Why Heidi Klum Went As Michael Jackson For Halloween

Original Michael Jackson Thriller werewolf

Heidi Klum is the queen of Halloween. The former Victoria's Secret Angel sets the bar high each year with a brilliant new costume idea for her annual Halloween event. This year, Klum dressed up as the werewolf from the scary movie within Michael Jackson's "Thriller" music video. According to Klum, she chose to go with MJ because she wanted to try her hand at an iconic costume. Klum explained,

Michael Jackson was always such an icon, and the 'Thriller' video is such an iconic video, and I was like, 'I have to redo that.'

The 44-year-old supermodel looked "thrilling" in her costume when she arrived at Magic Hour Rooftop Bar & Lounge for her 18th Annual Halloween Party. However, the final look was just part of the fun. Heidi Klum told People the entire process to get her ready took seven hours with the help of a professional special effects make-up team. Klum found it hard to wear the contact lenses that completed the werewolf look. She revealed it took a few tries to get them in because she does not wear contacts in everyday life. But in the end, Klum's execution of the costume was perfect and super scary, which she previously said was her goal after going "imaginative" instead of "spooky" with her costume last year. Let's recap her creative process starting with the final product:

As you see in the gif, Heidi Klum went all the way with the costume, complete with the 1980s high-schooler outfit. It looked spot-on from the jeans to the shoes to the varsity jacket. In fact, Klum even surrounded herself with a throng of zombies, just like Michael Jackson in "Thriller." It was not the first time Klum involved other people in her Halloween costume plan. Last year, she went as clones of herself by hiring lookalikes, styling them like her, and having them walk with her at the party. Something you cannot see in the GIF is the detail in Klum's werewolf face. Luckily, Klum tweeted a close up to show off the hard work of her team from studio ProRenFX:

Before Heidi Klum revealed her full MJ werewolf appearance, she took her fans and followers on a fun journey of sneak peeks to see the makeup artists at work. For example, she tweeted a clip of one artist applying the finishing touches to Klum's evil eyes. Similarly, here is Heidi Klum with the "Thriller" werewolf's teeth and horns. At this point, it still was not clear what she planned to be:

Apparently, the horns were one of the first things to go on after Heidi Klum had washed her face and announced to her social media followers she was going to "get the party started." It is fascinating to compare the final result with this next picture of the America's Got Talent judge wearing only the first headpiece. It shows how the horns were buried into the look but still played such an important part. The makeup artists are geniuses:

In past years, Heidi Klum has owned Halloween with costumes like Jessica Rabbit, Cleopatra, a butterfly, the Hindu god Kali, an elderly version of herself, and a human body without skin. The looks have always been iconic, which was Klum's goal this year, but this Michael Jackson werewolf costume certainly is near the top of the list of the best efforts. (In my opinion, the Jessica Rabbit costume was Klum's best.) Hopefully, she keeps having fun with Halloween for years to come.