From Medusa to Princess Fiona: Heidi Klum’s Most Unforgettable Halloween Costumes

For more than two decades, supermodel and television host Heidi Klum has redefined celebrity party culture by hosting her annual “Heidiween” celebration in New York City. Having earned the undisputed title of the “Queen of Halloween,” Klum consistently raises the creative benchmark with prosthetic-heavy, fully unrecognizable transformations. Ahead of the 26th anniversary of the event, Klum stoked fan anticipation on Instagram by sharing early sneak peeks alongside the question, What’s my costume? She provided an ominous preview during a conversation with PEOPLE, teasing: It goes very well with red wine. It’s very, very bloody.

With an uncompromising standard for her guests, Klum enforces a strict no-costume, no-entry rule for the exclusive red-carpet affair. Over the years, the event has evolved from a DIY costume get-together into an international spectacle of cinematic makeup, performance art, and mechanical engineering.

The Era of Master Prosthetics and Cinematic FX: 2018 to 2025

Klum’s recent transformations have operated on the scale of major Hollywood film productions. For her 2025 appearance as Medusa, Klum spearheaded an elaborate build that took more than 15 craftspeople and six months to assemble, complemented by ten hours in the makeup chair. The design integrated custom prosthetics, painted scales, a split tongue, fangs, and a sculpted headpiece outfitted with mechanical, moving snakes. I wanted to explore the classic monsters of history, and reimagine one in a modern way, Klum told Vogue. Medusa stood out to me as truly iconic – mysterious yet ferocious. The legend of her turning humans to stone has fascinated audiences for centuries. Her husband, musician Tom Kaulitz of Tokio Hotel, accompanied her covered entirely in stone-gray paint as a petrified warrior.

In 2024, Klum turned to classic cinema, drawing inspiration from Steven Spielberg’s 1982 masterpiece E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial by recreating the scene where the titular alien is disguised in women’s clothing. Klum explained that she wanted to do something nostalgic, telling Vogue: It’s my favourite childhood movie of all time – I watched it a million times. It’s a movie that inspired me to dream and imagine the possibility of life beyond Earth. Both Klum and Kaulitz were concealed entirely inside the necks of the alien suits.

Her 2023 design incorporated collaborative performance art, recruiting Cirque du Soleil acrobats to form the dramatic plumage of a massive peacock. I was thinking a peacock because a peacock is kind of together with the feathers and then it opens up, Klum explained to ET. I wanted to make an art performance out of it. Kaulitz leaned into the visual gag by appearing as a giant egg. The performance followed Klum’s internet-breaking 2022 costume: an ultra-realistic earthworm. Confined by seamless body prosthetics with only her eyes and mouth exposed, Klum conducted press interviews directly from the floor alongside Kaulitz, who played a bloodied fisherman. I like to do something unexpected, so I tried to think of a costume that is super absurd, but also very familiar, Klum admitted to Vogue. Because it is Halloween, you need the creepy factor, also a bit gross and disgusting.

For her 20th anniversary bash in 2019, Klum turned her transformation into public performance art, sitting inside the window of the Amazon store on 34th Street in New York City during a 12-hour makeup process to become a grotesque alien-zombie. The inspiration is Tokio Hotel, which is the band of my husband. They believe in aliens! she shared with Vogue. A year earlier, in 2018, Klum teamed with Kaulitz to become Princess Fiona and Shrek. Revealing that she kind of always wanted to be Fiona but never had the Shrek to do it with, she remarked to ET: I’ve done this many times, doing prosthetics and all of this stuff, so for him to go through this is pretty phenomenal.

High-Concept Tributes and Pop Culture Ensembles: 2011 to 2017

Throughout the previous decade, Klum regularly made headlines by honoring cultural icons or testing high-concept visual gags. In 2017, she paid homage to Michael Jackson’s seminal 1983 music video by transforming into the “Thriller” werewolf, joined on the red carpet by a troupe of dancing zombies after seven hours of makeup. It’s such a scary video. I think it also changed so much in our history, really – music videos as a whole, Klum told Us Weekly.

For the 2016 event, Klum addressed public curiosity regarding her hectic career schedule by cloning herself, appearing alongside five surgically matched lookalikes. Explaining the idea, she noted: People always ask me, how do you do it all? You have four children, you travel around the world. You know, I have so many different jobs; I have three TV shows a year. So you know, I thought, I wish I could clone myself, sometimes. Wait a minute, light bulb, Halloween, and here we are.

In 2015, Klum made a splash as an exaggerated, prosthetic-laden Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, singing Why Don’t You Do Right? during the party. She is definitely an icon, and I always try to find someone people would recognise, Klum told Allure. In 2014, Klum showcased an intricate rainbow butterfly featuring oversized wings and compound eyes after a romantic nickname: Someone very special to my heart called me a schmetterling [German word for butterfly], so I wanted to be a butterfly this year, she told E! News.

Klum confronted ageism in 2013 by transforming into a strikingly realistic elderly woman with varicose veins, wrinkles, and grey hair. I loved it for myself to see what I’m going to look like, but also because I was turning 40 and people were always saying, ‘Wow, you’re already 40, you’re really old now. When are you going to stop modeling? When are you going to stop doing what you’re doing?’ she recalled to ET. I’m like, ‘40 is not old, people!

Weather disruptions and double celebrations defined the earliest years of that decade. When Hurricane Sandy struck the East Coast in late October 2012, Klum postponed the gathering until December, hosting a “Haunted Holiday Party” benefiting American Red Cross disaster relief while dressed as Cleopatra in a crystal-encrusted gown. In 2011, Klum held dual events in Las Vegas and New York City. In Las Vegas, she arrived as a skinless human cadaver wheeled out on an autopsy gurney, telling reporters: I was thinking how it would look if I had all my skin ripped off, and so… voila! In New York, she and then-husband Seal donned hyper-realistic matching ape costumes.

The Formative Foundations: 2000 to 2010

The first decade of Heidi Klum’s Halloween parties established the high-wire ambition that would become her signature. In 2010, she stood eight feet tall on hidden stilts as an armored alien transformer. I really wanted to be very tall and I was walking on stilts. I had to learn how to walk on stilts for a week and then again I did my own makeup and I had to match the suit again and put all that colour on and then had sparkles. I mean, I had sparkles for days, she recounted to ET. Her 2009 costume was an unwieldy, winged black crow that limited her ability to see or talk.

Her 2008 depiction of the multi-armed Hindu goddess Kali drew public criticism from religious groups. Addressing the backlash, Klum told ET: I love India. I love Indian people. I love their culture. For me, for example, it was more showing one of their goddess and by no means did I want to disrespect anybody and their religion.

Prior looks demonstrated adaptive costuming. In 2007, she wore a sleek black catsuit with a collar reading “If Lost, Please Return to Seal.” In 2006, while eight months pregnant, Klum disguised her baby bump as the forbidden fruit apple wrapped in the Garden of Eden serpent. I wanted to make sure nothing can hurt the baby, the former Project Runway host told PEOPLE. Other notable early-era appearances included a gothic vampire in 2005 featuring five wigs sewn together, an aerial-stunt attempt as a red witch in 2004 that briefly left her suspended mid-air, a golden alien arriving via flying saucer in 2003, and Betty Boop in 2002.

Her first parties were humble beginnings compared to today’s productions. In 2001, she famously rode a live horse onto the carpet dressed as Lady Godiva, later acknowledging to Entertainment Tonight: My costume was not the best. Some of the makeup that I did wasn’t as great and some of the costumes obviously because I didn’t know these people at the time and I was kind of doing it by myself as good as I could. It all started in 2000 with a patent-leather dirndl and pigtails as a zombie doll. Reflected Klum to The Hollywood Reporter in 2018: When I moved to America, I immediately fell in love with Halloween and the spookiness of it. All that was missing was a fantastic party. It felt like a real opportunity for me.

Why This Matters

Heidi Klum’s annual transformation serves as more than seasonal entertainment; it has profoundly influenced celebrity red-carpet culture and the special effects makeup industry. By enlisting top-tier prosthetic artists, animatronic engineers, and performance troupes such as Cirque du Soleil, Klum turned costuming into high-profile event marketing. Her party set an industry precedent for celebrity-driven Halloween events, bridging theatrical Hollywood FX with live media promotion and driving immense digital engagement every October.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Heidi Klum have a strict dress code at her Halloween party?

Klum enforces a strict “no-costume, no-entry” rule to ensure every attendee matches the artistic dedication of the event. She has established the annual gathering as an immersive, creative experience where participants are expected to push boundaries rather than treat it as a conventional red-carpet outing.

How long do Heidi Klum’s Halloween transformations usually take?

Depending on the complexity of the prosthetics, Klum’s transformations regularly take between seven and twelve hours on the day of the event. Elaborate concepts like Medusa or the multi-person peacock ensemble require up to six months of design, sculpting, and engineering preparations in advance.

What has Heidi Klum teased about her upcoming Halloween costume?

Ahead of her 26th anniversary bash, Klum teased to PEOPLE that her upcoming look goes very well with red wine. It’s very, very bloody, while inviting fans across her social platforms to guess the design.