He might be dead, but he's still moving up the charts.
The King of Pop is the King of Costumes this Halloween, says one of the city's largest costume emporiums.
"Oh yeah, way more interest in MJ this year," said Chuck Giovenco, manager of the block-long Fantasy Costumes on Michigan Avenue. "MJ's definitely one of the most popular costumes."
Giovenco said the store's carrying everything from sequin gloves, to MJ hats and wigs, to complete outfits like the Thriller getup and Billy Jean apparel.
Most if not all of the buyers are young men and teenagers, with women preferring more provocative vampire and pirate costumes.
Giovenco said groups of men have been buying multiple Jackson paraphernalia, including makeup, to form MJ Thriller Zombie posses.
"They're doing the undead MJ thing," said Giovenco.
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At least one group of customers wanted to buy several hundred gloves at one time for a corporate event.
Oddly enough, MJ's death occurred in the same year that the singer licensed his image to a costume manufacturer for the first time. So this year, there's a glut of MJ costumes that are of better quality than years previous.
"It's definitely in my top ten of popular costumes," said Mary Hickey Panayotou, owner of Chicago Costume, of MJ apparel.
"The day he died, our phones were just ringing all day with people wanting a sequin glove," she said. Interest has dropped off somewhat since then, though, says Panayotou.
The most popular getups at Chicago Costume, Panayotou says, are Mario and Luigi and every form of revealing outfit for ladies.
"The women love to get into those corsets," she said, "with their bosoms rippling over the top."
