Drake wore a chestnut fringed shawl over a black knit and leather trousers to an early birthday dinner in New York on 22 October. Within days, somebody had dressed up as it.
The comedian Sima Sepehri posted her version on Threads with the caption 'I hate gay Halloween cause what do you mean you're Drake on his 40th with that brown SHAWL?' Sepehri, a Toronto stand-up who appeared in the second season of The Hardy Boys, drew the beard on with liquid eyeliner, which she confirmed when somebody asked how she had got it so exact.
Drake turned 40 on 24 October and spent the week being photographed. The shawl, reportedly Hermès, did most of the work. 'Champagne Mami,' one reply read, while another decided he looked like 'a perimenopausal rich auntie'.
What the Phrase Actually Means
'I hate gay Halloween' is not a complaint. The format has run since about 2022 and the posts take the same shape: mock outrage at a costume so specific that only a certain kind of extremely online person will get it, often posted by the person wearing it.
The 2024 wave produced the entry that best explains the format. A couple turned up as Chappell Roan and the passenger seat from 'Casual.' Not the car, but the actual seat.
Ten Iconic Costumes From This Year and Beyond
- Drake's brown shawl. Sepehri's build: the chestnut fringed shawl, a black polo neck, leather trousers, a single plait and the drawn-on beard. A reply underneath summed up why it works better than any fashion editor could. Comfortable, cold weather appropriate, instantly recognisable. 'This wins.'
- Princess Diana's revenge dress. Worn this year by a man in a black off-the-shoulder gown. The original was Christina Stambolian silk, worn to a Vanity Fair dinner at the Serpentine Gallery on 29 June 1994, the same evening Charles admitted his infidelity on television. Thirty-two years on, it still needs no caption.
I hate gay Halloween like wdym you’re princess diana in her revenge dress pic.twitter.com/prcJ4KzyKN
— patient zer0 l0ads refused (@crvel_svmmer) November 1, 2025
- Cynthia Erivo's acrylic nail. Not Erivo. A single enormous nail, painted to match one finger of the elaborate manicures the singer wears on red carpets. Nobody dressed as the hand. Nobody dressed as the other nine.
I hate gay Halloween what do you mean your Cynthia Erivo’s acrylic nail pic.twitter.com/ohwOtAFYGC
— Brendan (@Brenbash) October 31, 2025
- Hudson Williams at the Met Gala after-party. In May, the Heated Rivalry actor arrived at the GQ party in a white tuxedo shirt, silk boxer shorts held by a cummerbund, a cropped black tailcoat, a beret, and white socks pulled to the knee. The costume version swaps the shirt for a polo and keeps the rest. 'I can be Hudson Williams too.'
- The Freudian slip. A blue slip dress printed with Sigmund Freud's face. The only costume on this list that is also a pun, and the only one you could explain to a grandparent.
i hate gay halloween because wdym you're wearing the freudian slip??? pic.twitter.com/kQwJyL1SwZ
— u (@filterflowers) October 31, 2025
- Anne Hathaway's loom from The Odyssey. Not Hathaway, who plays Penelope in Christopher Nolan's film. In the story, Penelope weaves at the loom by day and unpicks the work at night, stalling a houseful of suitors while she waits for Odysseus. A prop with no lines, given a costume.
- Timothée Chalamet's Troye Sivan costume. In 2023, Chalamet played Sivan on Saturday Night Live in a tight white vest and baggy blue striped trousers, recreating the singer's look from the 'Got Me Started' video. This is somebody dressed as that performance rather than as Sivan himself, which makes it a person dressed as a person dressed as a person.
i hate gay halloween bc what do you mean you’re timothee chalamet’s troye sivan costume on SNL pic.twitter.com/LDsszYDPPV
— j*sper (@brokenepobaby) November 2, 2025
- The fire that burned down the Library of Alexandria. Green hair, flame makeup and a stack of books held up in front of the face. Somebody went to a Halloween party dressed as a library fire from antiquity.
- Glinda, after someone's wickedness has been thrust upon her. A pink gown, a crown, and green stains on the fingers and around the mouth. The gown and crown are Glinda. The green is what the caption is winking at.
i hate gay halloween. what do you mean you're glinda the good after someone's wickedness has been thrusted upon her? pic.twitter.com/7JzGNXM9CT
— e. 🍉 | gelphie reunion truther (@elphieupland) October 31, 2025
- The scarf Mira Sorvino folded at the end of Romy and Michele's High School Reunion. The original post generally credited with starting the whole format in 2022. Nobody has ever described what the wearer actually put on, which is part of the joke: the costume is an object so minor that naming it is the entire performance.
Why It Keeps Coming Back
Look at what these costumes are made of. A shawl. A slip dress. One painted nail. A dressing gown and an ironing board. Most of it is the sort of thing already hanging in a wardrobe, which is the opposite of how Halloween usually works.
The effort goes into the reference instead, and a reference only pays out in a room where somebody recognises it on sight and reacts accordingly. That is the whole appeal, and it is why the format comes back every October with another round of references most people will have to look up.
