The right tights for 2026's top Halloween costumes, character by character

Our Halloween tights guide covers the big families: stripes, cobwebs, fishnets, rips and solid colour. This one goes a step further, character by character. We took the costumes Spirit Halloween expects to lead 2026, read what each one actually includes, and worked out what goes on the legs: colour, denier and the reason why.

According to Scripps News, Spirit's 2026 line-up is led by Toy Story, KPop Demon Hunters, Spider-Man, the Backrooms and Fortnite, alongside four classics: mythological monsters, slasher villains, and knights and dragons. "The reality is we're watching them develop all year long," said Kym Sarkos, Spirit's executive vice president. Here is the list, one costume at a time.

KPop Demon Hunters: Rumi, Mira and Zoey

Spirit's official costumes are specific, and that helps. According to the Haunted Attraction Network, Rumi "comes as a yellow jacket with shorts, a tank top, and shoe covers that mimic her lace-up boots", with her purple braid sold separately as a wig. None of the three costumes includes tights.

Rumi's two colours are yellow and purple, and there is a pair that has both: Snag's Duo tights in Mellow Yellow, with one leg in lilac and white stripes and the other in yellow and white (80 denier, £13.99 on Snag's UK site). Under shorts, the mismatched legs carry the wig's colour down to the boots. If you would rather the jacket did the talking, sheer black tights under the shorts are the quiet option.

Lilac on one leg, yellow on the other: Rumi's two colours. Photo: Snag, Duo tights in Mellow Yellow.

Mira's costume is "built around her embellished T-shirt, a yellow skirt, and pink-accented boot covers". Pick up the pink: an opaque fuchsia, like Calzedonia's Soft Comfort 50 denier in Fuchsia, links the skirt to the boots. Zoey wears "a strappy blue top with colorful printed pants": her legs are covered, so any tights are for warmth only. A thin 20 to 40 denier won't show through the trousers.

Toy Story: Woody, Buzz and Jessie

Spirit sells adult Woody, Buzz Lightyear and Jessie costumes at $59.99 each. All three are trouser or jumpsuit characters: Jessie has her jeans and cow-print chaps, Buzz his spacesuit. This is the one costume family where the tights can stay invisible: wear a plain black or skin-tone opaque underneath for warmth. If you are making a skirt version of Jessie, solid red echoes her hat.

Spider-Man and the Power Rangers

The "Superhero Takeover" includes Spider-Man: Brand New Day, with a $49.99 hoodie and $44.99 joggers, and full suits up to a $69.99 adult muscle suit. The full suit covers the legs. The hoodie does not, and that is where tights come in: with a Spider-Man hoodie and a short skirt, a saturated red opaque stands in for the suit. Snag's Blood Red 80 denier (£14.99), made with a castor oil-based yarn, is a deep red that reads as red from across a room. The same pair works for the red Mighty Morphin Power Ranger.

The Backrooms and Fortnite: costumes that cover everything

The "Hardcore Horror" trend includes Backrooms hazmat suits at $54.99, with a $12.99 gas mask. A hazmat suit covers you from neck to ankle, so nobody will see your tights. Choose them for the hours you will spend inside it: a breathable merino, such as Snag's Silver Lining merino wool tights (£17.99), or a soft 80 to 100 denier opaque. Our denier guide explains how much warmth each weight gives.

The same goes for Fortnite and Halo, which Spirit sells in youth sizes from $39.99. Under a children's costume with shorts or a tunic, a 50 to 80 denier opaque in black, or in the costume's main colour, is warmth nobody notices.

Mythological monsters: Medusa

"God-Tier Mythology" is one of Spirit's 11 trends, with Zeus, Apollo and Athena costumes. Gods and goddesses in short tunics need little more than a sheer nude tight, as we explained in the main guide. Monsters are more fun.

For Medusa, put the snakes on the legs. Snag's Corra Snakes tights are 80 denier in a deep Foliage Green with a diamond lattice of small black snakes (£14.99). Snag says the motif is inspired by the snake designs of Renaissance and Tudor jewellery and textiles, where the snake stood for "rebirth, eternal life, and wisdom" but also "temptation and power". Under a long black or green dress, with heavy boots, the costume is done before you reach for the wig. For a more grown-up take on snakeskin, see the python pattern in Wolford's autumn/winter 2026 collection.

Snakes on the legs, not just on the head. Photo: Snag, Corra Snakes tights in Foliage Green.

Slasher villains

Spirit's horror trend promises "relentless slashers", with Ghost Face and Jason Voorhees varsity jackets at $59.99, Billy the Puppet from Saw for children and a Bloody Pennywise from It: Welcome to Derry. The villains' own looks mostly cover the legs.

The tights matter when you make the villain your own. A Ghost Face jacket worn over a short black skirt goes best with opaque black tights, so the whole figure stays dark and the white mask stands out. For the slasher's victim, ripped tights are the answer: we covered the options in the main guide.

Knights: tights were the original armour

Knights are one of the classics Spirit names, and here tights are part of the history. In a text on a mid-13th-century English knight published by historian Martha Carlin at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, hose, the close-fitting leg coverings worn under armour, are described as "normally made of wool", in "a variety of colours", "although generally each leg was the same colour". Over them, in battle, went mail chausses.

The modern shortcut is silver. Snag's ACOTAR Silver Legion tights are knitted in black and silver lurex with a jacquard emblem, designed for Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Thorns and Roses books (£21.49): with a tunic, a belt and boots, they look like mail from a distance. A cheaper alternative is Snag's Silver Ink, 80 denier black tights with a silver glitter pattern (£14.99), or a plain mid-grey opaque.

Dragons and dragon riders: Violet Sorrengail

Spirit's "Untamed Fantasy" trend is about "dragon riders", and its star is Violet Sorrengail from Rebecca Yarros's Fourth Wing. The Haunted Attraction Network describes the $59.99 costume as "a black mock-neck bodysuit with molded detailing, a utility belt, fingerless gloves, and boot tops". The key words are boot tops: they only look like boots if the leg underneath disappears. Wear opaque black tights, 80 denier or more, matte, with black shoes, so the bodysuit, the legs and the boot tops read as one piece of flight leathers.

If you are the dragon rather than the rider, go for fire. Snag's Dragons Hiccup is an 80 denier opaque in a bright orange (£9.99); for a green dragon, Hit the Bottle Green (£9.49).

Dragon fire, in an 80 denier opaque. Photo: Snag, Dragons Hiccup tights.

Costume and tights at a glance

• Rumi: lilac and yellow striped Duo tights, or sheer black.
• Mira: opaque fuchsia.
• Zoey, Toy Story, Backrooms: invisible, for warmth: merino or soft opaque.
• Spider-Man hoodie or red Power Ranger: saturated red opaque.
• Medusa: green snake tights.
• Ghost Face jacket: opaque black.
• Knight: silver lurex or grey opaque.
• Violet Sorrengail: matte black, 80 denier or more.
• Dragon: opaque orange or bottle green.

Buy the tights when you buy the costume: patterned pairs sell out before 31 October. On Snag's site, the Hallow-queen star and moon tights and the Viper striped tights were already sold out when we checked.

The photos

All the photos in this article come from Snag's product pages: the ACOTAR Silver Legion tights at the top, then the Duo tights in Mellow Yellow, the Corra Snakes and Dragons Hiccup tights. Prices are those on Snag's UK site and in Spirit Halloween's listings as reported by the Haunted Attraction Network at the time of writing. The circle on the cover shows Snag's Corra Snakes tights.