E.T., phone home! If you have ever watched E.T.—the 1982 Steven Spielberg sci-fi film, about a friendly extraterrestrial who befriends a young boy on Earth—you will know that famous line. Four decades later, the film remains a Hollywood classic that lives on in our hearts. And, turns out, it has also remained in Janelle Monáe’s heart over the years. So much so that the superstar decided to dress up as E.T. for Halloween this year, unveiling her unbelievable costume just moments ago. And Vogue has the exclusive on how she pulled off the epic transformation. “E.T. has lurked in my mind since I was a baby,” Monáe says. “From Spielberg’s writing to the cinematography, the story of E.T. and Elliot has touched my heart deeply. This movie always leaves me in tears. The bond Elliot and E.T. had was a display of the best parts of us; pure love and allyship. We need more of that. I’m always praying we can all impact each other’s lives like they did each other’s.”
Of course, Monáe is no stranger to mastering a Halloween look. Over the years, the singer and actor has delivered some insanely-memorable costumes—from turning herself into Diva Plavalaguna from The Fifth Element in 2022, to a lifelike chameleon just last year. For the star, she has a longstanding love for the ghoulish holiday. “I vividly remember my family taking me trick or treating with my sister and cousins growing up. I remember us all feeling so jovial to go to Party City or Spencer’s and find a costume,” says Monáe. “I loved seeing my family happy, especially our parents who worked hard providing for us, and seeing them give themselves and us permission and freedom to get creative! This birthed my love for transforming into another character.” She continues to carry that energy on with her today—and views Halloween every year as an opportunity to step outside of herself for a day. “Halloween is like performance art to me,” says Monáe, who isn’t afraid to totally commit to an idea. “I can spend anywhere between 4-12 hours getting into SFX and costume. I’m happy to stay locked into character no matter where I go and deal with my bouts of claustrophobia, as I sometimes can feel trapped in the prosthetics.”
Given she has already a strong roster of costumes under her belt, Monáe knew she needed to bring the drama this Halloween season even more. The star says she has wanted to pay homage to E.T., one of her favorite childhood films, for years now—and spent a lot of time brainstorming ways to make her costume feel entirely fresh and unexpected. “I usually start planning my Halloween costumes years in advance,” says Monáe. “Since the movie came out 42 years ago, I thought it could be cool for the world to see what E.T. has been up to now. What kinda things is E.T. into now? I thought it would be even cooler if he invaded my world; a day in the life of E.T. in this timeless space.”
It took a whole creative team to bring Monáe’s modern vision to life (teamwork, after all, makes the dream work—see her full team credits here). Last year, Monáe began first assembling her team when she met Jason Collins, the owner of the Autonomous FX team in Los Angeles. “They do magical work. We spent hours and hours geeking out about how were gonna make E.T’s eyes blink, heart light up, and his left index finger light up,” says Monáe, who wore a prosthetics skin made of foam latex. She and the special effects team also watched the film several times over, closely studying the design of the famous extraterrestrial. “Did you know there were multiple versions of E.T.’s?,” says Monáe. “An animatronic E.T. with a longer neck sometimes, and even an actor using his hands to walk as feet in the costume!”
Once the base prosthetics were complete—right down to the fols and big, bulging eyes—Monáe, stylist Alexandra Mandelkorn, and designer Alex Navarro began envisioning what E.T. would wear in 2024. “I really was excited about bringing some of E.T.’s iconic looks from the original film,” says Monáe. In the original film, E.T. gets dressed up in various disguises to trick others into thinking it is human—including sporting pieces like a blonde wig or top hat—and Monáe revived them all for her costume. Then, the team added some new accessories, too—like a “Kamala Harris for President” pin, in honor of the 2024 presidential election next week. “These details were important to us all to get right,” says Monáe. “We spent bundles of time obsessing over how we were gonna pull this off, and I couldn’t be more proud and pleased. It felt like being in art school, making a group project with your favorite people around a theme we have all been dying to sink our teeth in!”
Photographer Pol Kurucz, meanwhile, then snapped images of Monáe in the final look—placing her into a variety of campy locations brought to life by set designers Michael Avina and Krystall Schott—whether it was E.T. sitting down for breakfast with croissants, or playing dress-up in a well-filled closet. “Some things Pol came up with and some things I did,” says Monáe. “It was a very collaborative and incredibly fun experience. We hope Spielberg is chuckling!”
Though Monáe debuted the unbelievable costume a day ahead of Halloween today, you can be sure that the star will still be celebrating tomorrow on the official holiday, too. Tomorrow night, Monáe will be hosting her annual Wondaween party at the Wondaland Arts Society in Los Angeles, where she will be bringing the E.T. costume. “It started in Atlanta as a really intimate house party, and got more official when I moved to L.A.,” says Monáe. “It’s important to me that the community is filled with good people taking care of each other, and it doesn’t matter where you come from—you can work at Party City or be the star of one of the biggest franchises in the world, and nobody cares because we are someone new tonight. Our number one rule is safety first, fun next.”
At the big bash, Monáe hopes to continue the spirit of Halloween that she loves so much—which is all about embracing creativity and self-expression. “For me, Halloween has always been about safely giving yourself the space to become what your imagination desires,” says Monáe. “Halloween gives the world the space to be silly, scary, spooky, nostalgic—whatever they wanna be, and not feel self-conscious about it. It s a celebration of creativity and self-expression at its finest. I do this in my live concerts and on screen. Halloween does feel like every day for me!”
