--- title: A Turtleneck Shortage Isn't Stopping People From Dressing as Elizabeth Holmes for Halloween description: Bay Area stores have run out of black turtlenecks as people look to dress up as disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes for Halloween. authors: - name: Alix Langone url: https://money.com/author/alix-langone/ at_money_since: 2018 articles: 187 covers: - Lifestyle - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Loans - Personal Finance - Pets - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology former_staff: true published: '2019-10-29T20:54:55.000Z' modified: '2019-10-30T16:00:31.000Z' section: Lifestyle tags: - halloween - Silicon Valley - trends word_count: 311 canonical: https://money.com/a-turtleneck-shortage-isnt-stopping-people-from-dressing-as-elizabeth-holmes-for-halloween/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![191029-Elizabeth-Holmes](https://img.money.com/2019/10/gettyimages-493352654.jpg) *Elizabeth Holmes* Black turtlenecks are apparently selling out across Silicon Valley, thanks to Halloween revelers who want to dress up as disgraced tech founder Elizabeth Holmes. An intrepid reporter at *Quartz* discovered the shortage by accident. He [simply wanted to dress as a bee for Halloween](https://qz.com/quartzy/1736467/elizabeth-holmes-halloween-costumes-are-causing-a-turtleneck-shortage/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=daily-brief), but Holmes’ fashion sense has stymied his attempt to pull together a black-and-yellow insect costume. Holmes, of course, is the notorious former CEO of [failed blood-testing start-up Theranos](https://www.wsj.com/articles/theranos-founder-elizabeth-holmes-to-face-trial-next-year-on-fraud-charges-11561754180), who gained attention not just for her historic scam, but for her signature outfit: a black turtleneck that mimics the style of the late Apple visionary Steve Jobs. The blonde, blue-eyed executive quickly became a tech industry darling before she was [discovered to be a fraud](https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2018-41). She falsely claimed to have developed a blood testing device that would revolutionize medicine, and scammed prominent investors out of billions in the process. Throughout the entire scheme, Holmes stuck to her uniform of a black turtleneck. But Bay Area party-goers may be out of luck if they want to pose as high-brow grifters this Halloween. A screenshot in the *Quartz* article shows that at least five Uniqlo stores in the area are sold out of long sleeved black turtlenecks. According to Business Insider, other retail outlets in the region [are running out of their black turtleneck inventory](https://www.businessinsider.com/halloween-costumes-elizabeth-holmes-steve-jobs-black-turtlenecks-silicon-valley-2019-10), too. There's plenty of Holmes inspiration on social media if you need to get creative, though. There are almost 3,000 posts tagged #elizabethholmes on Instagram, and a cursory Twitter search will fill your feed with blonde wigs, red lipstick and — yes, black turtles galore. Holmes may have made it harder to dress as some insects this Halloween, but questionable tech founder seems to be [a rapidly growing species](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/how-weworks-adam-neumann-became-billionaire/600607/). If you’re looking for a male version of a notorious founder costume, We (get it?) [have you covered](https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-adam-neumann-inspires-halloween-costumes-pictures-2019-10). ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/a-turtleneck-shortage-isnt-stopping-people-from-dressing-as-elizabeth-holmes-for-halloween/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Lifestyle", "item": "https://money.com/lifestyle/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Fashion", "item": "https://money.com/fashion/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "A Turtleneck Shortage Isn't Stopping People From Dressing as Elizabeth Holmes for Halloween" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/a-turtleneck-shortage-isnt-stopping-people-from-dressing-as-elizabeth-holmes-for-halloween/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/a-turtleneck-shortage-isnt-stopping-people-from-dressing-as-elizabeth-holmes-for-halloween/", "name": "A Turtleneck Shortage Isn't Stopping People From Dressing as Elizabeth Holmes for Halloween", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2019-10-29T20:54:55.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/a-turtleneck-shortage-isnt-stopping-people-from-dressing-as-elizabeth-holmes-for-halloween/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/a-turtleneck-shortage-isnt-stopping-people-from-dressing-as-elizabeth-holmes-for-halloween/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2019-10-30T16:00:31.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "A Turtleneck Shortage Isn't Stopping People From Dressing as Elizabeth Holmes for Halloween", "articleSection": "Lifestyle", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2019/10/gettyimages-493352654.jpg", "width": 3000, "height": 2000, "caption": "191029-Elizabeth-Holmes" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Alix Langone", "url": "https://money.com/author/alix-langone/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/alix-langone/#author" } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2019-10-29T20:54:55.000Z", "description": "Bay Area stores have run out of black turtlenecks as people look to dress up as disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes for Halloween.", "abstract": "Bay Area stores have run out of black turtlenecks as people look to dress up as disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes for Halloween.", "@id": "https://money.com/a-turtleneck-shortage-isnt-stopping-people-from-dressing-as-elizabeth-holmes-for-halloween/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2019-10-30T16:00:31.000Z", "wordCount": 311, "keywords": [ "halloween", "Silicon Valley", "trends" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Lifestyle", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifestyle" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Fashion", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fashion" ] } ] } ] } ```