Heidi Klum cemented her status as the reigning Queen of Halloween on October 31, 2026, by arriving at her 25th annual party at the Cathédrale Restaurant inside the Moxy East Village in New York City dressed as a massive, freshly severed replica of her own left hand, Newsweek reported.
The intricate prosthetic ensemble featured minute anatomical details including the fine lines and veins of a palm, long red fingernails, and an oversized version of her green stone wedding ring. The ring finger also displayed a replica of the tattoo bearing the name of her husband, musician Tom Kaulitz, whom she married on their wedding day.
The Bottom Line
- Klum spent five to six hours getting into the heavy prosthetic costume on October 31, entering the venue accompanied by assistants wearing blood-spattered protective suits.
- Husband Tom Kaulitz missed the celebration due to touring commitments, though Klum joked that a “little bit of Tom” remained present via the finger tattoo. Kaulitz was unable to attend this year’s celebration because he was on tour, but Klum joked that
a little bit of Tom
was still with her. - The concept originated from studying her own hand and questioning whether her body could physically fit inside an enlarged version of it.
- This year’s celebration marked the 25th year of Klum’s Halloween party.
Anatomy of a Severed Limb Look
News noted. Klum explained on the red carpet that she initially looked at her left hand and wondered how to contort her frame inside it. Her legs fit neatly into the individual fingers while her torso occupied the palm area. Literally, my left hand inspired me,
Klum exclusively told E! News on the red carpet. I looked at her hand and I was thinking, ‘How can I fit my body into this hand?’ There must be a way…
Carrying the sheer weight of the finished sculpture proved to be the most physically taxing part of the evening. Hands down, the hardest thing is carrying it,
Klum admitted of the heavy garment. While the prosthetic ring finger featured his name inked onto it, the landmark celebration marked the 25th-anniversary of the annual Halloween party.
Evolution of Over-the-Top Party Transformations
The 2026 severed hand look follows a long lineage of ambitious costume concepts that have defined Klum’s annual October parties. At the 2025 celebration, she transformed into the mythological Greek Gorgon Medusa, complete with a headpiece of moving snakes, reptilian facial prosthetics, and a long tail, requiring a team of 15 artists. Kaulitz attended that event dressed as a stone-turned warrior.
Other notable past iterations include their 2024 joint transformation into the titular extraterrestrial from Steven Spielberg’s 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which demanded an entire year of preparation and roughly 30 special-effects artists. In 2022, Klum famously wore a full-body earthworm prosthetic while rolling along the red carpet, and in 2019, she appeared as a metallic-skeleton alien zombie alongside Kaulitz’s bloodied astronaut. Other past looks also included a gothic undead leather outfit in 2000, and a skinned human body costume in 2011.
| Year | Costume Theme | Notable Production Details |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Medusa | Created by a team of 15 artists; featured moving mechanical snakes. |
| 2024 | E.T. | Required a year of preparation and a team of 30 special-effects artists. |
| 2022 | Earthworm | Two years in development; involved crawling on the venue floor. |
From Red Carpet Art to Temporary Spectacle
Reflecting on the ephemeral nature of her elaborate annual reveals, Klum noted to Variety at her 2025 event that the intricate artworks are built strictly for a single evening. This is only good for the night. Tonight. Everything goes down the drain, so to speak, in the shower,
she said regarding the heavy makeup and prosthetic adhesive removal process.
Beyond her October celebrations, Klum maintains a prominent presence across television and fashion media. She returned as a host and judge on the 22nd season of Project Runway alongside Nina Garcia and Law Roach, following an earlier departure in 2018. Alongside longtime collaborator Tim Gunn, she also created the Prime Video fashion competition series Making the Cut, which ran for three seasons starting in 2020.
