Lost Somewhere in Our Ghost Stories: The Desi Halloween Accessory Trend

Where this trend came from

The piece is by Prerona Maity for Vogue India, titled 13 Halloween accessories from homegrown brands inspired by Indian folklores and ghost stories. Its argument is that Indian culture already has its own gothic side, rich and ornate, and that Halloween on 31 October rarely draws on it. Instead of daggers dipped in red paint, it suggests talons on the fingertips, hair springs in the braid and a serpent coiled around the arm. It also names Vikram Bhatt's horror films as the reference a lot of millennials grew up on, where the ghosts were always beautifully dressed.

The lead image on the Vogue India page carries the credit Instagram.com/khushikapoor, the actor Khushi Kapoor's account. We're not going to describe what she's wearing in it, because the article doesn't, and we'd rather not guess. What matters for the trend is the list itself.

Skip the skull. The haunting is already in the stories we grew up with.

Lost somewhere in our ghost stories: the pieces

These are the pieces Vogue India picked, with the prices it listed. They're grouped by the story they borrow from, which is our grouping, not theirs.

• The naagin. A snake brass handcuff from Soul Works, handcrafted in brass, listed at Rs 1,350. Vogue suggests wearing it with a black sari.
• The chudail's nails. The Empress statement armour nail ring by Smith Jewels, an elongated fingertip crown in 925 silver, at Rs 3,799.
• Creatures from an old haveli wall. A scorpion brooch with dark green enamel from ShopWithStyle at Rs 1,499, and AZGA's hand-painted bug brooch, dipped in black rhodium and painted in Jaipur, at Rs 3,850.
• The full-moon braid. A moon head hair spring by Esthetique Jewels, made with Dokra, the lost-wax metal craft, for under Rs 600. Twist a few into a braid.
• The haunted zamindar's house. Shyle's oxidised silver jali kada, 120 grams with chitai detailing, at Rs 69,900, and Misho's scarab onyx choker from the Mumbai label at Rs 22,802.
• The face and the eyes. Chitrangada's silver-wire facelet that curls across the brow and nose (price on request), claw-framed sunglasses by Bhavya Ramesh at Rs 17,420, and The Voyager sunglasses by Kavya Potluri at Rs 39,000.
• The couture end. An ear cuff from Outhouse inspired by the lophorina bird at Rs 21,500, a brass and onyx bracelet from Luna & Goods at Rs 1,950, and the Twilight braid accessory from NO NA MÉ at Rs 10,780.

How to read the trend at a glance, from wearable to costume:

Why it feels rare

Almost everything on the list is handmade by a small Indian label: brass cast by hand, beetles painted in Jaipur, moons made with Dokra, a facelet you have to message the maker about. That's what makes it feel hard to get. You can't walk into a mall in the last week of October and buy the same piece in five colours. You find the label, you message, you wait.

The other reason it stands out is the source. A plastic skull mask looks the same in Mumbai and Manchester. A moon in a braid that nods to a story your Nani told you does not.

How we'd style it, and what we'd skip for kids

For adults, our view is that one piece is enough. A snake cuff with a plain black outfit is a look. A cuff, a choker, claw rings and a facelet together is a costume, which is fine if a costume is what you want, but it's a different thing.

For children, we thought about this one carefully. The nail rings, claw sunglasses and brooches with pins are adult jewellery, and we wouldn't put them on a young child. The part of the trend that translates well is the hair: something small worked into a braid, in the spirit of the moon hair spring, with nothing sharp in it. Honestly, the braid is the whole trick. A plain plait with one small accessory near the end reads as a choice, and it survives a night of running around a housing society.

Zootii doesn't sell Halloween accessories, and we'd rather say that than pretend otherwise. What we do sell sits close to the hair part of the look. Our Kittens Day snap clips are a cat print, Rs 199 for a pack of two, which suits a child dressing up as a cat. The Circles Pastel clips, also Rs 199 for two, are the quieter option for a child who wants a small moon-like dot at the end of a braid. The rest of the range is in our hair clips collection.

The thing we almost missed: the braid is the accessory

When we first read the list, we looked at the cuffs and the claws, because they're the dramatic pieces. Read it again and two of the thirteen are for the braid: the moon hair spring and the Twilight braid piece. That's the part of the trend most people will actually wear, because it works with an ordinary outfit and costs the least. It's also the part that suits a child. We nearly skipped past it.

If you liked this, our earlier trend notes on festive accessories for kids, adults and pets and the zig zag hair band trend cover the hair side of this season in more detail.