Heidi Klum Becomes a Giant Severed Hand for Her 25th Halloween Party in New York

Heidi Klum arrived at her 25th annual Halloween party in New York City on Saturday, Oct. 31, dressed as a giant, bloodied severed hand modeled on her own left hand. The supermodel and "Project Runway" host unveiled the costume at Cathédrale Restaurant at Moxy East Village, where the event was presented by Apothic and Butterfinger, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The Hollywood Reporter said Klum arrived in a truck covered in red "danger" signs and was helped to the ground by actors in yellow hazmat suits. Her face sat at the center of the hand, above a bloody wrist, while the fingers carried rings and a fresh manicure. The outlet noted that she appeared without her husband, Tom Kaulitz, who has dressed up alongside her in recent years.

A replica of her own left hand

Klum told E! News on the red carpet that the idea came from looking at her own hand. "Literally, my left hand inspired me," she said, explaining that she wondered how her body could fit inside it, with her two legs serving as fingers and her body in the palm. E! News reported that it took her six hours to get ready on Oct. 31 and that her team had worked for months on the prosthetics, which Klum summed up as "Many hands doing this hand."

The costume reproduced personal details, according to E! News, including a green stone wedding ring and a finger tattoo reading "Tom" in honor of Kaulitz. "I got it on our wedding day," Klum said of the tattoo. She also explained the red nail polish: "I do like red nails," she said, adding, "I think a red nail just pops, you know, on the red carpet."

Speaking to reporters at the event, Klum said, "It took a lot of hands putting this hand together," and estimated the number at "I think about 10 or 20 hands," the BBC reported. She told the broadcaster, "I always try to come up with something unusual and I don't think I've seen an actual person walking around like a hand. I thought that was something new and different."

A year in the making

In an interview with Vogue hours before the party, Klum said she began developing the concept about a year ago, before her 2025 party, when she dressed as Medusa. She said she first pitched it to her costume designer, Mike Marino, who told her he needed to focus on Medusa first.

"Some of the most interesting ideas come from the most ordinary things," Klum told Vogue. Marino led the work with his ProRenFX team, the magazine reported, using existing scans of Klum's body. "[Mike] has all of these scans of my body, so he was able to use those to create an exact replica of my hand," she said. "We even recreated my engagement ring and wedding band, as well as the little tattoo on my finger."

Marino, who won an Emmy for his work on "The Penguin," had said in a recent interview that "this costume this year is one of the most elaborate costumes ever made. It's so difficult to do and just the complication of it is really challenging," The Hollywood Reporter noted. Klum had told People earlier this year that the look would be "very, very bloody" and "goes very well with red wine." She partnered with Apothic Wines on limited-edition Apothic x Heidi Klum Type 'A' Blood Bags, a Halloween collectible that was also served at the party, according to the trade publication.

E! News reported that Klum, 53, had teased the look on Instagram on Saturday, Oct. 24, one week before the event. The Hollywood Reporter said she also posted glimpses throughout Halloween day and invited followers to guess what she would become.

A 25th anniversary party

"This year is especially exciting because it's the 25th anniversary of my Halloween party," Klum told Vogue. Deadline noted that the party has run for 27 years but skipped two years during the COVID pandemic. According to Variety, Klum's past costumes include E.T., Fiona from "Shrek," Jessica Rabbit and the werewolf from Michael Jackson's "Thriller," as well as a peacock, a worm and a butterfly. At last year's party she dressed as Medusa, while Kaulitz went as an ancient Greek soldier she had turned to stone.

Deadline listed Kyle MacLachlan, Questlove, Andrew Rannells and Eric McCormack among this year's guests. E! News reported that Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka dressed as the twins from "The Shining," and that MacLachlan, attending with his wife, Desiree Gruber, appeared as Cliff Vandercave from his 1994 film "The Flintstones." Klum's children Leni Klum, Johan Samuel and Lou Samuel walked the red carpet together, according to the outlet.

Other costumes reported by E! News included Ice-T as a burglar alongside Coco Austin as a cat burglar, and James Charles as Yzma from "The Emperor's New Groove," a look he said took seven and a half hours. Taylor Momsen, who told the outlet she has toured with AC/DC for the past three years, said, "I'm Angus Young tonight." Model Karen Mulder dressed as Karl Lagerfeld in the late designer's own clothing. "These are his actual clothes, and these are his actual sunglasses as well," she said. The BBC reported that singer Jade Thirlwall attended as a stone angel statue and that actor Tramell Tillman wore intricate face makeup and prosthetics.

Klum told Vogue that her planning cycle restarts as soon as the party ends. "November 1 is also when I start thinking about next year," she said.