As an avid Halloween lover, there’s always one thing I look forward to most on the spooky holiday; it isn’t the parties, or candy or hayrides, although I enjoy those things. It’s Heidi Klum’s outrageously cool and unique costumes. I remember the first time I saw her and her partner in 2011 as realistic apes. I was sitting on the couch with my mom watching Hollywood Access or E-News or one of those programs when two human-sized monkeys on a red carpet appeared on the screen. I’ve been hooked ever since. She never has the same costume as someone else, and you can almost never recognize her.
I didn’t realize it then, but I think my favorite part of her costumes are how unsexy they are. In this instance, it’s not about the sex appeal. It’s the unpredictability, shock factor and sometimes creepiness. That this woman who’s been in Playboy, Sports Illustrated and Victoria’s Secret takes possibly the most universally sex-positive time of the year when it’s almost expected for feminine presenting people to wear as little as possible, and she allows it to show more parts of herself.
We’re all familiar with the iconic monologue from Mean Girls where protagonist Cady defines Halloween as “…the one night a year when a girl can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it.” There’s been great progress in social acceptability when it comes to sexual expression, but before that was true, Halloween was a huge outlet people could use as a way to show how they really feel to the world.
Something about a communal agreement that there’s no such thing as a skirt that’s too short, or a top that’s too low on this one night a year is almost… beautiful? Obviously, this is nowhere near the epitome of inclusivity, however, it’s a big step to one day achieving a future world where we don’t slut shame someone just for what they’re wearing 365 days of the year, instead of just one night.
So as some utilize the holiday as a chance to express their sexuality, others use it to demonstrate traits such as their creativity; sometimes the two are simultaneous. It’s been seen more than once in the film industry where the wanna-be cool girl protagonist shows up to a costume party as an outcast due to a lack of sex appeal in their outfit. This is particularly relevant at the beginning of Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging when the young main character, Georgia Nicholson, shows up to a party dressed as a massive stuffed cocktail olive, while everyone else is some version of a sexy something.
Or we can look at when Cady from “Mean Girls” goes to her first high school party as a terrifying “ex-wife” covered in blood. Both of these costumes were intricate, clever and appeared pretty time-consuming. Also, when thinking of “embarrassing” costume scenes, Elle Woods can never be forgotten. When Elle showed up to a regular Harvard hang-out in her sexy pink bunny costume and totally owned it, the world shifted for good. The point is, no matter the costume, hot or funny or scary, as long as you love it, you are meant to wear it.
Every year on October 31st we have the opportunity to see a new side of a person. Heidi has shown us that she can be creepy, funny, weird, and above all, creative. From being a zombie doll in 2000 to a gigantic worm on a hook in 2022, Heidi has uncovered many sides of herself. She is a confirmation that it’s okay to be sexy, and it’s okay to be unsexy. Both the femme presenting people who take the hotter route and the Cady’s, Georgia’s and Heidi Klum’s of the Halloween world should be applauded for wearing what they want and demonstrating different parts of their identity. Hopefully one day, every day will feel like Halloween in that way.