Heidi Klum is unrecognisable at Met Gala as a 'living statue'

Heidi Klum’s Halloween costumes have become an annual institution. From Medusa, to E.T, to dressing up as a peacock with Cirque du Soleil performers as her feathers, she pulls out all the stops. And it looks like Halloween has come early for the German model, thanks to the 2026 Met Gala.

The 52-year-old model, who fans will recognise from Project Runway and America’s Got Talent, dressed as a live sculpture for the glitzy event, which is often referred to as the Super Bowl of the fashion calendar.

This year’s theme is Fashion is Art and Klum told CBS Mornings that her outfit is “basically a sculpture from the 1800s", explaining that it took her “20 minutes”. She also added that “it’s very flexible actually”.

Heidi Klum is a walking sculpture on the #MetGala carpet. #costumeart https://t.co/ZSIj2yzntm pic.twitter.com/i1Y6c8UCO0

— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) May 4, 2026

According to Variety, her outfit is courtesy of designer Mike Marino, is made of latex and spandex, and is said to be inspired by the Veiled Christ sculpture by Giuseppe Sanmartino, as well as the Veiled Vestal by Raffaele Monti.

As for her inspiration? She told Vogue, "I started at the Met. I went walking around in the Met and I was like this is so beautiful and the drape and it’s all the marble. But how do you do that with fabric? Because I look hard but I’m soft. I can sit. I can eat. It’s foam and latex. I like it to be a little confusing. It’s an illusion.”

Klum also explained more about her very elaborate outfit on Instagram, writing: "I love fashion, I love art, and I especially love when the two collide."

She said Marino had "transformed fabric into sculpture, manipulating latex and spandex with extraordinary precision to mirror the stillness, delicacy, and illusion of carved marble."

Her post added: "Every fold, every contour, every detail is intentional, capturing both strength and softness in a way that feels almost impossible. A one-of-a-kind design that doesn’t just dress the body, but elevates it into art itself."

Fans commenting on the Instagram post were impressed, with one person saying: "You are an icon, you are a legend, you are a PATRON OF THE ARTS." Another enthused: "Obsessed! queen of camp!", while someone else wrote: "Over the top! Understood the assignment..plusss extra credit."

What is the 2026 Met Gala theme?

The annual fashion event raises money for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and is co-chaired by former Vogue editor Dame Anna Wintour, Beyoncé, Hollywood star Nicole Kidman, who attended with her daughter Sunday Rose, and tennis champion Venus Williams.

This year’s event is Beyoncé's first appearance at the Met Gala in a decade, and the last time she was a guest in 2016 the theme was Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology theme.

Another showstopping outfit belonged to singer Sam Smith. The Unholy singer, 33, wore a sparkly, all-black ensemble designed by their partner, fashion designer Christian Cowan. And according to People, Smith’s cape weighs in at 52 pounds.

This year’s Met Gala has hit headlines for various reason, among them the fact that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sanchez Bezos are sponsors (and co-chairs) of the event.

When it comes to fashion, we’ve seen some truly bonkers Met Gala looks in the past, but the celebs who attend are actually given a dress code, as well as an invitation to tailor their outfits to the event’s theme.

The Met Gala doubles as a launch event for the Costume Institute's spring exhibition, and the theme is generally aligned with that, along with a slightly more open-to-interpretation dress code.

This year’s theme is ‘Costume Art’, to tie in with a Costume Institute exhibition, which pairs paintings and sculptures with historical and contemporary clothes.

It looks to deal with ‘the centrality of the dressed body in the museum’s vast collection.'

British Vogue says the dress code ‘encourages attendees to consider the many ways that designers use the body as their blank canvas’.

Previous themes and dress code have included:

2025

Theme: Superfine: Tailoring Black Style

Dress code: Tailored for You

2024

Theme: Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion

Dress code: The Garden of Time

2023

Theme: Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty

Dress code: In honour of Karl