The Heidi Klum Halloween party marked its 25th edition on October 31 with the host dressed as a giant severed version of her own left hand. Klum arrived at Cathedrale in New York City inside the oversized costume, which showed exposed bones and a bloody wound at the wrist. Her face appeared beside the gash, the one clear sign of who was inside. Guests and photographers needed a moment to pick her out among the fingers, the rings and the painted nails.
The party has run for 25 years, and Klum has built a record of elaborate costumes that hide her almost completely. The Heidi Klum Halloween party has made the reveal itself part of the draw. This year she went further than a mask or prosthetics. She turned her whole body into a single body part, scaled up to a size that filled the red carpet. The effect was plain from the first photographs: a hand, bloodied at the wrist, with a face tucked beside it.
Heidi Klum Halloween costume built as a giant hand
Klum created the costume with Mike Marino, her longtime collaborator on special effects makeup. Her legs became two of the fingers, finished with red painted nails. Gold rings added a dressier touch to the gore. A re-creation of her wedding ring from her husband, Tom Kaulitz, sat among them, a personal detail inside an otherwise gruesome design.
The Heidi Klum Halloween costume was built around a single idea: her own left hand. On the carpet, Klum gave a short explanation for the choice. “My left hand inspired me,” she said. The costume stayed faithful to the anatomy of a hand while pushing it to an absurd scale. The wrist wound, the exposed bone and the painted nails all came from that single starting point.
The arrival itself was staged to match the costume. Helpers dressed in yellow hazmat suits and face masks escorted Klum down the carpet, a touch that made the entrance read as part crime scene and part fashion presentation. Klum has long treated the entrance as part of the costume, and the hazmat suits kept that pattern going for the anniversary edition.
Heidi Klum Halloween guests at Cathedrale
Inside Cathedrale, the guest list covered music, television, film and fashion. Questlove, Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka attended, along with Andrew Rannells, Madelaine Petsch and Tramell Tillman. Paris Jackson, Taylor Momsen, Madison Bailey, Lux Pascal and Offset were also among the guests. Ice-T and Coco, Eric McCormack, Carolyn Murphy, Karen Mulder and Valentina Sampaio joined the celebration as well.
The Heidi Klum Halloween guest list changes each year, but the host’s own reveal remains the center of the night. For the anniversary edition, Klum reunited with Tao Group Hospitality, a partner in her Halloween celebrations for more than two decades. Cathedrale, its French-inspired restaurant at Moxy East Village, served as the setting for the evening. The room held a crowd of recognizable faces, while the host herself stayed hard to recognize inside the costume.
That contrast has become a regular part of the night. The room can be packed with famous guests, but the person everyone came to see makes it her work to be almost impossible to spot. The 2026 costume kept that idea going, with only her face beside the wrist wound giving her away.
Heidi Klum Halloween sponsors and drinks
The drinks followed the host’s lead. Presenting partner Apothic served its Apothic Red alongside limited edition Apothic x Heidi Klum Type A Blood Bags, a macabre tie to the severed hand theme. Dos Equis, the official beer of the evening, served Lager Especial with a “Naked or Dressed” offering, and the brand’s Most Interesting Man in the World made an appearance at the party.
The Heidi Klum Halloween sponsors returned in force for the anniversary year. Butterfinger returned as a title sponsor for the third consecutive year. The brand brought back the Butterfinger-Tini along with its classic candy offerings. The partnership had also extended past the guest list during October, when fans could order a limited time Heidi Klum Halloween Butterfinger Pizza at Crazy Pizza’s New York City location.
The sponsors, the venue and the guest list all pointed back to the same anniversary. The Heidi Klum Halloween tradition now spans a quarter century. Twenty-five years of the party have turned it into one of the most scrutinized costume nights of the year, with each edition judged against the last. Klum answered that pressure in 2026 by removing herself from view almost entirely and letting a giant version of her own left hand take her place. The 2026 party was the 25th edition of the annual event.