Also — and again, no definitive rules here — there might be something to the idea of waiting a couple years before putting on a costume that resurrects someone who has died relatively recently. Let that loss breathe a little. The year that Amy Winehouse passed, I was newly in New York City, on Halloween, and I went to a bar full of what appeared to be Amy Winehouse impersonators. (This is Brooklyn though, so you can't be too sure of who was in a costume and who was in their normal messy beehive hairdo.)There was a zombie Amy Winehouse costume that was memorable, in part because it was actually really beautiful, and also because the person wearing it clearly had an Amy crush and was just trying to add a little more of the beloved singer back into the world.

But at the same time, I thought: Is it possibly just too soon for Amy Winehouse to become someone's outfit? I don't actually have a credible answer to that — just a gut feeling that maybe we could have used a little buffer between her death and Halloween that year, even though they were months apart.

Which brings me to my final point: This Halloween, I think it's fair to guess that David Bowie and Prince — both iconic and top of mind in 2016 — will be making appearances at parties across the holiday-observing world. For those contemplating the decision to channel their inner Ziggy Stardust or the High Priest of Pop: I can only imagine those two would be thrilled to see themselves inspire myriad ensembles. Go forth in good faith.

But if you do decide you're going to don someone's identity for an evening, I think the most important thing to remember is that you you do so with a responsibility to someone's memory. People continue to exist in the world based on how they are represented by the living and breathing among us. So what are you going to contribute to that legacy? Use your gut — and answer that question for yourself.