How Heidi Klum Transformed Into E.T. for Halloween

The model and television host dressed as the alien from Steven Spielberg’s 1982 film for her annual New York City costume party.

This Halloween, Heidi Klum is wearing an adult diaper.

It’s a first for her, the model and former “Project Runway” host said.

Ms. Klum, who has become known for her elaborate Halloween costumes, transformed into the character E.T. this year for her annual bash held at the Hard Rock Hotel in New York City.

The costume, inspired by the alien from Steven Spielberg’s 1982 film “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,” included a glowing fingertip and motorized headpiece with a movable mouth and eyes, controlled remotely by a member of Ms. Klum’s team. The red carpet was also built several feet in the air, so when Ms. Klum stood on the ground behind it, her brown, knobby, otherworldly toes appeared to be on the floor.

“Maybe I never need to use the diaper, but at least that way I don’t have to think about it,” Ms. Klum said, explaining that the look, is difficult to put on and take off.

The idea for the costume came to Ms. Klum a few weeks after last year’s event, she said, explaining that “E.T.” was one of her favorite movies as a child. (Coincidentally, Janelle Monáe, another celebrity with a fondness for Halloween, also dressed as E.T. this year.)

“They have no genitals,” Ms. Klum said of the aliens in Mr. Spielberg’s movie. “I like the whole idea of, like, we’re all the same.”

One of Ms. Klum’s last fittings was held Wednesday afternoon in a suite at the Hard Rock Hotel in Midtown. Bright stage lights flanked the space, which was full of tables covered in various paints, fake eyelashes and padding for Ms. Klum’s stomach. The song “The Purple People Eater” played over a speaker.

As a team fluttered around her, prepping pieces of her costume, a woman with a rainbow mohawk held a flap of fake skin that would be applied to Ms. Klum’s face. It was molded and textured to look rough and wrinkled but was surprisingly soft and smooth.

The team studied the film closely for reference. Printed stills from the movie were displayed next to bottles of baby powder and K-Y jelly used for the costuming process.

As preparations continued, several people, including the costume’s designer, Mike Marino, worked to secure Ms. Klum’s robotic headpiece, gluing it into place and speeding the drying process with blow dryers.

“This is very high-tech,” Ms. Klum said, laughing.

Nearby, the finishing touches of Ms. Klum’s costume, a top hat and wig, rested on a stand. Asked what the wig was made of, Ms. Klum grabbed strands and pulled them into her nose and mouth.

“That’s real,” she said. (The wig is a combination of synthetic and human hair, her team explained later.)

Ms. Klum’s husband, the German musician Tom Kaulitz, also dressed as E.T. for the event. The suits were designed using 3-D printing, Mr. Marino said. A zippered seam runs from the top of the head down to the midpoint of the spine.

Once Ms. Klum shimmied inside, the team zipped her in and covered the entire costume using more fake skin pieces, glue and airbrush makeup to make the look appear seamless.

Mr. Marino and Ms. Klum have collaborated on many of her famed costumes over the years, perhaps most notably in 2022 when Ms. Klum dressed as a hyper-realistic, oversize worm — the stuff of viral nightmares. Other costumes have included a shiny purple and red robot in 2010; an ape in 2011; an aged-up version of herself in 2013; the werewolf from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video in 2017; and Princess Fiona, the ogress from Shrek, in 2018.

Last year, Ms. Klum’s costume, a glitzy peacock, came complete with a troupe of 10 Cirque du Soleil performers who staged an acrobatic performance on the red carpet, lifting Ms. Klum into the air to form the bird’s face.

Callie Holtermann contributed reporting.