Last updated: October 10, 2026·🔄 Guide reviewed and refreshed ahead of Halloween 2026.· By Seckin Peker

Halloween Costume Idea For Curly Hair Women

Rachel Flax From Mermaids Halloween Costume

A costume within a costume: Mrs. Flax dressed as a mermaid, played by Cher, at a New Year’s Eve party in 1963.
90sCrowncurly hair womenmermaidTailFemaleActressesCher
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Quick Answer: The Rachel Flax Halloween costume is a mermaid tail skirt and a big orange curly wig, layered with a seashell bra, bustier, and gold jacket.
  • Blue Mermaid Tail Skirt (essential)
  • Long Curly Orange Wig (essential)
  • Gold Glitter Crop Jacket
  • Pink Bustier
  • Sea Shell Hair Headband

Rachel Flax moves her two daughters to a new town every time one of her relationships ends, and by the time Mermaids opens she’s settling into Eastport, Massachusetts in 1963. The costume that defines her on screen is a full mermaid outfit, tail skirt, shell bra, and wild orange hair, worn to a New Year’s Eve party. Cher plays her, and this is a genuinely niche pick. The 1990 film is 35 years old now, so plenty of people at your party won’t recognize the reference, but the look itself, an over-the-top glam mermaid, works as a costume on its own.

Items Total8 Items
DifficultyEasy
VibeGlam 60s Mermaid
Cost$90-$150

Rachel Flax Halloween Costume Items

Rachel Flax from Mermaids Halloween costume infographic showing gold glitter jacket, pink bustier, seashell bra, blue mermaid tail skirt, orange curly wig, seashell headband, silver sandals, and blue tulle gloves

Rachel Flax Costume Items

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Rachel Flax Mermaids Cher Mrs. Flax
  • 1 Gold Glitter Crop JacketA sparkly cropped cardigan worn open over the bustier. It adds shine under party lighting, and the crop length keeps it from hiding the tail skirt’s waistband.
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  • 2 Pink BustierA boned corset top worn over the seashell bra, giving the outfit structure at the waist. It zips up the back, so you’ll want a second pair of hands to help close it.
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  • 3 Pink Mermaid Seashell BraWorn as the base layer under the bustier. On its own it’s a swim top, but stacked underneath the other pieces it reads as part of a full mermaid costume.
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  • 4 Blue Mermaid Tail Skirt (essential)The single piece that makes this a mermaid costume instead of a sparkly party outfit. It’s a floor-length sequined skirt with a fishtail hem, elastic waist, and enough stretch to actually walk in, unlike a costume tail with a fixed fin. Get it long enough to brush the floor, a short one just looks like a regular skirt.
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  • 5 Long Curly Orange Wig (essential)Big, loose orange curls, the hair color and texture that makes Rachel Flax instantly recognizable in every scene of the film. Don’t flatten it or pull it back, the volume is the whole point. It’s warm to wear for hours, so expect your scalp to get hot at an indoor party.
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  • 6 Sea Shell Hair HeadbandA silver headband with shell and starfish details, pinned into the wig above the forehead. It’s a small detail but it’s what turns “person with an orange wig” into “mermaid.”
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  • 7 Silver SandalsSimple strappy heels, mostly hidden by the floor-length skirt. Check your closet first, plain silver or metallic sandals work fine.
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  • 8 Blue Short Tulle GlovesSheer wrist-length gloves that add a party touch. Optional, the outfit works without them.
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Cher as Rachel Flax in Mermaids wearing the gold jacket and mermaid tail skirt at a New Year's Eve party

How to Style the Rachel Flax Costume

The wig and the tail skirt are what people notice first, everything else is filler around those two pieces. Skip the tail skirt and wear a regular skirt instead, and the whole costume collapses into “woman with big orange hair.” The bustier needs to sit snug or the layers underneath show through the gaps, which looks unfinished rather than intentional. At a crowded party, the tail skirt’s length is the real risk, it’s easy to step on your own hem walking through a doorway, so plan to hold it slightly when you move through crowds.

At the New Year’s Eve party, still in the mermaid costume, Rachel checks the time and announces she’s got to “get in my mermaid car and hit the mermaid road.” She’s not embarrassed by the costume at all, she leans all the way into it. If someone asks about your outfit, answer in that same tone, deadpan and a little theatrical, rather than explaining the movie reference.

The bustier needs help to zip

It closes up the back, and doing it alone in a bathroom stall is a bad time. Zip it before you leave the house, or bring someone who can help you re-zip it later in the night.

Watch the hem on stairs

A floor-length tail skirt and a staircase don’t mix well, especially in heels. Lift the front hem slightly with one hand any time you’re going up or down steps.

Rachel Flax Group Halloween Costume Ideas

Couples Idea

Rachel Flax & Lou Landsky

Might work, but only for people who know the film well. Lou is a shoe store owner in a cardigan, nothing about his look reads as a costume on its own, so this pairing depends entirely on your partner being willing to explain who he is all night.

Rachel Flax Lou Landsky

Duo Idea

Rachel Flax & Charlotte Flax

Strong duo if you’re doing this with a teenager or young adult, since the mother-daughter contrast is the heart of the film. Rachel is all glitter and mermaid tail, Charlotte would go in a much more conservative, buttoned-up look, and that clash is exactly the joke of their relationship on screen.

Rachel Flax Charlotte Flax

Group Idea: Mermaids Core Cast

Rachel, Charlotte, Kate & Lou

Excellent group if all four of you are willing to commit, since this covers the film’s whole main cast in one shot. Rachel is the loud, glittery center of the group, Charlotte and Kate are more plainly dressed as her daughters, and Lou rounds it out in ordinary 1960s menswear. Recognition still depends on your crowd knowing the movie.

Rachel Flax Charlotte Flax Kate Flax Lou Landsky

Group Idea: Iconic Single Mothers

Rachel, Georgia Miller & Maddie Townsend

Might work, but the connection is a theme, not a shared visual style. All three are single mothers from different shows and decades, so the group only reads as intentional if you say it out loud. On looks alone, the three costumes have nothing in common.

Rachel Flax Georgia Miller Maddie Townsend
Rachel Flax Halloween costume reference showing the mermaid tail skirt and orange wig combination

Rachel Flax Halloween Costume DIY Tips

Building the Look

Most of this can be found secondhand except the wig and the tail skirt, buy those two new.

  • Jacket: check thrift stores for any gold or sequined cropped cardigan, this one’s easy to substitute.
  • Bustier and bra: buy new if you don’t already own something similar, sizing on corset-style tops varies a lot between brands.
  • Tail skirt: buy this one, a substitute regular skirt won’t read as a mermaid.
  • Wig: buy this one, the specific orange shade and curl pattern matters here.
  • Headband and gloves: cheap enough to buy new, or skip the gloves entirely if you’re short on time.
  • Sandals: check your closet first.

Playing Rachel Flax at the Party

She’s warm, a little chaotic, and completely unbothered by being the center of attention in a mermaid costume at a party where nobody else is dressed up.

  • If someone asks about the time, check an imaginary “mermaid watch” before answering.
  • Refer to leaving as “hitting the mermaid road,” it’s a direct line from the film and it’s a good icebreaker.
  • Don’t play her as embarrassed or self-conscious. The whole point of the character is that she commits completely.

Rachel Flax Halloween Costume: FAQ

Build the mermaid tail skirt and orange curly wig first, those two pieces carry the whole look. Layer the seashell bra under the gold glitter crop jacket, add the pink bustier, then finish with the shell headband, silver sandals, and blue tulle gloves. It reads as a glam New Year’s Eve mermaid, not a beach costume.

It’s a niche pick. Mermaids came out in 1990 and most people under 40 haven’t seen it, so expect blank looks from a chunk of any party. It still works because the look itself, big orange curls and a full mermaid tail, reads as a fun costume even to people who have no idea who Rachel Flax is.

In her mermaid costume, checking the time: “All right, I can tell by my mermaid watch that it’s time for me to get in my mermaid car and hit the mermaid road!” On her outlook: “Death is dwelling on the past or staying in one place too long!” And her running reminder to her daughter: “Charlotte, we’re Jewish.”

Cher plays Rachel Flax, credited on screen as Mrs. Flax. It’s one of her few major film roles from the same stretch of her career as Moonstruck, the film that won her the Best Actress Oscar in 1988, though Mermaids itself earned her no nominations.

A single mother who moves her two daughters to a new town every time a relationship ends settles in Eastport, Massachusetts in 1963, where she falls for a shoe store owner while her teenage daughter has her own coming-of-age year. It’s based on Patty Dann’s 1986 novel of the same name.

Because Rachel Flax herself dresses as a mermaid for a New Year’s Eve party inside the movie. If you build this costume, you’re not just dressing as a character, you’re dressing as a character who is also, in that scene, in costume. That’s the whole joke of the reference.

No. The jacket adds shine and covers your arms, but the bustier and seashell bra layered together already read as a mermaid top on their own. Skip the jacket in a warm room and add it back for photos.

Who plays Rachel Flax in Mermaids?

What year is Mermaids set in?

What does Lou Landsky do for a living?

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