At the end of a night full of music and dance, students on the Great Lawn fell into hushed silence. Attendees dressed in outfits fit for black-and-white movies and the red carpet looked up to the balcony of Frankel in anticipation, awaiting the winner of the Homecoming Oscar awards.
October 27th marked the date of Homecoming 2025, held annually on the Monday opening Kinkaid Week. This year’s theme, “Hollywood,” allowed students to showcase outfits inspired by America’s rich history in film. The Student Affairs Council ran a fashion competition, awarding the most creative group or single Hollywood costumes.
Aline Means, the Upper School World Language Department Chair and teacher of the Jan Plan course Fashion in Film, says she was excited to see students create costumes referencing the golden age of Hollywood, like the dress and pearls from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” or a “James Bond” tuxedo.
“It’s an opportunity to get really creative,” Means said. “You can either go for a glam, red carpet look, or you could dress up as a character from a film you like.”
Instead of going as a famous figure, however, sophomore Arabella Mordy attended Homecoming as the letter ‘H’ in the iconic Hollywood sign. Mordy had been speculating with eight of her friends about the theme before its release, and when the official theme was confirmed, Mordy got to work with a group of classmates to recreate the Hollywood hills.
“I made the costume out of a yard sign off of Amazon,” Mordy said. “Then I just took the sticks out of it, so everyone’s walking around with a giant yard sign.”
After disassembling her Hollywood sign, Mordy strung each letter with a gold string, fashioning it into necklaces for her friends. Each person wore black clothes to highlight the sign, showcasing the group costume.
Though she isn’t an avid costume lover, Mordy says she was inspired to dress up as a group after seeing other students’ outfits last year.
“Last year’s theme was ‘Fairytale’, and some of the guys did Snow White and the Seven Dwarves,” Mordy said. “The camaraderie of being in a group costume always looked fun.”
Unlike Mordy, freshman Ashwini Poduval was a one-woman show. On special dress-up days, especially for her favorite holiday, Halloween, Poduval strives to dress up in show-stopping costumes, from a serial (cereal) killer to a Founding Father.
“It gives me an excuse to get a costume,” she said. “It’s like two Halloweens in one.”
This year, she is decked out in a gold bodysuit, hair extensions and face paint, cosplaying an Oscar award for her first Homecoming. Though she originally planned to masquerade as an inanimate object for Halloween, Poduval decided to shift her focus to other events.
For Poduval and many others, purchasing costumes comes with obstacles. After procrastinating on her purchases, Poduval struggled to buy a bodysuit on the Internet that fit in terms of size and color while also arriving before the Homecoming date. Because of her unconventional costume, delivery times and accessibility in stores were a constant issue she had to overcome. Poduval says that gold bodysuits should be widely available, so everyone can “shine bright like a diamond.”
Sophomore Joshua Jones also says there’s a struggle in assembling costumes.
“It can be hard to find outfits that are high quality and aren’t expensive,” Jones said. “I was Elvis Presley one year, and my family couldn’t find any good, cheap costumes, so we spent $120 on a costume that just sits in my closet.”
Dressed as a red carpet photographer for Homecoming, Jones carries a long history of costuming. Since childhood, close friends and family living along his street choose a coordinated theme for Halloween, such as The Wizard of Oz.
“It’s a fun way to socialize with people,” Jones said. “It’s a form of self-expression, where you can dress up as whatever you want every single year.”
Like Jones, spirit captain and senior Quentin Nicholson treats costuming as a family affair. On Sundays leading up to costumed events, Nicholson works with his parents and grandparents to plan and brainstorm outfits for the occasion.
Though Nicholson’s grandma isn’t a costume designer, he says she’s one of the most creative people he knows. Designing costumes for him since Lower School, she also supported him for his final high school Homecoming, where Nicholson dressed as John Travolta’s character, Tony Manero, in “Saturday Night Fever”.
“She’s what inspired me and gave me a lot of my creativity,” he said.
Nicholson says the fun of costuming lies in individual expression and art styles.
“We have these people bring their own unique spins on different costumes and characters to where it becomes super diverse,” Nicholson said. “It goes hand in hand with Spirit Club—getting people excited so they know they don’t have to be scared about expressing themselves.”
