Why is Halloween suddenly so big in Britain? | Zoe Williams

When a fella of 17 arrived at the house in a corset, some pointy ears, a lot of makeup and an alice band with a cat on it, it was only polite to ask what he was dressed as. He said he had come to the Halloween party as a sexy cat. Ah yes, that famous character from fiction, or maybe myth. Isn’t it tautologous, anyway? Aren’t all cats sexy? He was followed by another young fella in a tight black dress and a frilly apron. I didn’t even need to ask: a sexy maid.

My sister insists that young men have always liked cross-dressing, drawing on extensive experience – OK, her husband, who was so committed that he once shaved his legs for Halloween . I think of it as very gen Z, a sign of their liberation from the constraints of sex and gender.

What I can’t explain, though, is the many Ali Gs. Sacha Baron Cohen’s character was very topical in the late 90s – a lot of current-affairs jokes at the expense of unwitting interviewees you would struggle to recognise even if you were there at the time (the Bishop of Horsham, the head of Arts Council England). What in God’s name would a modern teenager make of Ali G interviewing Tony Benn about socialism?

The dominant theme was Mexico – a bottle of tequila, a lot of sombreros, ponchos everywhere – and there was heated discussion about cultural appropriation. Characters from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland loomed large, but indistinguishable: wear a lot of makeup and fishnets and you could be anyone from the Mad Hatter to the (sexy) Cheshire cat. I wonder whether this is what Lewis Carroll had in mind.

This is just how autumn is now: all gatherings between September and Christmas are by default fancy dress . Britain came to Halloween relatively late (it definitely wasn’t a thing when Ali G was a nipper) and we have the zealotry of converts. If I’m invited anywhere, I’m going as a grumpy old dude in a golf club. I’ll wear my ordinary clothes and walk around saying: “Halloween is an invasive festival – and don’t me get started on tricks or treats.”

• Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist

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