Famous people who have dressed up as other celebrities on Halloween

Halloween is the perfect opportunity to show creativity and ingenuity with your chosen costume. A maxim that is equally true for celebrities. The image of actor Jack Nicholson dressed as a priest on October 31, 1994 has gone down in history, as have the Cheeto costume worn by singer Katy Perry in 2014 or the actor Vince Vaughn in a cow costume for Jay Leno’s Halloween show in 2016. Or the always eye-catching bets of the eternal queen of the night of October 31, the model and presenter Heidi Klum, who last year dazzled by turning into a peacock, as she did before as a worm or an old woman. On a night when almost anything goes, some celebrities simply choose to improve on the obvious ideas: witches, movie characters, professional bloody makeup, or monsters. However, others prefer to be inspired by other well-known personalities, recreating iconic looks or dressing up directly as another famous person.

Singer Harry Styles stepped into the shoes of the timeless Elton John in 2018. In 2023, heiress Paris Hilton and actress and businesswoman Jessica Alba had the same idea: to recreate Britney Spears’ iconic look as a flight attendant in the video for her single, Toxic. Singer Ciara and American football player Russell Wilson became the kings of the music industry, Beyoncé and Jay-Z, in 2019. With Halloween just around the corner, we review the celebrity costumes that have been inspired by other celebrities.

Paris Hilton and Jessica Alba as Britney Spears in ‘Toxic’

Within pop culture, the flight attendant look that Britney Spears sported in Toxic (2003) is, irremediably, linked to her image. Two decades after the release of the video clip, when socialite Paris Hilton appeared on October 31, 2023 in her Halloween costume, she did not need to specify who she was paying homage to. “Icons support other icons,” she posted on her Instagram at the time, in reference to her costume. That same Halloween, Jessica Alba, along with her friend Kelly Sawyer Patricof — inspired by the Baby One More Time video — also chose to emulate the singer and Toxic for her costume. The actress wore a transparent bodysuit with glitter and the very long platinum blonde hair that the pop princess sports in the video. They coincided at the same Casamigos party — the tequila brand created by George Clooney and Rande Gerber, husband of model Cindy Crawford — but at least they both opted for different eras of Spears’ career.

Kaia Gerber and Austin Butler as Edie Sedgwick and Andy Warhol

A pair of black, 1960s-style outfits, wigs and long, XL earrings — one of the hallmarks of Edie Sedgwick, actress, model and Andy Warhol muse — was all it took for Kaia Gerber and Austin Butler to transform into two icons of art and fashion in the United States. On October 31, 2023, the 32-year-old actor and the 22-year-old model showed off their elegant costumes at Casamigos’ annual Halloween party.

Kourtney Kardashian as her sister Kim

The Kardashian clan, one of the most powerful and popular families in the entertainment industry, always takes Halloween very seriously. Their costumes recreate the latest TV shows or characters, and even, on many occasions, famous people: Marilyn Monroe or Christina Aguilera (Kylie Jenner), Cher or Anna Wintour (Kim Kardashian), Michael Jackson, and again, Marilyn (Kourtney and Kim Kardashian).

Following this theme of celebrities dressing up as celebrities, the eldest sister of the clan, Kourtney, decided last year to dress up as her sister Kim in the dress she wore to the Met Gala in 2013, when she was pregnant with her first daughter, North West. Dressed in the same floral Givenchy maxi dress, Kourtney, who was pregnant with her fourth child Rocky, from her relationship with Travis Baker, on Halloween last year, even imitated the makeup, achieving a practically identical look.

Kim Kardashian and Jonathan Cheban as Joe King, Carole Baskin and their tigers

Kim, the most famous, powerful and wealthiest of the Kardashian family, together with her best friend, Jonathan Cheban, and her four children, North, Chicago, Psalm, and Saint, in 2020 recreated Tiger King, the Netflix documentary series. “Carole Baskin, Joe Exotic and our tigers,” wrote the businesswoman in an Instagram post accompanied by a photo in which they were seen dressed as the former Oklahoma zoo operator and big cat breeder who was tried and sentenced to 22 years in prison for conspiring to murder Baskin.

Nina Dobrev as Billie Eilish

At the 2019 annual Casamigos party — a tradition that will not be held this year due to scheduling conflicts between Clooney and Gerber — one of the stars was, without a doubt, actress Nina Dobrev. One of the keys to the success of her costume as singer Billie Eilish were the small details: makeup reminiscent of the when the party’s over video clip, a mane with green roots, a large number of chains and a Louis Vuitton outfit designed by Virgil Abloh that looked a lot like (other than the color) one that Eilish wore during one of her concerts.

Ciara and Russell Wilson as Beyoncé and Jay-Z

In 2019, married couple Ciara and Russell Wilson recreated musical royalty Beyoncé and Jay-Z. The costumes were inspired by the music video for the song Apeshit, which the Carters shot at the Louvre and helped attract a record number of visitors. The couple’s outfits are absolutely faithful to the original, as is their performance. However, there is one detail in the costume changes: while the Mona Lisa appears behind the Carters’ backs, in the Wilsons’ version the painting is replaced by a portrait of Barack and Michelle Obama.

Rita Ora as Post Malone

During her 2018 performance at Wembley Stadium in London, Rita Ora surprised her fans when she went on stage dressed as Post Malone and started dancing to Rockstar. Sporting a curly wig, a denim jacket and tattoos on her face and body, the British artist became the rapper for that October 31, also celebrating her 14 million followers on Instagram (she now has 16 million).

Harry Styles as Elton John

British singer Harry Styles is another celebrity who has opted to impersonate a British music legend to celebrate Halloween. It was in 2018, when he dressed up as Elton John in a suit similar to the one the the artist wore in 1975 during a concert. Social media went crazy, not only because of the former One Direction singer’s costume, but because Sir Elton himself shared the images on his official Instagram account with the caption: “Now that’s what I call a Halloween costume.”

John Legend and Chrissy Teigen as Elizabeth II and Philip of Edinburgh

On Halloween 2018, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip did not dress up, but they did make a public appearance thanks to the costumes of John Legend and Chrissy Teigen. If the Russells immortalized musical royalty, the couple formed by the singer and the model and presenter did the same with British sovereignty, becoming the most royal offering of the night.

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