How Cirque du Soleil helped Heidi Klum create her most elaborate costume yet

Heidi Klum’s extravagant Halloween costume ruffled a few feathers this week – in a good way.

For years now, the German-American model and TV host has been dubbed the "Queen of Halloween," known for her top-notch costumes and annual star-studded party.

This year’s ensemble – a shimmering peacock with a group of acrobats for tailfeathers – came together with the help of Montreal’s own Cirque du Soleil.

"I wanted to make a group costume, something where many people become one," Klum told reporters at her party.

"I thought Cirque du Soleil would be the best place for me." 

Needless to say, it did not disappoint.

"For us it was a real privilege, I would say, to be able to jump on such a crazy and fun experience. It allowed us to explore and create and bring together a lot of things that are awesome," said Marie-Hélène Delage, creative director of events at Cirque. "Human performance, creativity, bringing a lot of different talent together."

She said Klum pitched her idea to the team back in September.

"They started thinking, 'Okay, so what’s the shape of a peacock? How does it fan, how do we want to integrate? What are the different disciplines, how do we wanna create the different heights in order to be able to surround [Klum]?'" Delage told CTV News.

The project involved 10 acrobats, 29 costume makers and 2,000 hours of work.

Heidi Klum, centre, arrives at her 22nd annual Halloween party at Marquee on Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

The costume, designed by Marie Chantale Vaillancourt, contains more than 200 metres of fabric printed in-house at Cirque du Soleil, and the velvet body suits were studded with Swarovski stones.

Klum had flown to Montreal to pick out different fabrics and textures, and to coordinate with her team of acrobats.

"Her desire was to bring the fanning to life," Delage explained. "Heidi being able to jump on one acrobat to elongate the beautiful neck and the peacock, and then having the fanning with hand-to-hand artists, with contortionists, in order to really create that tail."