Heidi Klum has long turned Halloween preparations into a separate art form. For the costume party, the supermodel spends hours in the makeup chair, tries on complex prosthetics, and sometimes completely hides inside the costume. She has been hosting her Halloween parties since 2000, and over the years, she has accumulated a whole archive of transformations—from recognizable movie characters to creatures that could easily appear in a horror film. On the eve of the holiday, Wave RBC.UA has gathered ten of the most spectacular looks, each backed by months of work from teams of makeup artists, costumiers, and special effects specialists.
Gorgon Medusa with Mechanical Snakes
In 2025, Klum transformed into Gorgon Medusa: a scaly body, a long tail, and mechanical snakes on her head that moved independently of each other, giving the look eerie realism. More than 15 specialists worked on the costume, and preparation lasted for six months. Tom Kaulitz complemented his wife's transformation by dressing as Perseus, turned to stone by Medusa's gaze—thus the couple maintained their tradition of matching couple costumes.
Aliens from Close Encounters
Klum and Kaulitz once chose matching ET looks—the character from Steven Spielberg's film. The costumes were created all year round: a team of 30 special effects masters worked on them, reproducing the tiniest details of the aliens, from eyes to fingernails, and adding mechanisms for movement. The actual transformation before the party took seven hours for each of the spouses. Among Klum's other “creatures” is a look featuring a realistic bird head with lush plumage, as well as a giant ribbed worm that almost completely concealed the model.
Performance with Cirque du Soleil Artists
One of the most spectacular entrances turned into a full performance: Klum appeared in a blue form-fitting outfit with a realistic bird head, while her lush plumage was portrayed by ten Cirque du Soleil artists. Acrobats in green costumes changed poses to form a living tail around the model. Tom Kaulitz supported the theme by arriving in a giant egg costume. In another famous look—a giant worm—the couple acted out a fishing story with “very big bait,” where Kaulitz played the fisherman.
From Fiona in Shrek to the Vampire from Thriller
In 2018, Klum recreated Fiona from Shrek: green skin, characteristic ears, and red hair altered by makeup and prosthetics. Next to her was Kaulitz as Shrek, and the couple arrived at the party in an onion-shaped carriage, accompanied by a stroller with baby ogres. In 2017, the supermodel was inspired by Michael Jackson's Thriller music video: pointed furry ears, fangs, claws, complex makeup, and the recognizable red and yellow jacket, while at the party Klum performed the dance from the video, turning her costume into a stage act.
On the Verge of Body Horror and Attention to Detail
For her 20th Halloween party, Klum chose a look on the verge of sci-fi and body horror: prosthetic muscles, fake organs, an exposed brain, and mechanical details created the appearance of a creature from another planet. Preparation before the event took more than 12 hours, part of the process could be watched in the window of an Amazon store in New York, and Kaulitz complemented the story with a bloodied astronaut costume. No less labor-intensive was the Jessica Rabbit look featuring a dress by designer Christian Siriano: the concept took about eight months to develop, and the transformation took around ten hours.
Old Age, Anatomy, and “Living” Details
In 2013, Klum showed what she might look like decades later: gray hair, a cane, wrinkles, age spots, and even prominent veins on her legs recreated by makeup artists—it was this attention to detail that completely changed the model's appearance. One of the most chilling looks resembled an anatomical model: a form-fitting costume with a detailed illustration of muscles created the illusion of a skinless body, and Klum was wheeled onto the red carpet on a medical gurney, making her appearance before photographers part of the act. Such meticulous detailing—from mechanical snakes to acrobatic “plumage”—is what makes Klum's Halloween appearances a separate genre of costume performance.
