I Dress Up as Britney Spears Every Halloween, But It’s More Than Just a Tradition

“Britney!!!”

This was screamed repeatedly at me this past Saturday night while I was out dancing with my friends Fatima, Chris, and Meaghan at the Sultan Room in Brooklyn. It was a big Halloween bash, and I was dressed as Britney Spears, the princess of pop. My costume—her head-to-toe denim look from the 2001 American Music Awards—was a bona fide hit. “I love you, Britney!” another partygoer yelled from across the dance floor. My friend Chris, however, was not met with such a warm welcome: He was the Justin Timberlake to my Britney, right down to his jean fedora, blazer, and pants. “You’re brave for being Justin in this climate,” a costume-wearing patron said to him, referencing the bombshell (and unfavorable) stories Spears told about Timberlake in her poignant memoir, The Woman in Me, released earlier this month. “Love you, though, Britney.”

This year was admittedly the perfect time to dress up in homage to the pop singer—though it’s not a new tradition for me at all. For the past three years now, I’ve used Halloween as an opportunity to remind people of the greatness that is Britney, bitch. My first costume in 2021 replicated the time that Spears stepped out in a tee that famously read “Dump Him.” I imitated the whole look, right down to her shearling jacket, page-boy cap, and pigtails. For bonus points, I even carried a coffee cup just like her, only mine read, “Work Bitch—Free Britney.” (This was before her conservatorship ended the following month; I, like many true fans, was a longtime supporter of the Free Britney movement.) 

I’ve long had an obsession with Britney. As a child of the ’90s, I was instantly transfixed by Spears’s glamorous pop-star energy. I would spend hours practicing her dance moves in my parents’s backyard while her song “Oops! I Did It Again” blared on a pink boom box. I didn’t just love her—I wanted to be her. To me, she embodied confidence, strength, and perfection—though, her memoir shows that her childhood was far from idyllic. It makes sense, then, why I’ve dressed up as her for my recent Halloween costumes: She represents all the things that so many of us lack in our mundane day-to-day lives. Cosplaying as her also gives me an opportunity to spotlight her musical genius. If you ask me, the way she has cemented herself as a pop icon is too often criminally underrated. 

Last year, I continued the Halloween tradition by replicating her 2003 VMA look—when she sang “Like a Virgin” with Madonna and Christina Aguilera in a bridal outfit and then kissed Madonna. When I slipped into her veil, tight white corset, tulle skirt, and pearls, I wasn’t just serving up a sexy ensemble. I wanted to highlight one of the best pop-culture moments of all time. After all, Spears has always been a woman who knows what she’s doing. Did you know that kissing Madonna was actually her idea? She didn’t create a viral moment just for the sake of creating controversy; she knowingly made a performance that would still have people talking years later. That’s art!

This year, my two Britney costumes—yes, two!—came at a time when many still continue to criticize and ridicule her. Log onto TikTok any day, and you can easily find many users poking fun at her signature Instagram dancing and twirling. Instead, I wanted to use my costumes to pay my respects. In addition to my denim VMA look, I fully committed to Old Hollywood–style Britney from her “Lucky” music video. I didn’t even mind spending five hours in the makeup chair as my makeup artist, Maria Ortega, masterfully applied 10 layers of Dior Beauty products. Why? Because I wanted people to recognize the artistry, time, and attention to detail that has gone into Spears’s music videos and performances over the years. Today, it’s quick to disregard the princess of pop’s Instagram as unedited and cringey—but this is a pop star who’s one hundred percent responsible for her biggest and best moments too, and we all need to be reminded of that. 

It looks like I’m not alone in my mission, either. This year alone, stars like Paris Hilton and Jessica Alba dressed up as the pop star too. (Hilton was stewardess “Toxic” Britney, and Alba was bejeweled “Toxic” Britney.) Slowly, we are giving more and more credit where credit is due. So will my dedication to a Britney Halloween—let’s call it Britneyween—continue in the years to come? You betcha. I already have my eyes on the infamous “Baby One More Time” schoolgirl outfit and the “I’m a Slave 4 U” snake outfit (the ab workouts for that one start now). Lucky for me Spears is an icon who has many memorable looks to choose from, so I have at least a decade of epic costumes to come. And until the day that Britney gets the respect she truly deserves, I simply won’t ever stop.