The curtains finally lifted on Heidi Klum’s much-awaited 2024 Halloween costume.

However, this year, some of the spotlight had already been claimed by actress Janelle Monáe, who beat the supermodel to the punch with her own similar costume.

The curtains lifted on Heidi Klum’s highly anticipated 2024 Halloween costume, showcasing her creativity and dedication to the spooky season

Image credits: heidiklum

With her grand reveal, 51-year-old Heidi reminded fans why she reigns supreme when it comes to the spooky season.

For this year’s Halloween festivities, Heidi and her husband Tom Kaulitz took fans straight back to the ’80s, dressed up as female and male versions of E.T., the main character from Steven Spielberg’s 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

The supermodel and her husband Tom Kaulitz dressed up as female and male versions of E.T.

Image credits: TheStewartofNY/WireImage

Known for her ultra-elaborate and sometimes shocking costumes, the “Queen of Halloween” outdid herself once again as she hosted her 23rd annual Halloween Party at Hard Rock Hotel New York: The Venue on Music Row.

Calling herself a “big fan,” she said E.T. has been “part of most of our lives.”

The costume connoisseur said she began getting ready for the look at 11 a.m., hours ahead of her 23rd annual Halloween Party at Hard Rock Hotel New York: The Venue on Music Row

Image credits: Heidi Klum

The costume connoisseur said she started getting ready for her ensemble at 11.a.m. on Thursday, October 31.

“[I] kind of thought about the universe in a different way and I thought E.T. was so cute and how he was wiggling around and all the moments when E.T. got dressed up with a wig and everything so I just thought it would be fun to become E.T. and especially to see two,” she told People.

Calling herself a “big fan,” Heidi said E.T. has been “part of most of our lives”

Image credits: TheStewartofNY/WireImage

The German-born star revealed that she wanted to do something “nostalgic” and noted that E.T. is one of her favorite childhood movies of all time.

“I knew I wanted to do something nostalgic,” she told Vogue. “I started going down memory lane, thinking about which dolls I played with, what movies I watched, and what some of my favorite childhood memories were.”

The concept for her Halloween costume arose after she came across a mini figure of E.T.

Image credits: heidiklum

“It’s my favorite childhood movie of all time—I watched it a million times,” she added. “It’s a movie that inspired me to dream and imagine the possibility of life beyond Earth.”

Her idea was brought to life by Mike Marino, the FX artist whom she has collaborated with on numerous occasions in the past.

FX artist Mike Marino conceptualized the idea with a team of 30 other artists

Image credits: heidiklum

“We began by digitally printing their bodies, and digitally sculpting E.T.’s various parts—arms, legs, feet,” he told the outlet.

“Then, we puzzled everything together to make sure they lined up and fit. We 3D-printed all the sculptures, molded them, cast them in foam latex, and reinforced them with spandex,” he went on to say. “We then glued the pieces to their faces, and blended them into the body.”

“Everything was finished with a full airbrush job,” he added.

The FX artist said one of the trickiest elements of the costume was the headpiece for both Heidi and Tom.

“We began by digitally printing their bodies, and digitally sculpting E.T.’s various parts—arms, legs, feet,” Mike shared

Image credits: heidiklum

“We had to design a head rig to balance on their heads without being too heavy,” he told the outlet.

The supermodel said she had to wear the headpiece for hours but admitted it was all finally “worth it.”

“Balancing the headpiece was one of the biggest challenges,” she said. “It had to be secure without being too heavy, as I wore it for hours. We also used detailed airbrushing to blend the costume seamlessly with our faces.

“This was a long, meticulous process, but it was worth it,” she added.

“Balancing the headpiece was one of the biggest challenges,” Heidi said. “ … I wore it for hours”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Prime Video (@primevideo)

Heidi has years of practice when it comes to wearing elaborate costumes for hours straight.

“Most of my costumes aren’t comfortable to wear for hours, but I love the end result so much that I push through,” she said.

“I meditate a little to keep calm, and I remind myself that the outcome is worth it,” she added. “My main trick is to embrace the process and find inspiration in it.”

Although Heidi’s grand reveal was a testament to her commitment to Halloween, fans couldn’t help but notice that the costume had already been debuted by Janelle.

“Most of my costumes aren’t comfortable to wear for hours, but I love the end result so much that I push through,” said the “Queen of Halloween”

Image credits: heidiklum

The 38-year-old actress shared pictures on Instagram, dressed in her own E.T. costume and also appeared on The Jennifer Hudson Show in character.

“Janelle Monae did it first,” one social media user said while another wrote, “Heidi Klum and Janelle Monae need to coordinate next halloween at this point.”

Actress Janelle Monáe had debuted her own E.T. look before Heidi’s grand reveal

Image credits: Janelle Monáe

Image credits: Janelle Monáe

Image credits: Janelle Monáe

“Oh man, how angry was Heidi Klum when Janelle Monae beat her by a day…” read another comment.

“I love transforming,” Janelle told People about her love for dressing up for the holiday.

“And I think one of the reasons that I realized, I mean, Halloween and transforming into characters, it brings me joy,” she added.

The Hollywood star said her E.T. costume was years in the making

Image credits: Janelle Monáe

Image credits: Janelle Monáe

“I’ve shared a costume idea with someone’s team, actually, and tried to get a price for how much it would cost. And then I found out that person was going to be that and I had been planning this costume for two years,” she previously said.

The Knives Out: Glass Onion star also shared some behind-the-scenes footage from the creation of her spell-binding look.

“Spielberg’s E.T. really made me believe in magic, it made me want to world build and create iconic characters,” she wrote in the caption.

“Here’s some bts of a shot I had in my head and really loved seeing come to life,” she continued. “Thank you to @autonomousfx2005 for this dream ET costume. The light up finger and heart. 🥹 the blinking eyes. 🥹We filmed it on the iPhone to practice. Just wanted to share.”

“Spielberg’s E.T. really made me believe in magic, it made me want to world build and create iconic characters,” Janelle said

Image credits: Janelle Monáe

Image credits: Janelle Monáe

Even with Janelle’s impressive E.T. costume stealing some of the spotlight, Heidi remains undisputed Halloween royalty with back-to-back iconic looks over the last couple of decades.

Her legendary Halloween parties and jaw-dropping costumes are considered the standard for all who dare to celebrate the spooky season.

In the past, she has crawled into a worm suit, dressed as a werewolf, and even transformed herself into a peacock for Halloween.

In 2011, she and her then-husband Seal gave fans a double costume reveal. They dressed up as apes for their annual Halloween party in New York.

Heidi and her ex-husband Seal had a double costume reveal in 2011, one of which included their ape ensembles

Image credits: Jemal Countess/Getty Images

The same year, Heidi stepped out in her famous “Visible Woman” ensemble, which gave the illusion of her skin being peeled away to showcase detailed anatomical muscles.

“My Visible Woman costume is my all time favourite! Martin Izquierdo made the costume and Bill Corso did my makeup!” she previously wrote on X about the look.

For the year 2015, she showed up as Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

The German model’s Jessica Rabbit look was complete with overinflated lips, hips and hair

Image credits: Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images

Image credits: Taylor Hill/Getty Images

She went on to make another memorable impression in 2017 by channeling the iconic werewolf from Michael Jackson’s Thriller music video.

Her costume featured hyper-realistic makeup and prosthetics, transforming her into a werecat complete with a football varsity jacket.

Everyone’s favorite Halloween diva proved her dedication to the spooky season once again in 2022. She transformed into a giant worm, hooked by Tom, who was dressed as a one-eyed fisherman.

She embraced her inner ogre by transforming into Princess Fiona from Shrek in 2018

Image credits: Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

The worm outfit took about 12 hours to apply, and Heidi was fully committed to the look.

“Heidi had the idea of being an earthworm and I immediately said, ‘I’m not sure if that’s going to be possible,’” Mike Marino, an FX designer who has collaborated with the model several times, told Dazed.

It took 12 hours for the worm outfit to be applied on Heidi in 2022

Image credits: Gotham/FilmMagic

“I said let’s think of something else, maybe something more manageable, but she wouldn’t let it die, so I did a little sketch on a Post-it Note, we laughed, and said ‘all right – let’s just go for it,” he continued.

In 2023, Heidi Klum wowed everyone by becoming a stunning peacock with a dazzling entourage of around 20 Cirque du Soleil dancers.

Heidi dressed up as a dazzling peacock in 2023 while her husband arrived as a giant peacock egg

Image credits: Noam Galai/Getty Images

“I wanted to create something where 20 different people become one,” she shared with Today.com.

Her husband, Tom, noted, “She always comes up with something first.”

He stood his ground next to her the same year, dressed as a giant peacock egg.

Fans pointed out that “Heidi has no chill” when it comes to Halloween

Poll Question

Thanks! Check out the results:

Newsletter

Subscribe to Access
Exclusive Polls

Subscribe

By entering your email and clicking Subscribe, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Privacy Policy.

Thank you! You've successfully subscribed to newsletters!

Games

View all games

Anyone can write on Bored Panda. Start writing!

Follow Bored Panda on Google News!

Follow us on Flipboard.com/@boredpanda!