Last updated: June 12, 2026·🔄 Guide reviewed and refreshed ahead of Halloween 2026.· By Seckin Peker

Halloween Costume Guide

Cliff Booth Halloween Costume Guide

He drives the car, does the stunts, and on one bad night ends up fighting off three people with a dog and a can of dog food.
Brad Pitt 60s Blonde Men Casual Cigarette Quentin Tarantino Vintage
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Quick Answer: The Cliff Booth Halloween costume is a late-60s stuntman look built around an open Hawaiian shirt and bleach-blonde hair.
  • Hawaiian Shirt (essential)
  • Short Blonde Wig (essential)
  • Champion T-Shirt
  • Relaxed Fit Jeans
  • Polarized Aviator Sunglasses
  • Copper Eagle Flag Buckle
  • Fake Cigarettes
  • Vintage Leather Bracelet
  • Classic Fringe Boots

Cliff Booth spends most of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood driving Rick Dalton around Los Angeles and handling the jobs Rick can’t do himself, until one night in 1969 that job becomes fighting off three intruders with help from his dog and a can of dog food. The open Hawaiian shirt over a plain tee, paired with short bleach-blonde hair, is the combination that makes this costume specifically Cliff and not just “guy from the 60s.” Recognition depends on how well people remember the film. Brad Pitt’s performance won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (Wikipedia), so plenty of people have seen it, but Cliff’s look is quieter than Rick’s, and at a party someone might just register “guy in a Hawaiian shirt” rather than the character.

Items Total9 Items
DifficultyEasy
VibeLate-60s Stuntman Casual
Cost$50-$150

Cliff Booth Halloween Costume Items

Cliff Booth Halloween costume infographic showing Hawaiian shirt, jeans, blonde wig, sunglasses and boots

Cliff Booth Costume Items

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Cliff Booth Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Brad Pitt Stuntman
  • 1 Hawaiian Shirt (essential)This is the piece that does most of the work. Cliff wears it open or half-buttoned over a plain tee, in a loud, busy print, not a clean resort pattern. Go for something that already looks a little worn rather than one with store creases still in it. Without this layer, the rest of the outfit is just jeans and a t-shirt.
    See on Amazon
  • 2 Champion T-ShirtA plain Champion tee in a light color sits under the Hawaiian shirt and shows at the collar and sleeves. It doesn’t need to look new. A slightly worn one fits the period better.
    See on Amazon
  • 3 Relaxed Fit JeansStraight or relaxed fit, faded blue. Check your closet first.
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  • 4 Short Blonde Wig (essential)Cliff’s hair is short, messy, and bleach blonde, and that’s the detail that turns “guy in a Hawaiian shirt” into Cliff Booth. If your hair is already light or short, you can skip this entirely. If you do wear a wig, get a short one. A long blonde wig styled into a 60s crop reads as a costume wig from across the room, which works against the whole point of the look.
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  • 5 Polarized Aviator SunglassesClassic gold-frame aviators. Cliff wears these while driving, so they make more sense outdoors or in daylight photos than in a dark room all night.
    See on Amazon
  • 6 Copper Eagle Flag BuckleA western-style belt buckle with an eagle and flag design. Most people won’t notice it from across a room, but it’s the kind of detail that rewards anyone who actually looks at the outfit up close.
    See on Amazon
  • 7 Fake CigarettesCliff smokes Red Apple cigarettes, the running fake brand across Tarantino’s films. A pack of prop cigarettes works as a hand prop. Check the venue’s smoking rules before lighting anything, even something fake.
    See on Amazon
  • 8 Vintage Leather BraceletA simple braided or strap leather bracelet on one wrist. Easy to find secondhand.
    See on Amazon
  • 9 Classic Fringe BootsBrown suede or leather boots with fringe at the ankle. Worn-in pairs look more correct than new ones, and they’re worth trying on before you buy since fringe styles tend to run narrow.
    See on Amazon
Cliff Booth wearing an open Hawaiian shirt over a t-shirt and jeans

How to Style the Cliff Booth Halloween Costume

The bleach-blonde hair gets noticed before the shirt does. If the wig looks too neat or too yellow, the whole thing slides into beach vacation territory instead of late-60s stuntman. A Hawaiian shirt that’s brand new and stiff reads as a costume-store purchase, while one that’s a little worn and hangs open over a plain tee gets much closer. If you’re carrying the fake cigarette, keep it in a pocket between shots rather than holding it the whole night. An unlit prop that people watch you not smoke for three hours stops being a detail and starts being a distraction.

Cliff sits on the floor of Rick’s living room, high on acid, and when Tex Watson points a gun at him, his response is to calmly tell his dog to attack. He doesn’t raise his voice. He’s also the guy who, completely seriously, explains that real fights end in manslaughter charges and then goes and wins one anyway.

The eagle buckle is a close-up detail

Most people at a party won’t clock a belt buckle from across the room. This one is for whoever ends up standing next to you for ten minutes. It’s cheap, so there’s no real reason to skip it, but don’t expect it to do any work from a distance.

Fringe boots are not built for standing all night

They look right, but suede with fringe at the ankle isn’t the most comfortable choice for a party where you’re on your feet for hours. If your feet are already a problem by 10pm most nights, break these in beforehand or have a backup pair of shoes in the car.

Cliff Booth Group Halloween Costume Ideas

Couples Idea

Cliff Booth & Pussycat (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)

Might work, but it depends on the room knowing the joke. Pussycat hitchhikes with Cliff to Spahn Ranch, and nothing romantic actually happens between them, he spends most of the scene deciding whether she’s a threat. Calling this a couples costume only lands if people get that the “romance” here is one person quietly sizing up the other the whole time.

Cliff Booth Pussycat

Duo Idea

Cliff Booth & Rick Dalton (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)

Excellent. Cliff and Rick are together throughout most of the film and most of its marketing, so the pairing reads immediately even to people who only half-remember the movie. The contrast does a lot of the work too. Rick in his western costume next to Cliff’s open Hawaiian shirt is an easy visual split.

Cliff Booth Rick Dalton

Group Idea: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Cast

Cliff Booth, Rick Dalton, Sharon Tate, Pussycat, Francesca

Strong, if the group is willing to build Francesca from scratch. Rick Dalton and Sharon Tate both have full guides on this site, and Pussycat rounds out the late-60s LA cast, but Francesca Capucci has no reference page, so whoever takes that role is working from description alone. The spread of looks across the group covers a good range of the film’s style without repeating anything.

Cliff Booth Rick Dalton Sharon Tate Pussycat Francesca

Group Idea: Calm, Cool Stuntmen and Tough Guys

Cliff Booth, John Wick, Rick O’Connell, Robert McCall, Hutch Mansell

Strong for a crowd that watches action movies, even if most of them won’t connect it back to Cliff Booth specifically. John Wick, Rick O’Connell, Robert McCall, and Hutch Mansell are all variations on the same type, men who stay calm right up until they really shouldn’t be messed with. The group reads as “do not start anything with these guys” even without anyone explaining the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood angle.

Cliff Booth John Wick Rick O’Connell Robert McCall Hutch Mansell

Group Idea: Brad Pitt Characters

Cliff Booth, Ladybug, Jack Conrad, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Tyler Durden

Might work, but the range across these roles is so wide it stops looking like a theme and starts looking like a costume convention. Ladybug’s pink tracksuit, Tyler Durden’s leather jacket, Jack Conrad’s 1920s tailoring, and the Smiths’ all-black formalwear all sit in completely different decades and tones. Anyone who clocks all five as the same actor will get a kick out of it. Everyone else just sees five people in unrelated outfits.

Cliff Booth Ladybug Jack Conrad Mr. & Mrs. Smith Tyler Durden
Pussycat leaning into the passenger window to talk to Cliff Booth in his car

Cliff Booth Halloween Costume DIY Tips

Building the Look

Most of this costume is things you either already own or can find secondhand. The two items worth getting right are the shirt and the hair.

  • Hawaiian shirt: thrift stores are full of these, look for a busy print that’s already a little faded.
  • Champion tee and jeans: check your closet first.
  • Wig: skip it entirely if your hair is already short and light.
  • Aviators: gold frame, classic shape, nothing oversized or mirrored.
  • Eagle buckle: cheap online, and worth it for the one person who looks closely.
  • Fake cigarettes: optional, and check venue rules before lighting anything.
  • Leather bracelet: thrift or any accessory shop.
  • Fringe boots: try them on first, fringe styles tend to run narrow.

Playing Cliff at the Party

Cliff doesn’t perform calm, he just is calm, even when he probably shouldn’t be. That’s the whole character to play with.

  • If someone asks what you do for work: “Stunts. Mostly driving, some falling.”
  • Stay quiet and steady, even if the night gets loud around you.
  • The line to use, delivered completely flatly: “Anybody accidentally kills anybody in a fight, they go to jail. It’s called manslaughter.”
  • If there’s a dog at the party, that’s free atmosphere.
  • Don’t oversell it. Cliff barely raises his voice all movie.

Cliff Booth Halloween Costume: FAQ

Start with jeans and a plain t-shirt, then layer the open Hawaiian shirt over the top, that combination is the base. Bleach-blonde hair, gold aviator sunglasses, and a leather bracelet finish the look. The eagle belt buckle and fringe boots are smaller details that reward a closer look, but the shirt and hair are what make it Cliff.

Yes, and there’s a timely reason this year. The Adventures of Cliff Booth, a sequel with Brad Pitt back in the role under director David Fincher, is set for release in late 2026 (IMDb), which puts the character back in conversation right around Halloween. Recognition was already decent from the original film, and the sequel just gives people another reason to place the name.

Three lines that stick. To comfort a crying Rick Dalton: “Don’t cry in front of the Mexicans.” When leaving a scene: “And away we go.” And on real fights versus movie fights: “Anybody accidentally kills anybody in a fight, they go to jail. It’s called manslaughter. I think all that lethal weapon horseshit is just an excuse so you dancers never have to get in a real fight.”

Brad Pitt plays Cliff Booth, and the role won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2020. It was his first acting Oscar after decades of major roles.

Loosely, yes. Tarantino has said the character draws on real stuntmen, including Hal Needham, and that the role was partly modeled on Tom Laughlin’s Billy Jack. None of that changes what you wear, but it’s part of why the look feels grounded instead of cartoonish.

Red Apple, a fake brand that shows up across most of Tarantino’s films. You don’t need the real brand for the costume. Any prop cigarette or empty pack works, but it’s a nice detail if you already know the reference.

No. If your hair is already short and light, skip the wig. It matters most for people with dark or long hair, since the bleach-blonde, slightly messy cut is one of the two details, along with the shirt, that make this costume read as Cliff specifically.

What is the name of Cliff Booth’s fake cigarette brand?

Which actor plays Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood?

What is the title of the 2026 Cliff Booth sequel?