Heidi Klum has spent more than two decades making Halloween increasingly difficult for anyone hoping to compete with her. After transforming herself into a giant worm, an elaborate peacock and even E.T., the supermodel is already teasing another extraordinary costume for 2026.

The question is no longer whether Heidi Klum's Halloween costume will be impressive. It is how she intends to surpass a collection of transformations that have involved hours of prosthetic work, teams of special-effects artists and, on one particularly memorable occasion, crawling around on the floor.

For Klum, Halloween has become something closer to an annual Hollywood production than an excuse to wear a costume. And with another transformation apparently on the horizon, expectations are hardly getting smaller.

From Jessica Rabbit to a giant worm

Klum's Halloween history reads like a catalogue of increasingly ambitious special-effects experiments.

Over the years, she has transformed herself into Jessica Rabbit, Princess Fiona from Shrek, an elderly version of herself, E.T. and Medusa. Each transformation has demonstrated her willingness to abandon conventional glamour in favour of elaborate character design.

But her 2022 costume remains one of the most unusual examples of that commitment.

Rather than arriving as a glamorous fictional character or a recognisable celebrity, Klum appeared as an enormous earthworm.

The costume reportedly required more than 14 hours of preparation, transforming the model into a remarkably convincing oversized invertebrate.

She did not simply pose for photographs and call it a night, either. Klum wriggled along the carpet and conducted interviews while lying on the floor, fully embracing the practical limitations of her chosen appearance.

It was a peculiar spectacle, even by celebrity Halloween standards. Most people spend the evening trying to look their best. Klum had spent much of a day ensuring she looked like something discovered beneath a garden shed.

The peacock costume turned Halloween into a group performance

By 2023, Klum had found another way to expand the scale of her annual Halloween appearance.

Her peacock costume incorporated an entire team of performers, whose bodies formed the bird's elaborate feathers.

Instead of relying exclusively on prosthetics and costume construction, the transformation became a coordinated group performance.

The result demonstrated how far Klum was prepared to stretch the definition of a Halloween outfit. She was no longer simply dressing as a character; she was building an entire visual production around one.

Her subsequent E.T. transformation continued that emphasis on technical complexity, reportedly involving dozens of special-effects artists.

Both costumes illustrated the same approach: Klum treats Halloween as an opportunity to create something visually unexpected, regardless of how complicated the execution might become.

Why Heidi Klum's Halloween costumes have become an annual spectacle

Part of the appeal lies in the unpredictability of her choices.

A supermodel appearing as Jessica Rabbit might seem relatively straightforward. Becoming an elderly version of herself, a giant worm or an extraterrestrial creature is considerably less conventional.

Klum's willingness to make herself almost unrecognisable has become a defining feature of her Halloween appearances.

There is also a clear progression in the scale of the productions. The worm required extensive preparation and physical commitment. The peacock relied on multiple performers. E.T. brought together a substantial special-effects team.

Each offered a different interpretation of what an elaborate costume could achieve.

In my view, the most interesting aspect of Klum's Halloween tradition is that she has largely abandoned the obvious celebrity advantage of looking glamorous. The worm costume is perhaps the clearest example: it was cumbersome, strange and entirely impractical, yet that commitment made it memorable. The growing scale of her productions may eventually make genuine surprises harder to deliver, but her willingness to choose unusual concepts remains more compelling than the sheer amount of work involved.

What is Heidi Klum planning for Halloween 2026?

With Halloween 2026 approaching, Klum is already teasing another transformation that could surprise audiences.

However, the available information does not establish what the costume will be, which character or creature she might portray, or how elaborate the finished creation will become.

That uncertainty is part of the anticipation surrounding her annual appearances.

After more than two decades of increasingly ambitious costumes, Klum has created a situation in which audiences expect something extraordinary before they have even seen the first photograph.

There is an obvious challenge in maintaining that reputation. A costume that might once have attracted considerable attention could now seem relatively modest compared with an earthworm requiring more than half a day of preparation or a peacock assembled from human performers.

Yet bigger does not necessarily mean better. The success of Klum's previous transformations has depended as much on the originality of the concept as on the technical effort behind it.

For now, the identity of her 2026 costume remains a mystery. The eventual reveal will show whether she has found another unexpected direction for a tradition that has already taken her from animated characters to extraterrestrials and garden wildlife.

At this stage, appearing at Halloween dressed as an ordinary witch might be her most unexpected transformation yet.