Heidi Klum marked the 25th edition of her famous Halloween party in New York on Saturday night, October 31, 2026, by arriving dressed as a giant, gory severed hand. The supermodel and TV host was helped down the carpet by a crew in blood-stained hazmat suits, while her husband, Tom Kaulitz, missed the bash because he is on tour.
What We Know
After weeks of cryptic teasers, Klum finally unveiled her 2026 costume: a life-sized replica of her own left hand, cut off at the wrist. According to the Associated Press, the oversized hand featured long red nails, a thumb ring, and copies of her engagement ring and wedding band. USA Today reported that her legs formed two of the fingers, while her face peered out of the bloody gash at the wrist, framed by prosthetics.
Getting into the piece was a project in itself. Klum told the AP it took five to six hours to get into the costume, adding with a pun: “Hands down, the hardest thing is carrying it.” She told USA Today that around 10 to 15 people helped her get ready on the day, and that a larger team had spent months building and painting the piece, down to the veins. She said the idea first came to her a year ago.
There was also a romantic detail hidden in the gore. Because Kaulitz could not attend, Klum had his name tattooed on the ring finger of the giant hand. “A little bit of Tom is with me,” she told the AP. Earlier in the evening she told Entertainment Tonight that her husband was “not going to be here because he’s on tour sadly,” joking that he could have come as the “other hand.”
The party, nicknamed “Heidi-ween,” took place at Cathédrale in Manhattan, according to USA Today. Guests photographed at the event included Sofía Vergara, Taylor Momsen, Kyle MacLachlan and Olympic skiing champion Lindsey Vonn. Klum’s daughter Leni Klum, 22, came as Miss Piggy, complete with a pink snout, pearls and a purple feather boa.
Background
Klum has thrown her Halloween party for a quarter of a century, and her costumes have become an annual pop-culture event in their own right. Over the years she has transformed into Kali, the multi-armed Hindu goddess, a hyper-realistic Jessica Rabbit, a werewolf from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video, a peacock flanked by Cirque du Soleil performers, E.T. and, last year, a scaly green Medusa.
Her most viral moment came in 2022, when she showed up as a giant earthworm, wriggling across the carpet at the end of a fishing line. The parties were put on hold in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Klum instead released costume videos online.
In the run-up to this year’s event, she kept fans guessing with close-up social media posts that appeared to show organs and raw tissue. She had promised USA Today the look would be “very, very bloody” and that her body would fit into a shape a human body normally would not. Both teasers turned out to be accurate.
Few celebrities are as closely tied to the holiday as Klum, though she shares the spooky-season spotlight with stars such as Jamie Lee Curtis, whose career took off with the original “Halloween” film.
Reactions
The toughest critic in the room seemed impressed. Leni Klum told USA Today that her mother’s costumes are “always a 10.” She also pointed out that the hand carried a real piece of jewelry: Klum wore her own wedding ring as part of the design.
Klum herself admitted the party is as much endurance test as celebration, saying she spends more time getting ready than actually dancing because of the prosthetics. Asked whether she would ever skip a year, she replied: “Taking a year off? Are you crazy?”
What’s Next
Klum has not revealed any plans for her 2027 costume. She told USA Today she would be open to letting fans choose a future look, as long as she could see the options first, and said she would happily bring back the famous worm.
With the 25th anniversary now behind her, the guessing game for next October has, as usual, already begun.
Sources
- Associated Press via ABC News: Heidi Klum reveals Halloween costume as her iconic party marks 25 years
- USA Today via Yahoo Entertainment: See Heidi Klum’s costume for her 25th Halloween party
- Variety: Heidi Klum Halloween 2026, severed human hand costume