair in hand
2. Binder full of women – get creative on who your pick for the woman in your binder is
3. Big Bird with “Will work for bird seed” sign
4. Mitt Romney with his dog Seamus after the car trip
5. Sarah Palin zombie (use your imagination)