While today’s hyperactive fame machine seemingly lobs dozens of new celebrities (a very loose definition of the title, anyway) into the public atmosphere week by week, only a few can hope for careers successful enough to contain actual eras. Both Gabrielle Union and Missy Elliott have maintained robust portfolios since the early ‘90s, becoming immovable figures within pop culture while opening countless doors for up-and-coming Black women in entertainment. Along with stash of notable characters each, they’re both intrinsically linked to certain iconography for the rest of their days. Seriously, if you get creative enough with a few black garbage bags and a glitter-bombed bike helmet, you’re either going to be subjected to people singing “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” to you all night, or you’re at the wrong party.
With Halloween mere days away, celebrities are starting to reveal their costumes to their waiting public, garnering reactions ranging from “Aww, that’s cute” to “Wow, you really are rich, aren’t you?” But we imagine that no costume be as impressive as those belonging to Union and Elliott, who decided to dress as the one thing that nobody else can really master: themselves. This weekend Union stepped out with her family while donning the legendary East Compton Clovers cheerleader uniform from one of her biggest films, 2000's Bring It On. Resurrecting her role as the Clovers’ mighty captain, Isis, Union looked as if she was ready to take on the rival Toros and their second-rate plagiarism all over again. With her daughter Kaavia dressed up in a preciously similar green uniform, Isis was even equipped with her much-needed posse Somehow 19 years has passed between Bring It On’s release and the below tweet.
Missy Elliott wasn’t far behind with her own ridiculously on-point Halloween getup, choosing to recreate the Supa Dupa Fly album cover from 1997. If not for the slight difference in the furniture’s design, we’d honestly just assume this was a remastered version of the same photo. Wearing the same shoes, Missy baseball jersey, even the same wig, the new photo is nearly indistinguishable from its source material. Call it an unfair advantage if you want, but who else can even come close?
Halloween may not technically be a competition... hell, who are we kidding? Of course, Halloween is competition, and these women kind of won.