Gay Halloween: M&S director Kathryn Turner is the ultimate costume idea

Product development boss at Marks & Spencer inspires niche outfits after unexpected success on social media

She is not the most likely viral star. But with 310,000 followers on TikTok and 270,000 on Instagram, Marks & Spencer Food’s director of product development, Kathryn Turner, has suddenly become one of the year’s big hits on Instagram. Her videos take the viewer with her as she goes in-store to look at new dessert launches, including its banana, caramel and pecan pudding, or taste tests its latest products, such as its cherry and chocolate cookies.

Turner is part of Marks & Spencer’s wider social media strategy implemented in 2020 as a way of attracting younger shoppers. Instead of using traditional influencers, M&S now champions 100 of its own employees on TikTok.

Turner, who launched her account in May, now regularly receives more than 1m likes on her videos, with celebrities including Nigella Lawson and Stormzy among her followers. Part of the appeal is Turner’s insider knowledge and expertise: she has worked at M&S since 1995.

This weekend, she will gain another prestigious accolade as fans spurn ghosts, witches and vampires and instead dress up as her for Halloween. The formula is simple. Some Turner-esque glasses, a blond wig and a packet of M&S cookies.

The content creator Liam Gleed has been posting videos of himself as Turner in the run-up to Halloween and plans to wear the costume this weekend. “To be very real, I love a sweet treat and I work close to an M&S so I follow her socials to find out what snacks I’ll be getting every Friday at work,” he says. “The more niche you go for Halloween, the better. Why go as basic characters when you can dress as your current fixation or icons of the internet?”

Gleed says it is the “real person” element that appeals to him. “I think it’s quite hilarious that someone who works as a product developer at M&S can become this on social media,” he says. “That’s what made the content work so well – it is so random that she is this popular figure from quite a normal job.”

Dressing as someone like Turner – an unlikely online star – rather than a spooky character or a movie star fits into the idea of Gay Halloween. This is a way of approaching the dress-up holiday that looks more towards an online pop culture reference – the more specific the better. It taps into ‘if you know, you know’ culture.

This year, that could be anything from an iced coffee at a job interview, based on a viral story about whether or not it is acceptable, to Chappell Roan’s security guard, who allegedly made a fan cry, or the prenup papers for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s marriage.

According to the website Know Your Meme, the term Gay Halloween dates to 2023 but had a precursor in “jokes about ‘Gay Halloween’ costumes being absurdly niche” on X. The idea has now spread to everyone online, however. “I don’t think that gay people are exclusively culpable for this,” says James Greig, features editor of Dazed. “I can remember around 2016 finding it really annoying when straight guys were going [to Halloween parties] as very, very niche memes.”

It is well documented that Halloween has been embraced by queer people due the holiday providing the freedom to dress up without judgment – it is sometimes called “gay Christmas” – and Gleed argues that its origins remain here. “Personally, as a gay man, I think it’s just another way for us to express ourselves,” he says. “We aren’t afraid to be our authentic selves after coming out, and to dress as someone so niche makes it comedic gold. I think the gays are doing it best because we don’t feel that shame of getting judged because we have been anyway.”

As for which Gay Halloween costumes might be popular this year, José Criales-Unzueta, style correspondent at Vanity Fair, wrote about the trend recently. They have a few predictions beyond Turner, including references to Heated Rivalry and Drake’s recent viral poncho. The internet is also championing a New York pothole filled by the city’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, and the foliage during Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance. “But the best ones are the ones you cannot foresee,” says Criales-Unzueta. “Part of the magic of gay Halloween is the unexpected.”