The year’s only half over, but we’ve already been graced with our fair share of horror films, from the campy MaXXXine to the terrifying Longlegs. More than that though, they’ve been led by young actors who are having fun dressing the part of bona fide scream queens.
Women in horror movies were long relegated to the Madonna-whore dichotomy. The virginal final girl earns salvation for her purity, while the whores meet a violent death—punished for their sexual sins. Though the genre is moving past that idea (Ti West mimicked exploitation films in 2022’s X), the long-held plot device has influenced how modern day scream queens are dressing off-screen.
Earlier this year, Sydney Sweeney produced and starred in Immaculate, playing a young nun named Sister Cecilia who falls, miraculously, pregnant. For the film’s SXSW premiere, Sweeney leaned into her character’s innocence in a white lace Richard Quinn dress with draped, off-the-shoulder sleeves. But leave it to Sweeney and her stylist Molly Dickson to deliver a naughty twist: a thigh high slit with a pair of lacy stockings. While promoting her film Longlegs, Maika Monroe also tested out Final Girl dressing when she attended a screening in an off-white cardigan, miniskirt, and thigh-high stockings with a garter.
Sometimes, though, horror stars play into lurid sexuality—a nod to offed characters past. On the same press tour that she wore her bridal Richard Quinn number, Sydney Sweeney donned a black Miu Miu midi dress with hipbone-baring cutouts, paired with a serial killer staple: leather gloves.
Monroe has also leaned into the sexuality. At the Longlegs premiere, she hit the red carpet in a black leather bra with a matching low-waisted column skirt from Courrèges. (“I’ve never worn less, ever,” she told Vogue in an interview.) While Monroe’s character, FBI Agent Lee Harker, is a bit preoccupied by chasing a serial killer to focus on her style, the actor continued to play with the genre’s sartorial stereotypes. Days later, she continued her sexy streak in a strapless Roberto Cavalli bodysuit, paired with sheer tights and pointy-toe heels—styled by Chloe and Chenelle Degadillo.
Mia Goth has been perhaps the biggest proponent of scream queen fashion as of late. In the lead up to MaXXXine, the final film in the X trilogy, the actor leaned into her character, Maxine Minx, a porn star trying to make it big in Hollywood, by sticking to the style codes of leather, bodycon, and corsetry. For the Los Angeles premiere, she turned to Ludovic de Saint Sernin in a velvet dress with a leather bustier top. Later in the week, she sported a black leather corseted Versace dress.
As Sydney Sweeney, Maika Monroe, and Mia Goth have modeled, the contemporary scream queen wardrobe has a sense of humor—alluding to the tropes of the past—while still keeping it sexy. Whether you’re more partial to the pure white lace or the vampy black leather, let this be your sign to incorporate final girl fashion into your own wardrobe.
