Heidi Klum arrived at her Halloween party on Saturday, October 31, dressed as a giant severed hand. The enormous prosthetic costume was modeled on her own left hand, down to details that made the grisly creation unmistakably personal.
The 53-year-old model unveiled the look at Cathédrale in Manhattan, where she hosted the 25th edition of her annual Halloween celebration. Almost her entire body was concealed inside the costume.
The reveal ended a week of clues that had sent fans searching for familiar horror characters. Some guessed she was taking inspiration from Stranger Things or The Substance, according to Just Jared.
Klum introduced the finished transformation on Instagram with the caption “TALK TO THE HAND,” sharing a reveal video after posting close-up glimpses of the prosthetics and makeup involved.
Heidi Klum’s Severed Hand Costume Took Five to Six Hours to Put On
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Only Klum’s eyes and mouth remained visible within the fleshy design. The oversized fingers had long red nails, while the severed wrist ended in exposed bone and dangling, bloody-looking tissue.
Helpers wearing protective suits accompanied her entrance. Some of their outfits were splattered with fake blood, extending the effect beyond the costume itself.
According to The Associated Press, Klum needed approximately five to six hours to get into the finished creation before attending the party. That preparation time came after the much longer process of designing and building it.
Once she was dressed, the weight presented another challenge. “Hands down, the hardest thing is carrying it,” she said. “It’s quite heavy.”
The Hand Included Her Wedding Rings and a Tattoo Honoring Tom Kaulitz
The special-effects team reproduced Klum’s engagement ring, wedding band and thumb ring, turning her everyday jewelry into oversized accessories. The design also carried the small tattoo of her husband Tom Kaulitz’s name on her ring finger.
Kaulitz, the Tokio Hotel guitarist, could not join her at this year’s celebration because he was on tour. Klum pointed to the tattoo as a way of including him in the evening despite his absence.
“A little bit of Tom is with me,” she told AP.
The likeness extended beyond those recognizable accessories. Her palm lines, veins and skin texture were incorporated into the hand, giving the team individual features to reproduce alongside its larger anatomical structure.
Mike Marino’s Team Spent Four Months Building the Costume
Klum had already proposed the giant hand before unveiling her Medusa costume in 2025. She told Vogue that special-effects artist Mike Marino told her he needed to focus on finishing that year’s look, but the hand remained an idea she wanted to pursue.
Marino and his ProRenFX team used existing scans of Klum’s body to help create the replica. Their work combined sculpting, molding and engineering, with the costume’s proportions needing to accommodate the person inside.
The challenge was making the hand large enough to have the effect Klum wanted while allowing her to wear it and move around. Its fingers and palm had to function as a costume as well as a convincing enlarged body part.
Marino told PEOPLE that construction took four months after a year of brainstorming. He initially doubted the difficult design could work before he and his team figured out how to realize it.
Her 2025 Medusa Look Followed Costumes Including a Worm and E.T.
Klum’s recent Halloween appearances have included a worm in 2022, a giant peacock in 2023 and E.T. in 2024. Each involved an elaborate transformation that concealed much of her familiar appearance.
In 2025, she became Medusa with extensive green prosthetics and a snake-covered headpiece. Kaulitz joined her as a figure turned to stone, making their costumes part of the same mythological scene.
Klum told Vogue that her planning rarely stops when Halloween ends. November 1 is usually when she begins thinking about the following year.