Every October 31, celebrities dress up for Halloween, much to the delight of children and, above all, their followers. These festivities, which are particularly popular across the Atlantic, give rise to all kinds of daring outfits. This year, monsters and slashers rub shoulders with pop culture figures, with a return to favor for peplum and a heartfelt tribute to iconic music videos from the 1990s and 2000s.
Halloween offers a perfect opportunity to take on a more or less nightmarish role. Alongside the timeless Frankenstein, SOS Fantome, Daphne (Scooby-Doo), Cruella de Vil, Leeloo (Milla Jovovich in the movie The Fifth Element) and other Incredibles, the 2025 vintage of celebrity costumes pulls no punches.
Some even dare to pay more or less tasteful tributes to David Bowie (Ziggy Stardust period), Jackie Kennedy after the Dallas assassination, or Lady Diana.
But this year, music videos are also an endless source of inspiration, whether they feature Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, or Britney Spears.
Heidi Klum as Medusa
The supermodel of the 1990s and 2000s, now a TV presenter, is also a big fan of costumes. Every year for the past 24 years, the evening of October 31 has proven that the 52-year-old star still deserves her title of “Queen of Halloween”. After surprising and terrifying everyone as a giant worm, here she is alongside her husband as Medusa. This mythological figure with snake hair—which has become the emblem of Versace—has the power to turn anyone who dares to look at her into a stone statue. Her lizard-skin-textured outfit was hand-painted by fifteen makeup artists under the direction, once again, of Oscar-nominated Mike Marino. It took six months of work, with every detail counting: from the hair studded with independently functioning mechanical snakes to the forked tongue. Tom Kaulitz, her husband, magnificently portrayed a Perseus too distracted to protect himself and turned to stone. The choice of theme by Heidi Klum and her husband echoes the excitement surrounding Christopher Nolan’s film adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey, scheduled for release on July 16, 2026.
Paris Hilton as Britney Spears
The DJ, businesswoman, and media personality slipped into the red latex bodysuit from Britney Spears’ “Oops!… I Did It Again” music video, released in 2000. This proves the pop star’s continued relevance at a time when her ex-partner, dancer Kevin Federline, is releasing a shocking book about the singer’s bipolar disorder. The star of the reality TV show “A Simple Life” also dressed up as Tinker Bell, sporting a much greener hue for the occasion.
Meagan Good as Nefertiti
Actress Meagan Good delighted those nostalgic for the 1990s. With her husband Jonathan Majors, she re-enacted the legendary pharaonic couple of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. They opted for the mixed-race version proposed by Michael Jackson for “Remember The Time,” a track from his album Dangerous. In the 9-minute music video set in a palace in Ancient Egypt, the royal couple was played by actor Eddie Murphy and supermodel Iman. It was a way of building momentum for the release in April 2026 of the biopic dedicated to the King of Pop.
Mariah Carey as a Japanese Lolita
Before kicking off the Christmas season for the 31st time with her evergreen hit “All I Want For Christmas is You”, the R&B and pop diva, who returned to the spotlight in September with Here For It All, her new album, chose to play a Japanese Lolita. Typical of Tokyo’s Harajuku district, her outfit resembled that of a shepherdess with rococo accents.
Ed Sheeran as an evil clown
Who said that Ed Sheeran was primarily a singer for teenage girls? For this Halloween edition, he dared to play a counter-intuitive role, in line with his 2021 music video Bad Habits, inspired by Michael Jackson’s Thriller, in which he played a vampire. Here, he plays the Dancing Clown or Robert “Bob” Gray, a fictional character from the novel It written by Stephen King and adapted for the cinema in 2017.
Doja Cat as a mime
The singer and rapper proved she could handle the hip-hop feature herself in Jealous Type, her latest 80s-inspired hit from her album Vie, in French in the lyrics. This year, she naturally opted for the costume of a French archetype, with a striped shirt, a beret, and the Eiffel Tower in the background. It’s a role that’s completely out of character for a singer: a mime. It’s also an opportunity to remind us that in a world of noise and information overload, the most obvious luxury remains silence.
Kourtney Kardashian as Frankenstein’s bride
Following in the footsteps of her half-sister Kylie Jenner, who opted for the same costume in 2022, Kourtney Kardashian chose to embody Frankenstein’s bride. It was a way of honoring the release of Guillermo del Toro’s film adaptation of Mary Shelley’s seminal work.
Justin Bieber, Hailee Bieber, and their son as the Incredibles
The Bieber family dressed up as characters from the Pixar animated film The Incredibles (2004). Justin Bieber donned the costume of Mr. Incredible, his wife Hailey that of Elastigirl, while their son Jack opted for the natural choice of Jack Jack.
Lizzo as a mozzarella stick
Dieticians and other critics of gourmet pleasures, beware! In the midst of the raclette party season, Lizzo, the totally uninhibited plus-size singer, chose to dress up as a mozzarella stick dripping with cheese. A literal way of embodying the purely American expression “cheesy” in the sense of corny, tacky, or dripping.
Elsa Hosk as Lady Diana
The model and one of the angels of the Victoria’s Secret fashion show chose to evoke the memory of the Princess of Wales with a typically Halloween-esque outfit: the revenge dress. An ultra-short black sheath dress with bare shoulders and a plunging neckline that the “People’s Princess” deliberately chose to wear in June 1994 at the annual charity event hosted by Vanity Fair at the Serpentine Gallery in London. A media event that took place two years after her breakup with Prince Charles.
Read also > Frankenstein, a monster of flesh and fear turned pop culture phenomenon
Featured photo: Heidi Klum dressed as Medusa © Getty Images
