"
I came to buy makeup, but when I see the world ... Too bad
".
In front of a costume shop in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, this young client threw in the towel.
And for good reason: a long line of several dozen people winds along the sidewalk.
This Friday afternoon, latecomers are therefore waiting in the rain, in the hope of obtaining their precious disguise for the holidays during the long weekend.
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In the street, a young woman waits her turn, umbrella in hand.
Coming with her grandmother, she is looking for a “
policewoman or angel
”
costume
.
Behind, a young woman wants to make herself up as a "
witch
".
In front of the store, the manager has set up a stand on which catalogs are displayed: customers can consult it in order to speed up their passage inside.
“
It's been like that since this morning
,” comments a young employee.
And it will continue all weekend
”.
In front of several Parisian shops, customers lined up to get a precious disguise.
WGB / Le Figaro
A few streets further on, in front of another shop, a security guard filters the entrance. Here, too, customers are lining up. A thirty-something who has come to buy a cook's outfit - "
a delirium between friends
" - will have to wait a few minutes. “
I should have ordered online,
” sighs a customer.
In view of these scenes, Halloween 2021 promises to be a good vintage.
Several actors feel it: after a year 2020 placed under the sign of the second confinement, the French want to have fun, to please their children.
The calendar plays, the holiday falling on Sunday, before a bank holiday Monday.
A long weekend which is good.
"
There is a real revival this year
", rejoices La Grande Récré, which notes increased sales.
Same observation on the side of the e-commerce platform Cdiscount: "
after a half-hearted 2020 edition, the French are preparing this year to celebrate Halloween
", we explain.
Netflix, the new kingmaker of disguise
In addition to traditional costumes of witches, fairies and monsters, others from world-famous cinematographic universes, such as the Americans Marvel, DC and Warner. There are also newcomers who have landed with a bang: the series of the titan Netflix have thus provided, for a few years, the characters whose costumes are the most sold. On Amazon, the best seller in the clothing category is a mask taken from the phenomenon Squid Game series. A little further down the list is also a mask from La Casa de papel. "
The show's red robber outfit was our bestseller for Halloween 2019 and 2020
», Notes the seller of a store in the 9th arrondissement of Paris.
Beside him are the outfits of the prisoners and guards of the Korean series, now known worldwide.
At Cdiscount, there is also a strong craze for "
Joker or Harley Quinn disguises
", as well as masks adorned with Led.
“
The Squid Game trend is the most significant this year;
it comes to replace the Casa de Papel trend and should last beyond Halloween
”, we add.
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The Squid Game madness is also observed at Jour de fête: the brand based near Clermont-Ferrand, which has 56 stores in France and Belgium, has just received the disguises of the series. “
Customers called our stores a lot, booked costumes a lot
,” says one. Like its competitors, the company had to fight to secure supplies from Asian factories. The demand, which was enormous, also came late, with the success of the series having spread around the world only a few weeks ago. What to increase the tensions on the production chains.
“
In one hour, one of our suppliers had sold all of its 6,000 masks
” going with the costume, notes our interlocutor.
The chain of stores received its first supplier proposals on October 1, but “
it had been going up for 15 days
”.
Her agents in Asia smelled the right thing, and warned her in time.
Experience has played out: since the meteoric success of La Casa de papel, whose costume was the bestseller of 2018 and 2019, "
we have understood that Netflix can be very strong
" in influencing trends: therefore immediately positioned to order costumes.
A strategic celebration for the sector
As for other universes, Harry Potter is still very successful, confirms several dealers, as well as superheroes like the Hulk or Spiderman.
At La Grande Récré, we mainly sell Batman, Joker and Wonder Woman costumes for little girls.
"
We are also seeing a return to basics, with the vampire and the witch,
" we see at Jour de fête.
The clown costume, on the contrary, is declining, after several years at the head of sales.
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Children, for their part, keep more classic trends. On Cdiscount, pirate, princess and ninja costumes are popular. Witches and skeletons are snapping up, says the product director at Oxybul éveil et jeux, Anne Faveau. “
Depending on the age group, the costumes will be more or less scary
” and parents buy the accessories that go with their costumes, she adds. The brand is also taking advantage of the festival to achieve “
excellent sales
” with themed collector's books.
The coming long weekend should therefore allow costume sellers to achieve a good turnover.
After a year 2020 marked by curfew and confinement, the players in the sector will be able to breathe a little.
And the worldwide success of Netflix series is not for nothing.
