Heidi Klum and Janelle Monàe, two Queens of Halloween in their own right, felt quite Extra Terrestrial this Hallowen. Last night, after Monàe unveiled her whacky E.T. costume earlier this week, Klum had her much-anticipated outfit reveal at her annual Heidiween party where she also dressed as the fictional alien from Steven Spielberg’s 1982 movie. Awkward.
Klum and her husband Tom Kaulitz, who also dressed as E.T., began their elaborate costumes in November 2023 by enlisting the help of a 30-person FX team. Their efforts culminated in Klum’s life-size costume which included a glowing fingertip, a motorized headpiece, and a movable mouth and eyes. “It’s my favorite childhood movie of all time—I watched it a million times,” Klum said of the inspiration behind her costume. “It’s a movie that inspired me to dream and imagine the possibility of life beyond Earth.”
Klum continued, “Balancing the headpiece was one of the biggest challenges. 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.”
Monáe, who hosted her own Wondaween party in Los Angeles last weekend, revealed that her costume had been years in the making, too. “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 said prior to unveiling her costume.
Like Klum, Monáe was completely unrecognizable this Halloween. She wore a molded bodysuit (if you can even call it that) which featured a heart and finger that lit up on command and movable eyes.
“I usually start planning my Halloween costumes years in advance,” Monáe told Vogue. “Since the movie came out 42 years ago, I thought it could be cool for the world to see what E.T. has been up to now. What kinda things is E.T. into now?”
Unlike the average person’s Halloween, celebrities thinking up the same costumes as one another is a literal nightmare scenario. Especially considering the fact that both Klum and Monáe spent years building their respective outfits with professional teams. They’re not just running to the Party City down the road and putting something on. One look at the laundry list of credits underneath Monáe’s Instagram post will key you in on how much of a production this all was.
Now, the public can decide who wore it better. But perhaps in the future these two Halloween Queens can consult one another to avoid another mishap.
