The moment everyone has been waiting for has come. Heidi Klum has revealed her Halloween costume for 2026. She practised the walk on the floor of the glam room first. Then she became it: a giant severed hand, tendons and blood at the wrist, teetering along on red-tipped fingers. “TALK TO THE HAND,” she posted. “HERE WE GO.” Picture: Instagram
The back of the hand has a face: weeping eye sockets, exposed muscle and a round mouth of rotting teeth, with blood running down towards the wrist. Picture: Noam Galai/Getty Images
The back of the hand has a face: weeping eye sockets, exposed muscle and a round mouth of rotting teeth, with blood running down towards the wrist. Picture: Noam Galai/Getty Images
The whole thing stands taller than she does, balanced on five fingers tipped with pointed oxblood nails. Two of those fingers are her legs. Picture: Noam Galai/Getty Images
New York came out for it. Phones up, barriers out, and a severed hand casually making its way down the footpath. Picture: Noam Galai/Getty Images
Her handlers stayed close all night as emergency containment technicians, syringe at the ready to keep the thing sedated. Picture: Noam Galai/Getty Images
Her kids turned out for it. Leni came as a glamorous Miss Piggy, in a purple feather boa, pearls and a pink snout. Tom Kaulitz missed his first one in years because he’s on tour, and Klum joked he “could have been the other hand”. Picture: Noam Galai/Getty Images
Taylor Momsen came as Angus Young, in the AC/DC schoolboy blazer and cap with the guitar to match. Picture: Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka came as the Grady twins from The Shining. The commitment to the bit is impressive and very creepy. Picture: Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Valentina Sampaio came as Poison Ivy, in green lace with red heels to finish it. Picture: Noam Galai/Getty Images
Questlove has DJ’d this party for more than a decade and still refuses to wear a proper costume, so a footy jersey it is. Picture: Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images
Eric McCormack came as the iconic Freddie Mercury. Klum shed the outer shell of the hand and was working the room in the bloodied bodysuit underneath it. Practical choice. Picture: Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Kyle MacLachlan has been to almost every one of these. Two nights earlier, Klum ambushed him at her pre-party with a cake made to look like his own memoir. Picture: Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Klum pulled up a seat with Dos Equis’ Most Interesting Man in the World, which is a sentence that only makes sense on this one night of the year. Picture: Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Jesse James Keitel went full creature, in coral-pink tendrils and a horned headpiece. Picture: Noam Galai/Getty Images
Paris Jackson and Hayden Karchmer kept it low-key by this crowd’s standards. Picture: Noam Galai/Getty Images
Chase Hudson came as Patrick Bateman from American Psycho, pinstripe suit and all. The most Lil ‘ Huddy Halloween look there is. Noam Galai/Getty Images
Nineties supermodel Karen Mulder turned up as half of a Karl Lagerfeld and Anna Wintour double act. Picture: Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images
The first look at Heidi Klum in this year’s costume was a dark red, textured head, a brush working over bloodied tissue, and a mouth of lumpy flesh with her own teeth showing through the middle. She debuted it eating chips (with her face on the bag) in a paid post, and the comments had already landed on a guess: Vecna. Picture: Instagram
Getting there took a room full of people, soundtracked to Thriller, with Klum tagging prosthetics studio Prosthetic Renaissance and six of the artists working on her. Lizzo, in the comments: “U gon be a bloodclotbombaclartrasssclart.” Picture: Instagram
First the blood. “Testing testing 1, 2, 3,” she wrote, before posting a table of silicone tubing captioned “I love sausages” and then a full pot of the stuff: “I’m cooking.” The replies were losing patience: “HURRY UP HEIDI I WANNA GO TO SLEEP.” Picture: Instagram
“Your final clue…. See you TOMORROW,” she posted, with the mouth that started all of it: a clay mould of lumpy sculpted teeth, then the finished silicone gum plate. Guesses in the comments ran from The Substance to a haemorrhoid. Picture: Instagram
She started Halloween morning on top of the Empire State Building in a white gown built from giant petals. “Good morning Halloween fans. First things first…Let’s make the Empire State Building orange and green for Halloween today.” Picture: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
Two nights earlier she was in bright orange Lever Couture and black thigh-high boots for the third birthday of Crazy Pizza, the New York restaurant she opened with her ex, Flavio Briatore. Picture: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images
Sofia Vergara came to support her. The two have sat side-by-side on the America’s Got Talent panel for years. Picture: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images
From riding into a nightclub on a police horse to becoming a skinless cadaver or a 10-foot peacock, Heidi Klum’s Halloween costumes have become legendary. For 25 years, she’s thrown New York’s most outrageous Halloween party. Each year, her look is more outrageous, more ambitious, and more meme-worthy. Whether she’s completely unrecognisable under the prosthetics or she’s orchestrating the most elaborate entrance possible, Klum has definitely established herself as the Queen of Halloween. Here’s every mind-blowing Heidi Klum Halloween costume, year on year, with the most insane entrances, celebrity guests, and behind-the-scenes madness that make her party the must-see event of spooky season. Picture: Supplied
This year, Heidi Klum promised us something “very, very bloody”. “It’s not about funny clowns; it’s about gory and the creatures of the night are coming out.” That was our warning. Picture: Apothic
Then came the teasers. She shared an image of brightly coloured prosthetic bits that looked like organs, intestines and tentacles to her 12.7 million Instagram followers. Then a video of something that looked like fungus. Both of which were horrifying. Marino told NBC it was “so difficult to do and just the complication of it is really challenging”.
This is her 25th Halloween party, and there’s a reason the costumes eat every year. The first one in 2000 was such a disaster in terms of dress-up that she instituted a rule that is still in force. “We very quickly taught people that if you don’t come in a costume you’re not getting in.” Picture: Amy Sussman/Getty Images
2000: Dominatrix – Heidi Klum’s Halloween Debut - Where it all started: 2000 may have been the year of Y2K, but more famously, it was the year Heidi Klum took Halloween into her own hands. The first party, the first costume (the host in full black), and the night the no-costume, no-entry rule was born. Picture: Getty Images
2001: Lady Godiva – Heidi Arrives on Horseback - She rode into her own party at Lot 61 on a horse. Not just any horse … a New York City police horse. Picture: Evan Agostini/Getty Images
2002: Betty Boop – Animated and Edgy - Year 3 went to Capitale, which hadn’t even opened to the public yet. Klum went as an evil 1930s cartoon. You got one hour of open bar, and then it was $14 a drink. In 2002 New York, that was in itself a kind of horror. Picture: Mark Mainz/Getty Images
2003: Golden Alien – Out-of-This-World Entrance - She was armoured, gilded, and arrived by stepping out of a golden spaceship at The LQ. She did it before The Sovereign. Picture: Evan Agostini/Getty Images
2004: Red Witch – A Spellbinding (and Stuck) Entrance - Bright red wig (well, bright red everything), bones poking out, fangs, lace, leather, the whole shebang, at Marquee. The plan was to fly in over the crowd on a harness, but she got stuck. So, the grand entrance was bloody ruined (by her own account). Picture: Evan Agostini/Getty Images
2005: Vampire – Before Twilight, There Was Heidi - Happy Valley was the year she had the batwings and the absolutely massive hair (big, big, very big hair). That was before Twilight and before The Vampire Diaries, so our idea of vampires was very much Dracula, not the Salvatores at all. Picture: Evan Agostini/Getty Images
2006: Forbidden Fruit – Pregnant Apple Costume - She was nine months pregnant with her third, so she went as the apple from the Garden of Eden (Seal went with her as Eve). Talk about working with what you’ve got. But she couldn’t sit down, drink water, or fit in her own car. She had to find a convertible at the last minute to get her to her own party at Privilege in LA. Picture: AP Photo/Chris Polk
2007: Cat – Feline Glam Meets Camp - She was at The Green Door in Hollywood in a feline bodysuit (with a collar that said ‘If lost, please return to Seal’). A Cat is probably one of the most terrifying Halloween costumes if you’ve seen the live-action Cats film — nightmare fuel. Picture: Charley Gallay/Getty Images
2008: Kali – Goddess of Halloween Controversy - At 1 OAK in New York, Klum went as Kali (with extra arms and a garland of skulls). Hindu statesman Rajan Zed publicly called for an apology, saying Kali is “very much a revered figure in Hinduism” and “is meant to be worshipped in temples”. Klum said her assistant came up with the idea after last year’s trip to India with Seal. No apology has been issued. Picture: Joe Corrigan/Getty Images
2009: Crow – Feathered Couple’s Costume - Henry Ward Beecher said, “If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be clever enough to be crows.” Well, Seal is one of those few because it was another couple’s costume … as crows. But looking back, clever might not be the best word to describe the move. Picture: Getty Images
“Can you see the celebrities?” *Long Pause* “Point to the celebrities!” *Even longer pause* “Muy Bien!” Jessica Alba came as Dora the Explorer, and her husband, Cash Warren, came as Diego (presumably they didn’t know Diego is Dora’s cousin). Picture: Getty Images
2010: Robot – Transformer-Style on Stilts - In the 2010s, the model stopped buying costumes and started commissioning them. That’s a level up. She was a purple Transformer-style, sparkly robot on stilts, nearly 2.5m tall when standing, at LAVO. She’d been practising walking in the costume before the night. Her little metallic muscle man shadow was Seal. Picture: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images
Kim Kardashian was there as Little Red Riding Hood with Jonathan Cheban as the Big Bad Wolf … a pretty accurate depiction of the real-life dynamic between the selfie queen and “Food God”. Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images
2011: Skinless – Anatomical Airbrush Shock - She held two parties that year. The first was at TAO in Vegas. She was wheeled in on a hospital gurney by two bloodied ‘doctors’ who pulled back a white sheet to reveal a bodysuit with every muscle, vein and tendon airbrushed on. It took nearly four hours and was designed by Martin Izquierdo. Picture: Getty Images
2011: Planet of the Apes – Prosthetic Madness - Two nights later in New York, they went full Planet of the Apes at Dream Downtown. Six hours in prosthetics. They later admitted they hadn’t planned for how either of them would use a bathroom. Picture: Jemal Countess/Getty Images
In 2011, an Aussie also attempted to take her crown. Miranda Kerr threw her first Halloween party across the road that very same night, in ringmaster regalia complete with a whip. The NY Post called it a straight-up battle between two Victoria’s Secret models. The two were good friends and found the whole thing absolutely hilarious. Klum had a 12-year head start on her and had already thrown her second party in Las Vegas that weekend, so it wasn’t really a contest. Picture: Rob Kim/Getty Images
When Jay Sean was singing ‘party like it was 2012’ … no one did. Hurricane Sandy cancelled the party, not Klum. “For very obvious reasons I am cancelling my Halloween party scheduled for tomorrow night,” she said, floating, “perhaps a very haunted Christmas?” Picture: Reddit
2012: Cleopatra – Haunted Holiday Make-Up Bash - The party was on December 1 at the same venue, rebranded as a Haunted Holiday Party, and it raised funds for the American Red Cross Sandy relief. Klum wore her Cleopatra getup (the one she’d planned for Halloween), and Santa came out. “Ho ho ho” (in a deep, scary, haunting voice). Picture: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
2013: Elderly Heidi – Prosthetic Transformation - Full prosthetic ageing, a cane and a rocking chair which she brought with her to the Marquee. It was absolutely convincing, and no one recognised her at all; she nearly didn’t get into her own party. Picture: Mike Coppola/Getty Images
2014: Butterfly – Metamorphosis in New York - This is the only ‘winging it’ that Ms Klum is familiar with. She said METAMORPHOSIS! Picture: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
Zoe Kravitz, Joe Jonas and Questlove walk into a DJ booth … there’s no punchline. That; s just what happened at Heidi Klum’s 2014 Halloween party. Picture: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
2015: Jessica Rabbit – Cartoon Bombshell Transformation - The Who Framed Roger Rabbit bombshell, complete with body prosthetics so extensive that reports said it took about two hours to remove (and some of her skin with it) . She couldn’t fit in her own car, but what’s new? Picture: Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Wish you were there? You actually can. It becomes a club night after midnight. In 2015 tickets were priced at $60 to $175 (approx. $85 to $250) with a bottle service minimum of $2,000 ($2,800) and the room was packed by 1.30am. Guests described ‘ghostly’ girls following them down the corridors and a fake doctor wandering around with a bloody organ. Picture: Mike Coppola/Getty Images
2016: Heidi Klums - Are we seeing sextuple? - At Vandal, Klum turned up as Heidi Klum, accompanied by a pack of models all wearing prosthetic Heidi faces. Of course the internet hated it. She didn’t care. “I just like to be unique. I just like to be creative. I don’t like to do things that have been done before. I know some people loved it and some people hated it and that’s always going to be the case.” Picture: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images
2016 also saw us with Lewis Hamilton as the Joker (decked out Heath Ledger style), complete with smeared face paint. He’d won a GP the day before and flew in for it. Picture: Mike Coppola/Getty Images
2017: Thriller Werewolf – Michael Jackson Homage - The MJ recreation video was done on a Times Square rooftop at Magic Hour with a full crew of undead dancers doing the moves with her. For the first time, the costume came with choreography. Which was, dare we say, quite thrilling. Picture: Craig Barritt/Getty Images
2018: Princess Fiona – Shrek Couple Goals - She’d been seeing Tom Kaulitz for a few months, and he put up with eight hours of make-up to be her Shrek. He was the ultimate walking green flag. A green flag with a donkey sidekick who lives in a swamp and has layers like an onion. Picture: Craig Barritt/Getty Images
2018’s guest list was stacked. Lupita Nyong’o went as Dionne from Clueless. Iconic. Picture: Craig Barritt/Getty Images
Kat Graham rocked a giant green Jim Carrey mask head. Iconic x two. Picture: Noam Galai/Getty Images
Mel B went as Victoria Beckham (refusing to go on tour) with a David Beckham pleading on the fans’ behalf. Funny, scary, spicy, all of the above. Picture: Noam Galai/Getty Images
2019: Alien – Sci-Fi Prosthetic Spectacle - They applied the ten hours of prosthetics in front of a live audience in a store window on 34th Street. She then arrived at Cathédrale in the back of a slow-moving blue-lit glass biohazard truck (windows streaked with blood), with sound effects going. Kaulitz came as the bloodied astronaut who had been abducted on the mission. Picture: Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Antoni Porowski came as a zombie Blockbuster employee ‘celebrating the death of Blockbuster’. Rest in peace, weekly rentals. Picture: Getty Images
2020: No Party – Pandemic Horror Short - She cancelled over Covid and instead made a five minute horror short at home. Kaulitz and all four of her kids were in it as mummies that come to life and chase her around the house. “This Halloween, stay at home and spend time with your family. Just try and not kill each other.” Picture: YouTube
2021: No Party Again – Cautious Queen - She sat it out for a second year. “With all that’s going on in the world at the moment, I just don’t feel it’s quite time for me to be having a party. So I won’t do that again this year. Same as last year really, I just don’t feel it’s the right thing to be doing.” Phillip Faraone/Getty Images
2022: Giant Worm – Earth-shaking Comeback - The comeback was absolutely earth (worm) shattering. Prosthetics artist Mike Marino and a 17-person team at Prosthetic Renaissance spent about three months building it. It included a rubber base, high-gloss silicone for shine, and methylcellulose for slime (Marino described it as the inside of a jelly doughnut). “It was like a big demented nightmare Muppet,” he said. Kaulitz came as the fisherman who’d hooked her, his eye completely gouged out. Picture: Noam Galai/Getty Images
Klum’s eldest daughter finally got in at 18 as Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman in black latex. “It’s my first time, I’m absolutely thrilled! I’m just buzzing, I’m absolutely thrilled,” she said. She’d been asking for it for years. Same, Leni. Same. Picture: Noam Galai/Getty Images
2023: Peacock – Cirque du Soleil Artistry - She brought in Michel Laprise (creative director at Cirque du Soleil) and flew out to Montreal for workshops. He put the total build at 2,000 hours. The dancers in the green bodysuits walked the carpet behind her as the tail, which they opened on cue. “I wanted to make an art performance out of it,” Klum said. The best bit was that Kaulitz came as her egg. She is a practical-yolker, all right. Picture: Noam Galai/Getty Images
2024: E.T. – Nostalgic Extraterrestrial Transformation - She phoned home (Mike Marino) for this one a year earlier. Around 30 artists 3D-printed the sculpts, cast them in foam latex, reinforced them with Spandex, and hand-applied the eyeballs, teeth, tongues, and fingernails. She and Kaulitz each spent about seven hours getting in. She wanted something ‘nostalgic’ and stated the film was her ‘favourite childhood movie of all time’. Picture: Noam Galai/Getty Images
2025: Medusa – Snakes, Statues, and Showstoppers - Six months in development, nine hours in the makeup chair, and a snake headpiece where each snake moved independently. “I love that all of the snakes move independently; they look so real,” she said, plus “a custom split snake tongue that is just next level”. Kaulitz came as a Greek soldier turned to stone. She also stopped by to light up the Empire State Building for Halloween on the way through because Heidi Klum IS Halloween. Picture: Noam Galai/Getty Images
