Sexy Ebola Nurse Costume: Have Halloween costumes gone too far?

If, like me, you just did a double take at the contrasting words ‘Sexy’ and ‘Ebola’ together in the same sentence, fear not, because you are not alone!

You heard it here first, for Halloween this year you can buy your very own ‘Sexy Ebola Nurse Costume’. Outraged? Or hysterical? I think I’m going to go for ‘my draw has dropped so low that it’s dragging on the floor behind me’ approach.

Consisting of a slutty short white dress, blue gloves, and a huge breathing mask (that will be more of a nuisance in a nightclub than actually protect you from any disease), the Brands For Sale website defines the outfit with the following description:

“As the deadly Ebola virus trickles its way through the United States, fighting its disease is no reason to compromise style. The short dress and chic gas mask will be the talk of Milan, London, Paris and New York as the world’s fashionistas seek global solutions to hazmat couture”

And if it wasn’t bad enough that this tasteless costume has already been sold to thousands of consumers, you can even buy a male version! Meaning that, your boyfriend/husband/whoever, can also dress up alongside you with a matching face shield and goggles. On the male version, the website adds: “This will literally be the most ‘viral’ costume of the year.”

So for the grand price of $60, (around £35) you can alienate all your friends, shock your family and potentially be fired from your job. When did we start buying into these ridiculous outfits? And have Halloween costumes just gone too far?

With over 10,000 people infected with the Ebola disease and almost 5,000 people dead, this costume really isn’t that funny. In fact it makes me feel rather uneasy. Yes, it’s fun to dress up at Halloween. Yes, you want to come up with a more impressive costume than your mates. But, is this really the answer? I get that it’s important to be current and witty with your ideas, and getting the cat whiskers or the wonky witches hat out the fancy dress box for yet another year is just repetitious and boring. But, surely an Ebola nurse is too far? I’d love to know what the people hitting ‘add to cart’ button think they’re going to achieve this Halloween with that costume. Perhaps their goal is to alienate everyone in society, not just the kids playing ‘trick or treat’ up the road.

From blood stained cheerleader outfits for 9 year olds to Jimmy Saville Zombie get up, I’m really starting to question who is in charge of coming up with these ludicrous, inappropriate ideas!