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In "On-the-Job" Halloween Costumes, Sexy Sells

Photo by Librarian Avenger, Flickr.com

Does your job uniform include fishnet stockings? For this month anyway, they’ve become a required part of the dress code for a wide spectrum of professions: police officers, firefighters, airline pilots, construction workers, nurses and even plumbers.

A quick glance at the latest Halloween garb reveals that almost every imaginable profession is being fetishized. It’s like an erotic game of Mad Libs. You can’t just show up to a costume party as a cop. You have to be a sexy cop. You can’t be nurse. You have to be a naughty nurse. Want to be an insurance claims adjuster? Sorry, you gotta be an exotic insurance claims adjuster.

Granted, we’re talking mostly about women’s Halloween costumes and the widespread appeal of flashing cleavage is hardly breaking news – especially in a forum where there is an “excuse” to do so.

What’s new is the incredibly shrinking shelf space for non-sexy costumes. Go check out your local Halloween superstore that’s temporarily set up shop in a vacant “strip” mall space. Those who dabble in pseudo-psychology might argue that our collective workplace fantasies are dangling in the aisles.

If people weren’t buying these outfits year after year, the career choices wouldn’t be expanding.

BuyCostumes.com promises an “evening that will make your heart soar” with the “Mile High Captain,” a tight pilot’s dress with matching hat and a “Mile High Club” badge. A similarly themed costume is the no-further-explanation-necessary “Captain Layover.” On the seas, there’s the “Captivating Captain,” a “naval hottie who can command any body . . . of water.”

Clever stuff.