Not a Costume, a Calling: How the Angels Turned Halloween Into the Show’s Encore

6 min read

What’s Hot · Nightlife Report · our reporting · November 1, 2026

The Victoria’s Secret show ended on Oct. 18. Halloween is when it kept going. Two weeks after the runway, the wings came back out, on a supermodel’s own body, on a best friend’s mirror selfie, on a fan-made catalog cover the brand itself applauded. Here is who wore what, who paid for the parties, and the pattern nobody else is naming.

Nightlife Report · our reporting · November 1, 2026

The Top 5

1. Heidi Klum came to her own 25th party as a giant severed hand, wedding ring included. (AP)
2. Karen Mulder, the first model ever to wear the VS wings, dressed as Karl Lagerfeld in his own clothes. (E! News)
3. New mom Barbara Palvin and Dylan Sprouse went as Oogie Boogie and Jack Skellington. (Teen Vogue)
4. Kendall Jenner and Jacob Elordi made their couple-costume debut as Paris, Texas’s Jane and Travis. (Elle)
5. Anthony Vaccarello is officially leaving Saint Laurent after ten years. (Harper’s Bazaar)

1. What the Angels and
supermodels wore

• Heidi Klum became her own severed hand. For the
  25th anniversary of her party, at Cathédrale in the Moxy East Village,
  New York on Oct. 31, the original Angel turned into a life-size,
  bloodied copy of her left hand. It even had her real rings and finger
  tattoo, made by Mike Marino’s ProRenFX team. “It’s not just any giant
  hand: It’s my giant hand!” she told Vogue.
  She also said “it took a lot of hands,” with ten to twenty people
  putting it together (BBC, AP).
• Who else was at Heidiween. Neil Patrick Harris and
  David Burtka came as the twins from The Shining. Jade Thirlwall
  came as a stone angel statue, and Tramell Tillman wore full prosthetics
  (BBC).
  Kyle MacLachlan, Questlove and Andrew Rannells were also there (Deadline
  gallery).
• Hailey Bieber went full Angel. At Kendall Jenner’s
  Halloween birthday party in Los Angeles on Oct. 30, she wore a white
  fluffy halo, custom feather wings by Atelier Biser and a white feather
  bra. She paired them with an open white shirt and black hot pants, and
  shared the look on her Instagram Stories (Marie
  Claire). W called her “an honorary Victoria’s Secret angel” (W).
• Kendall Jenner did cinema. She went as Jane
  Henderson from Paris, Texas, with a platinum bob and a hot-pink
  dress (W,
  Elle).
• Kylie Jenner teased only a corset. Fresh off her VS
  debut, she showed just pieces of her look: a corset, pearls and white
  diamanté fishnets (Marie
  Claire).
• Alex Consani went deep cut. The VS runway regular
  dressed as a Thumb-Thumb from Spy Kids, posted Oct. 30 (Elle,
  W).
• Keke Palmer went full catalog cover, and the brand answered. Pink crystal set, sunset-pink wings, a mock “Introducing Keke by Victoria’s Secret” cover. Victoria’s Secret commented: “Not a costume, a calling.” (Parade, Fashion Times)
• Leonardo DiCaprio and Vittoria Ceretti came to Kendall’s party at Bar Marmont as the Big Bad Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood (Just Jared).
• Still quiet: none of the press we checked had
  reported 2026 costumes for Gigi Hadid, Bella Hadid, Adriana Lima,
  Alessandra Ambrosio or Candice Swanepoel at the time of writing. People
  has a look back at Gigi’s
  best costumes.

The pattern: our reporting

• The runway is now a two-week story, not a one-night show. The Oct. 18 broadcast set the image. Oct. 27 to 31 replayed it: Hailey Bieber’s halo and wings, Keke Palmer’s catalog cover, Kylie Jenner’s corset tease. Halloween has become the show’s unofficial encore.
• The brand is in the comments. When Victoria’s Secret wrote “Not a costume, a calling” under a fan tribute, it turned a costume into casting buzz. Expect more brands to answer costumes in public.
• The real power sits with the hosts. Heidi Klum, Kendall Jenner and the Casamigos founders don’t just attend Halloween; they own it, and the guest list is the headline.
• Every party has a patron. Butterfinger and Apothic presented Heidi Klum’s 25th (Page Six, PR Newswire). Casamigos threw its own LA night on Oct. 27, and Aspen Vodka and Flecha Azul poured at Bella Thorne’s West Hollywood party (ET). Halloween is fashion’s most sponsored night that never calls itself a fashion event.
• Makers are the quiet stars. The hand was built by Mike Marino’s ProRenFX team; Hailey’s wings came from Atelier Biser. Behind every viral look is a working crew. By the people, for the people.

2. What they’re up to now

• The VS Fashion Show 2026 is done. It streamed live
  from Los Angeles on Oct. 18 on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram (SI
  Lifestyle, Page
  Six).
• Bella Hadid opened the show. Gigi Hadid, Adriana
  Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, Candice Swanepoel and Barbara Palvin all
  walked, with Palvin back about a month after giving birth (E!
  News). Her daughter Sylvie with Dylan Sprouse was born Sept. 7 (InStyle).
• The Fantasy Bra came back. It returned after eight
  years in a Jacob & Co. design worn by Kylie Jenner on her debut. E!
  put the diamonds at fifty million dollars (E!
  News).
• Alessandra hit twenty. This was Ambrosio’s 20th VS
  show. Cindy Bruna and Elsa Hosk also came back after eight years away
  (InStyle).
• The full looks are public. The VS run-of-show lists
  every look, from Gigi’s Swarovski organza feather wing to Candice’s
  sculpted crystal wing, and notes that no real feathers were used (VS
  Press Room PDF).
• A docuseries is coming. Angels Among Us
  follows the open casting call that names the newest Angel (SI
  Lifestyle).
• Some favorites were left out. Romee Strijd said on
  TikTok that she wasn’t picked for 2026, and Frida Aasen said her casting
  was also a no (InStyle).

3. Runway and high
fashion news this week

New York

1. The CFDA Fashion Awards are Nov. 2. Anthony
   Vaccarello is International Designer of the Year, and Khaite, Carolina
   Herrera and Public School are among the nominees (Vogue,
   CFDA).
2. Heidi Klum’s 25th Halloween party owned the city’s
   Oct. 31 night (Vogue).
3. The Met Gala 2027 theme is still open. The Met
   cancelled the planned Galliano exhibition earlier this fall and hasn’t
   named a replacement yet (ABC7
   NY, Page
   Six).

Paris

1. Versace is returning to couture. Pieter Mulier will
   debut Atelier Versace at Paris Haute Couture Week, Jan. 25 to 28, 2027.
   It’s the house’s first couture show since 2016 (Fashion
   Times).
2. Dries Van Noten has a new president. Adrian
   Ward-Rees, from Moncler Grenoble, starts Dec. 1 (Vogue,
   Oct. 30).
3. Gucci opened a new Paris flagship on Oct. 30 (Harper’s
   Bazaar Italia).
4. Lacoste changed CEOs right before its Paris show,
   bringing back Thierry Guibert (TheIndustry.fashion).

London

1. Seán McGirr is leaving McQueen after three years,
   right after the house returned to London Fashion Week (Harper’s
   Bazaar SG).
2. Puck reports Virginia Burlina is next. She was most
   recently head designer at Maison Margiela. This is reported, not
   confirmed (Puck).
3. McQueen plans to close half its stores by year-end
   as part of its turnaround (TheIndustry.fashion).
4. Maya Jama threw a London Halloween party and came
   dressed as Sir Mo Farah (BBC).

Milan

1. Armani is weighing a 15% stake sale. LVMH, L’Oréal
   and EssilorLuxottica are among the reported preferred buyers (Observer).
2. Prada says it isn’t interested in Armani and is
   focusing on Versace (CPP-Luxury).
3. Gucci’s third-quarter retail sales fell 9% (BoF).
4. Diesel is looking for a designer. Glenn Martens’
   SS27 show was his last before he focuses fully on Margiela (Harper’s
   Bazaar SG).

Los Angeles

1. The VS Fashion Show streamed from LA on Oct. 18 (Page
   Six).
2. Kendall Jenner’s Halloween birthday party on
   Oct. 30 was the hottest ticket in town (Marie
   Claire).
3. LACMA’s Art+Film Gala is Nov. 7. Gucci is the
   sponsor and Rosé is performing (WWD,
   LACMA).
4. LA had two October fashion weeks: Art Hearts and
   The Bureau (The
   Bureau).

Images: to protect rights, we link to each outlet’s credited
photos rather than reposting them.

RelatedKaren Mulder Wore Karl Lagerfeld’s Real Clothes to Heidi Klum’s Halloween Party

More from Anthony Perlas: The Rare Flame and The Way of the
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