What the Angels Did This Halloween: The Models, the Costumes, and What They Were Really Selling

6 min read

Our reporting. Halloween weekend, October 30 to November 1, 2026.

Halloween is the one night a year a model is allowed to be someone else. So watch closely who they chose to become. This year, the most-talked-about Victoria’s Secret Angel wasn’t a model at all, the most famous supermodel party starred a severed hand, and the biggest model of her generation dressed as a woman behind glass. That isn’t a costume trend. It’s a business memo.

The brand’s own Halloween

On Oct. 31 Victoria’s Secret posted its own take: “see ALL your Halloween ‘fits,” built around a fashion-show-set look, then a reel asking “Halloween costume or straight off the runway?” Our reporting: the brand is now selling the Angel as a costume anyone can wear.

By the morning of Nov. 1 the feed had already flipped to holiday snow and string lights. We tried the brand’s TikTok too; it was blocked by a captcha, so we report Instagram only.

1. The Angel who wasn’t on the roster

Keke Palmer posted herself as a full Victoria’s Secret Angel: crystal lingerie, sunset-pink feathered wings, copper waves, and a mock catalog cover reading “Introducing Keke by Victoria’s Secret, Halloween 2026” (Fashion Times, HelloBeautiful). The brand itself answered in her comments: “Not a costume, a calling” (Parade).

First principles: a brand’s power is measured by how many people will wear it for free. Two weeks after a Los Angeles runway that brought back Adriana Lima, Candice Swanepoel, Gigi and Bella Hadid and Alessandra Ambrosio (Harper’s Bazaar), the best Angel content of the month came from outside the casting list, and the brand applauded. The wings are now a fan costume. That’s the win, and the warning: when anyone can be an Angel, the title stops being scarce. Parade notes there’s no sign of a real modeling deal (Parade).

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2. Heidi Klum became the product

At her 25th annual party, October 31 at Cathédrale at Moxy East Village in New York, the original Angel arrived as a giant, bloodied replica of her own left hand, wedding ring and manicure included, delivered by actors in hazmat suits (AP, E!). The party was presented by Apothic and Butterfinger, and Apothic sold limited “Type A” blood bags tied to the look (The Hollywood Reporter).

First principles: a model sells a body part to a brand for a living. Klum dressed as the body part and sold the sponsorship anyway. It’s the most honest costume in fashion: the hand that signs the deals.

3. The rest of the Cathédrale carpet

• Karen Mulder, former Victoria’s Secret model, came as Karl Lagerfeld in what she said were his actual clothes and prescription sunglasses (E!).
• Valentina Sampaio, model, came as Poison Ivy (E!).
• Ida Kulis, model, in witch attire (E!).

Mulder dressing as the designer, not as a model, is the quiet headline. Thirty years in, the model chose to become the man who decided what models wear.

4. Kendall Jenner went to the movies

On October 30 at Bar Marmont in Los Angeles, Kendall Jenner threw a joint Halloween and 31st birthday party as Jane Henderson from Wim Wenders’s 1984 film Paris, Texas: platinum bob, fuzzy hot-pink low-back minidress, sheer black tights. Jacob Elordi came as Travis. Guests included Charli XCX, Hailey Bieber and Laura Harrier (Elle, W).

First principles: Jane Henderson is a woman men pay to watch through one-way glass. The most-photographed model of her generation chose that character. You can read it as a cinephile reference, or as a confession about the job. Either way it signals taste, not sex appeal, and in 2026 taste is the scarcer asset.

5. What the agencies should take from this

The big agencies sell scarcity: a face only they can book. Halloween 2026 showed the opposite pull. A non-model out-Angeled the Angels, a host turned her own anatomy into a sponsored product, and the top names chose film and fashion references over sex. The costumes say fame no longer comes from being looked at. It comes from controlling the reference. The model who picks the story wins. The model who waits to be cast becomes the costume.

What we couldn’t confirm

We found no published Halloween 2026 costume for Bella Hadid, Gigi Hadid, Adriana Lima or Alessandra Ambrosio in coverage reviewed by deadline. We won’t guess. If you were there, tell us.

6. The show that came before the costumes

Halloween came two weeks after the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, which streamed live from Los Angeles on Oct. 18 (Page Six). Bella Hadid opened. Gigi Hadid, Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, Candice Swanepoel and Barbara Palvin walked, Palvin about a month after giving birth (E! News). The Fantasy Bra came back after eight years, worn by Kylie Jenner on her debut. E! put its diamonds at fifty million dollars. It was Ambrosio’s 20th show (InStyle).

Then Halloween, and the brand’s most-shared Angel moment of the weekend came from Hailey Bieber in feather wings by Atelier Biser at Kendall Jenner’s party on Oct. 30 (Marie Claire). W called her “an honorary Victoria’s Secret angel” (W). Kylie Jenner showed only a corset, pearls and fishnets. Alex Consani went as a Thumb-Thumb from Spy Kids (Elle).

7. The controversial part

Our reporting’s view, from first principles: the wings no longer belong to the roster. Victoria’s Secret spent a decade telling us the Angel was a job title. This Halloween proved it’s a costume anyone can rent. That’s either the brand’s biggest problem or its best marketing. A docuseries, Angels Among Us, now follows an open casting call to name the next Angel (SI Lifestyle). Meanwhile, models who were left out of 2026, including Romee Strijd and Frida Aasen, said so publicly (InStyle). The door is open to the public and closed to some insiders. Watch who walks through it.

What’s next: Thanksgiving, then the long run to New Year’s

Halloween is the biggest costume night. Thanksgiving Eve, Wednesday Nov. 25, is the biggest bar night, because everyone is back home with nowhere to be the next morning. Here is what is already on the calendar in Los Angeles:

• Nov. 2, New York: the CFDA Fashion Awards (CFDA).
• Nov. 5: Delilah LA marks ten years with an anniversary night (Mood listing).
• Nov. 7: LACMA Art+Film Gala, with Gucci and a Rosé performance (WWD).
• Nov. 25, Thanksgiving Eve: the Downtown LA bar crawl, 6 to 11 pm (Eventbrite); Clinic Wednesdays’ Cielo Du Soir at Jungle Hollywood (Eventbrite); a birthday set from a surprise guest at Academy LA (NewSidequest); and INCOGNITO’s 13th annual Thanksgiving Eve rave in DTLA (listing).
• December: Deorro’s Botas Y Rave in the Park at Grand Park, Dec. 5 and 6; W&W at Exchange LA, Dec. 5; New Year’s Eve with Oliver Heldens at Avalon and RL Grime at Academy (Raveloop calendar).

Our reporting’s first-principles read: the holidays aren’t about the date. They’re about the reason to dress up and show up. Whoever gives people that reason owns the night.

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