Halloween Costume Guide
Jennifer Lawrence’s Maddie Barker in five buildable looks, from the viral beach bathrobe to the drinking helmet. Every one starts with the same wig.
Maddie Barker gets paid to date a college-bound teenager in Montauk and the whole thing goes sideways almost immediately. The 2023 film gave Jennifer Lawrence one of her most-clipped scenes, and the bathrobe beach run is the moment most people picture when they think of the character. There are five distinct looks from the film to choose from, and the wig is the constant in all of them. The full cast is on the No Hard Feelings IMDb page if you’re building a group. Most people in their 20s and 30s have seen it or heard about it, though anyone older may need a one-sentence explanation.
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The wig is what people read first, and it has to sit right before anything else goes on. The drinking helmet look specifically will ruin the wig within an hour if you haven’t pinned it at the crown first. Without a secure wig, the bathrobe look is just someone in a bathrobe, and the drinking helmet look becomes a person fighting their own hair all night. Get the wig right at home, then build the rest around it.
Maddie is not a person who is trying to impress anyone in the way she dresses. She is cutting her losses on a bad situation and doing it with some energy. At a party, that reads as someone who doesn’t need to explain themselves. If someone asks who you are, pause, look at them like they asked a slightly dumb question, and tell them exactly how much you’re about to lose on your house. They’ll either laugh or they won’t, and Maddie would be fine with either outcome.
Wig Plus Helmet Is a Real Problem
Pin the wig at the crown before the drinking helmet goes on, not after. The helmet’s foam rim pushes against the wig cap and the whole thing creeps forward within an hour. Two bobby pins at the top, crossed, before the helmet goes on. Skip this and you will be adjusting your hair in every photo taken after 10pm.
Inline Skates at a Party
Wearing actual inline skates to a Halloween party sounds funnier than it is after hour two. Decide before you go whether you’re committing to skates all night or just wearing them for photos. If it’s a house party with uneven floors, bring a backup pair of shoes. The skates are the whole bit for that look, but bruised ankles are not part of the costume.
The Montauk Hustlers
Strong, but only if the whole group has seen the film. Four people is the exact right number. The Beckers as a unit next to Maddie lands the joke without any explanation needed.
Desperate Mentors
Conditional. Every character here is an adult who ends up responsible for a kid they didn’t plan on, and all four are from films most people in their 30s know. The theme only lands if someone in the crowd makes the connection. Better at a movie-nerd party than a general bar.
The Lawrence Leading Ladies
This works because Katniss and Mystique are both visually distinct builds that read without explanation. Rosalyn Rosenfeld from American Hustle is the weakest link, the costume is good but recognition has faded for that one. I’d still call this a decent group because three of the four characters are immediately clear to most people, and the same-actor theme gives it a thread.
The Magnificent Maddies
Mixed recognition. Maddy Perez and Maddie Townsend are both known characters with fans who will place them immediately. The Back to the Outback character will draw blanks from most adults. Works if one person in the group is fine explaining their costume all night.
Rollerblade Rampage
Niche. Barbie is the only character here that reads without explanation, and her rollerblade scene in the 2023 film is recent enough to land. Bliss Cavendish and Rollergirl are cult characters that require the right crowd. Rollergirl especially will get blank stares from anyone under 30. Only commit to this if you’re all already film people.
The same long wavy blonde wig appears in every single look on this page. Buy it once. All five builds use it. The only look where the wig gets complicated is the drinking helmet, where you need to pin it before the helmet goes on. Every other look just requires the wig to sit flat and stay put.
Maddie is a woman in a bad financial situation making increasingly bad decisions with great confidence. That energy is easy to play at a party. You don’t need to explain the plot. You just need to look like someone who is fine and is clearly not fine.
Pick one of five looks from the film: the bathrobe look, the pink mini dress, the lap dance crop top and shorts, the skate look with the red polo and inline skates, or the drinking helmet outfit with the floral blouse and denim skirt. Every look starts with the long wavy blonde wig. The bathrobe is the most recognized and the easiest to build.
No quotes were provided for this post, and we don’t invent dialogue. For accurate sourced lines, check a fan wiki or the film’s official resources.
No Hard Feelings came out in summer 2023 and the beach scene went viral almost immediately, so the bathrobe look still gets recognized. Three years out, you’ll get it from people who saw the film, not from strangers at a bar. Recognition is there, but it requires the crowd to know the movie.
The bathrobe look. Three items: a short white cotton bathrobe, the blonde wavy wig, and flat flip flops. It reads fast at a party and the bathrobe is immediately funny in context if anyone knows the film.
Yes. Jennifer Lawrence’s hair in the film is long, wavy, and blonde throughout. The wig is the one item that ties all five looks together. If your hair already matches, you can skip it, but it has to be right.
The helmet is the joke. Without it, you’re just a person in a floral blouse and denim skirt. The helmet is cheap and easy to find. Buy the helmet.