JANET STREET-PORTER: Celebrities’ crass Halloween outfits just give me nightmares! Why the prize for the Most Tasteless Costume goes to… Lil Nas X’s ‘human tampon’ (followed closely by the Osbournes’ tone-deaf Kanye stunt)

It takes a lot to shock me, but I can’t help feeling that stylish singer Lil Nas X’s choice of Halloween outfit this year was completely disastrous. The most glamorous man in rap – the first black queer artist to top the US charts with his song Old Town Road – headed out on the town dressed as a human-sized, blood-stained TAMPON.

Instead of a matching bag, the star chose a grotesque padded vulva attached by a long white string, matching his leggings and high heels.

I love Lil Nas X – his music, his huge stage presence, his fabulous sense of style, and his ground-breaking achievements. He showed true bravery by coming out when he reached the number 1 spot.

This party outfit is a long way from the pink cowboy hat and chaps of Old Town Road, or the gorgeous gold bra Nas sported onstage at Gastonbury this summer. Like Lizzo and Cardi B, he chooses costumes that are designed to shock and entertain and blur preconceptions of gender. But this time he might have gone too far.

The reaction from fans was disastrous. Shock, outrage, and disbelief. For once, most were speechless.

Lil Nas X heads out on the town dressed as a human-sized, blood-stained tampon

Why, why, why was the question being asked over and over.

Theories flooded in.

Was Tampon Man a smart political move, calling out menstruation as something we must celebrate, not brush under the carpet? Was the giant tampon a timely comment on the shame and injustice of period poverty? Was Nas supporting women or merely using our biology as comedy material to get more attention online?

The master of media manipulation might have overstepped the mark this time around.

Runners-up in the competition for most tasteless Halloween costume 2023 were Sharon Osbourne and Ozzie, as Bianca Censori and Kanye West and their attention-seeking wanderings around Venice last summer. Sharon semi-naked, clutching a cushion was a brave attempt at Bianca’s bare-faced cheek, but as for Ozzie, with a black bag over his head, was so wrong. There’s a certain irony in one pop star who has publicly talked about his mental health ‘journey’ posing in fancy dress as the world’s most troubled rapper. Pot and kettle spring to mind.

And poor Margot Robbie was heavily criticised for daring to celebrate Halloween in total disguise, hidden in a black wig and a vendetta mask. After months of being Barbie, who can blame her?

As for Lil Nas, it’s no surprise the controversial star didn’t want to dress up as a pumpkin, Fred Flintstone, or even Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz (as Harry Styles did in 2021). Even a no-holds-barred rapper like Cardi B towed the Halloween line and dressed up as Marge Simpson in 2021.

Margot Robbie was heavily criticised for daring to celebrate Halloween in total disguise, hidden in a black wig and a vendetta mask

Lil Nas had always said he aims to break down barriers and show that the sky’s the limit for gays and blacks. He turned up at the Metropolitan Gala this year as dressed as the world’s most pampered pet – the late Karl Lagerfeld’s cat Choupette!

Naked apart from a tasteful matching loincloth, his body was painted silver all over and encrusted with crystals. Somehow I knew that he would never settle to be David Beckham this Halloween. Or Barberella, or Princess Fiona from Shrek.

Nas operates on another creative level.

But a tampon?

Some complained he was telling women something they already knew. Because having a period isn’t a load of laughs and seeing a giant tampon on a catwalk or at a costume party isn’t going to make your cramps go away.

Nas certainly drew attention to the truth that there’s no glamour in a tampon. Month after month, millions of women endure menstrual pain, working because they can’t afford to stay at home.

Periods aren’t something women generally celebrate, no matter what the jolly ads for pads might tell you.

Apart from being accused of poor taste, Nas has caused a sensation by simply ignoring one of the unwritten showbiz rules of Halloween: you must come as a character from a movie, a book or a comic strip. And your character must require a team of makeup artists, wigs, prosthetics ensuring your celebrity friends will grit their teeth and tell you how wonderful you look. Nas’s human-sized tampon looks like a load of wadding dumped in pail of red paint, a five minute job.

So it’s nul points from me, on craftmanship alone.

Runners-up in the competition for most tasteless Halloween costume 2023 were Sharon Osbourne and Ozzie, as Bianca Censori and Kanye West and their attention-seeking wanderings around Venice last summer

Halloween’s huge popularity shows how mindless consumerism dominates entertainment these days. No social event is a success unless you can post it on social media and get a load of likes. What happens to all the mess afterwards, the discarded decorations, the plastic snakes and spiders? As for those well-documented celebrity parties, they are an orgy of preening and posing.

This year we saw Adele as Morticia performing in Las Vegas (looking more or less normal) and David Beckham at home, puckering up for the camera as – David Beckham wearing horns.

Mariah Carey popped up as Jessica Rabbit filmed in a driveway in a flattering golden glow, with a curiously sculptured face. A bit like a melon in a wig.

Paris Hilton – queen of self-promotion – appeared up in TWO different Halloween outfits, one channelling Britney Spears in a blue mini dress and the other an appalling red plastic fringed bodysuit formerly worn by her pal Katy Perry on tour.

In the UK, we take a less serious approach, Stacey Soloman dressing up her family as characters from the Wizard of Oz and even making the table decorations is very sweet but I notice her two oldest sons had wisely opted not to opt in to the celebrations (fear of embarrassment?). Jonathan Ross decorated his house this year, and cancelled the lavish party of previous years, sparing us the sight of his celebrity friends dressed up as Morticia, David Beckham or Jessica Rabbit.

In New York, where no-one celebrates Halloween with more enthusiasm than TV presenter and former model Heidi Klum, the standards are extremely high. This year, Heidi enlisted 10 performers from the Cirque de Soleil dressed in custom made costumes to support her entrance to her own party, dressed as a peacock. Less fancy dress, more performance art.

Celebrities’ crass Halloween outfits just give me nightmares, writes JANET STREET-PORTER

I think we can be sure that in 2023, no-one except Lil Nas, thought to celebrate Halloween as a tampon.

During his short career, he’s sold millions of records, won prestigious awards and been chosen as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.

Sadly, the tampon represents a rare mis-step from the king of cool.

It’s a complete turkey – and Thanksgiving is weeks away.

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