Janelle Monáe has consistently pushed the boundaries of Halloween fashion, transforming the holiday into a canvas for her most daring and theatrical costume creations.
Janelle Monáe is the definition of main character energy. When it comes to turning heads, taking risks, making people gag, and serving a look, Janelle is the blueprint. And more importantly, she does it her way.
Much like her music and performances, Janelle’s approach to style has no bounds or rules. And there is no better time to see her unforgettable mix of style, attitude, and whimsy than Halloween.
She is THE HalloQueen, and she knows it.
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“Halloween is such a happy space for me,” Monáe told The Hollywood Reporter. “It has been since I was a kid. It opens a larger conversation of how do we become agents of joy? How do we become agents of happy? How do we become agents of imagination? I’m just doing what I want to see more of … I do this because my heart needs it.”
Janelle’s Halloween looks reflect that thinking. She has rocked full-on costumes, including E.T. in 2024 and the Cat in the Hat in 2025. She has also used prosthetic makeup to transform, and this year, she’s going full creature.
In her most recent collab with Bacardi, Janelle is a creepy couture creature. Back for a second year, the rum brand is the official spirits partner of her Wondaween Festival: Creature Carnival, which takes over a secret Los Angeles location on Oct. 29.
For the creature, Janelle topped a peachy pink shag wig with a black hat. Covering her face in a wrinkled, green-tinged prosthetic, she swapped one eye for a hot pink swirl. She wore a ruffled white blouse with black-and-white striped suspenders and long strands of pearls mixed with black beads. She even added prosthetic hands, down to the bloody knuckles.
In one of those prosthetic hands, she held her signature drink of the season, the Spookito. The Spookito is Bacardi’s Halloween twist on the classic mojito. .Here’s how to make one at home.
Ingredients
1.5 oz Bacardi Superior rum
1 oz lime juice
0.5 oz simple syrup
0.25 oz grenadine
8 to 10 mint leaves
Soda water, to top
How To Make It
Muddle the mint with the lime juice and simple syrup. Add the Bacardi and crushed ice. Stir gently, then top with soda water. Finish by drizzling the grenadine over the top, and garnish with a mint sprig.
Creature Carnival may be her newest chapter, but Janelle has been building her Halloween legacy for years.
Her receipts go back to childhood. Growing up in Kansas City, Janelle dressed as Chucky, mask and overalls included. She even slept in the mask, she told Dread Central. Her mom’s reaction: “I think something’s wrong with you, but I love you.”
These days, the planning starts years ahead. She told People her E.T. costume was two years in the making. Designer and tailor Alex Navarro and stylist Alexandra Mandelkorn help bring her looks to life.
For Janelle, every costume is a full character, from morning to night.
“When I get into costume, I transform,” Monáe told the Los Angeles Times. “Whether I’m a white rabbit or Diva Plavalaguna [from “The Fifth Element”], when I say I was these characters, I’m saying the entire day and night that you interacted with me, I was those characters. And as a world-builder who has been very fortunate to act and create music and build worlds around those, I think Wondaween Season allows all of the Janelles [inside me] to fully be realized.”
Swipe to see some of Janelle’s best Halloween transformations through the years.
Janelle paired her creature prosthetics with a ruffled white blouse, striped suspenders and layered pearls. One look at that pink swirl eye and we needed a minute.
With her facial prosthetics, Janelle wore a long black coat, a crisp white shirt, a skinny black tie and a bowler hat. A red flower pin and black leather gloves completed the look. She gave us dapper and spooky in one fit.
At the Santa Monica Pier, Janelle spread a black latex cape over a tattooed prosthetic chest. Fangs, pointed ears and a hot pink collar completed her gothic “Muscle Beach” vampire. The drama of this cape!
Janelle took on Jim Carrey’s green-faced character in a canary yellow suit with a matching fedora. A polka-dot tie and black-and-white saddle shoes pulled the details together.
On “The Jennifer Hudson Show,” Janelle walked out in a striped top hat, an oversized red bow tie and a furry black suit while books flew through the air. She stayed in character for the whole interview. She told Vogue she and the Cat share the black and white with a pop of red.]
Wrapped in a white knit blanket on “The Jennifer Hudson Show,” Janelle rasped JHud’s name in E.T.’s voice.
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HalloQueen Behavior! Janelle Monae’s 6 Wildest Halloween Transformations was originally published on madamenoire.com
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