Watch: Heidi Klum Outdoes All Her Halloween Costumes in Stone Statue Look at Met Gala 2026
Wait, what day is it?
Because we could’ve sworn it was May 4, the day of the 2026 Met Gala. But then Heidi Klum showed up, having gone all out for the night’s theme, “Costume Art,” as if it were Halloween, her favorite holiday.
Let’s just say, the model took the “Fashion Is Art” dress code literally, looking unrecognizable as a living sculpture in a custom look by Mike Marino. (See all the looks on the Met Gala 2026 steps.)
According to the designer, her antique plaster-colored ensemble was inspired by classical works like the “Veiled Christ” by Giuseppe Sammartino, dating back to 1753, and the “Veiled Vestal” by Raffaele Monti, which was completed in 1847. Materials including latex and spandex gave the illusion of carved stone while allowing for movement.
“The result is a dress that blurs the line between sculpture and fashion,” a press release said, “rooted in traditional garment-making, but elevated through texture, technique and illusion.”
It also, incidentally, blurred the line between the first Monday in May and the last day of October.
But avant garde-ness of it all aside, really this is vintage Klum, the 52-year-old Project Runway host absolutely loving an occasion where she can render her photogenic features unrecognizable with the help of prosthetics and heavy makeup.
Mike Coppola/Getty Images
At her famed annual NYC Halloween party in October, she channeled Medusa—a five-month project—while husband Tom Kaulitz went as a warrior who fell prey to her stone-cold glare.
Still, Klum has been attending the Met Gala since 2003 and never before has she dived head-first into the theme in quite this way. Last year, for instance, she was far more subtle about embracing the menswear aesthetic of the theme , “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” though she was all about the dress code, “Tailored for You,” in custom Vetements.
“It is very simple in a way,” Klum acknowledged to E!’s Zuri Hall in 2025. “Because it is the fabric that normally suits are being tailored from.”
“It’s actually very old fabric from 1798,” she added, explaining that the fabric manufacturer has been “dressing the Pope and everyone from the Vatican since then” and using the same type of fabric for centuries.
But artists have been chiseling stones for millennia.
See more of the walking works of art on display at the 2026 Met Gala:
Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Photo by Julian Hamilton/Getty Images
David Fisher/Shutterstock
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Matt Crossick/PA Images via Getty Images
Matt Baron/Shutterstock
Mike Coppola/Getty Images
David Fisher/Shutterstock
David Fisher/Shutterstock
Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Theo Wargo/FilmMagic
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Photo by Kevin Mazur/MG26/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
John Salangsang/Shutterstock
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Matt Baron/Shutterstock
Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
