"When I moved to America, I immediately fell in love with Halloween and the spookiness of it. All that was missing was a fantastic party. It felt like a real opportunity for me."
Heidi Klum wasn't lying when she described her feelings towards the scariest day of the year during a 2018 interview with The Hollywood Reporter. For the last two decades, the model has capitalized on that opportunity in a big way by hosting an annual gathering for Hollywood's elite ghouls and gals. And thanks to her jaw-dropping costumes, each one more intricate than the last, she's secured herself the undisputed title of Queen of Halloween.
"By me doing crazy, elaborate outfits as the host, my hope had always been that all my guests would follow. And it's worked because, over the years, people have become increasingly more outrageous with their costumes," the America's Got Talent judge explained. "The party has become almost legendary. It's epic. I feel like my love for Halloween has made other people fall in love with the holiday, too."
In any other year, Klum would likely be putting the finishing touches on this holiday's big reveal right about now—an idea she'd no doubt have been working on since the minute her party ended back in the wee hours of Nov. 1. And yet, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, this is no ordinary year. Like the rest of 2020, Klum's Halloween is going to look a little bit different.
"For the first year in a long time I am not hosting my annual party," she told THR in late October, "but that does not mean that we can't be creative and celebrate." To that end, she shared that her plans for All Hallows' Eve will involve a marathon of classic horror films, festive family projects and, of course, a costume reveal on social media.
"What is most important is to spend time with family and do fun projects together," Klum said. "As my good friend and makeup artist Bill Corso said, 'A little powder and a little paint makes you what you ain't,' so let's all powder, paint, stay safe and escape."
While we wait to see what Klum has safely up her sleeve this year, take a look back at every costume she's rocked since hosting her first party all the way back in 2000!
2023
Heidi Klum was proud as a peacock on the red carpet of her annual party, enlisting 10 people to dress as her beautiful tail feathers and claws.
Happy Halloworm from Heidi! While hosting her 21st annual Halloween party presented by Now Screaming X Prime Video and Baileys Irish Cream Liqueur, the America's Got Talent judge debuted her worm costume.
After enjoying a night at Sake No Hana, Heidi changed into a nude sheer bedazzled jumpsuit.
"Halloween is different this year," the reality TV star wrote on Instagram amid the coronavirus pandemic, "but that shouldn't stop us from getting creative at home."
Heidi channeled a creepy mummy for her Halloween short video. It marked one of her many spooky looks in the five-minute clip.
Heidi blended into her walls with this clever costume in 2020.
Heidi, are you there? The model was hard to spot, as she perfectly matched the blue and black-streaked bedsheets.
The star's costume was truly out of this world when she turned herself into a gory alien.
The supermodel transformed into everyone's favorite green princess, Fiona, from Shrek. An idea she'd been dreaming about for awhile, "I just never found a crazy enough person that wants to do Shrek with me," she told People. Enter: husband Tom Kaulitz.
The America's Got Talent judge had a hair-raising good time dressed up as the werewolf from Michael Jackson's "Thriller" music video. "I wanted to do the 'Thriller' dance," she explained.
Instead of channeling someone else for the spooky season, the fashion expert opted to clone herself five times with the help of prosthetics and some fabulous wigs.
Heidi who? The former Project Runway host answered only to Jessica Rabbit.
"They said, 'Are you really in there Mama?'" she told E! News about her children's reaction to her incredible metamorphosis into a butterfly.
When describing her kids' responses to this elderly get-up, the star told E! News, "The one time that I [looked] like me but older, they were scared."
Heidi gave Elizabeth Taylor a run for her money with this chic Cleopatra costume.
Klum's seen here with ex-husband Seal at a time when they were presumably quite a bit more bananas about one another.
The former Victoria's Secret Angel looked like she hopped right out of an anatomy textbook. She hosted two parties that year, debuting this look on Oct. 29 in Las Vegas.
The model is tall, but not that tall. Heidi wore stilts to make this robot monstrosity more menacing.
Little known fact about crows: a group of them is called a murder. Perhaps that's why the model chose the bird for her haunting costume. Distressed to discover the step-and-repeat was black, "Now I work on the background, too," she told People. "Since then, I do the step-and-repeat, the carpet, everything."
2008
Heidi's costume as the Hindu goddess of death and time, Kali, has since divided the internet.
Heidi's ferocious feline doesn't hold a creepy candle to the CGI in Cats.
She's the apple of our eye in this costume, which was inspired by the biblical tale of Eve and the forbidden fruit.
Eat your heart out—literally!
Not all witches wear black, you know? In fact, this witch had a lacy costume that included a fake skeleton that she got a medical supply store.
Gladiator goddess or sci-fi dream? Either way, this vivacious look goes down as one of her best.
The former Victoria's Secret model was red hot, as she channeled the iconic Betty Boop.
In her second year hosting, the star went full Lady Godiva—horse and all!
While the model's looks have become a lot more elaborate, for her very first party she was just Heidi (as in the character from Johanna Spyri’s German novels), choosing to dress up in a dirndl "but not a tradtional dirndl," she told People. "And in those days I still did my hair and makeup by myself."