NEW YORK – On Friday, Heidi Klum mesmerized onlookers by transforming into the mythical Medusa, complete with vibrant green scales and writhing snakes for her Halloween costume.

Klum expressed her fascination with the Greek legend of Medusa, a tale of a once-beautiful woman cursed to become a fearsome creature with serpentine hair whose gaze turns anyone to stone.

“I aimed to embody a truly hideous Medusa, and I believe we succeeded perfectly,” Klum remarked, accentuating her point by showing off the fangs she wore.

Her husband, musician Tom Kaulitz, complemented her look by dressing as a man petrified into stone.

Klum revealed that she dedicated 10 hours to perfecting her costume for her renowned Halloween bash, declaring it was all worthwhile for her love of the holiday.

The supermodel-turned-TV personality went viral in 2022 when she arrived at her party on the end of a fishing line, encased in a slithering worm costume.

In past years, Klum has come dressed as an 8-foot-tall (2.4-meter-tall) “Transformer,” a werewolf from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” music video, a clone accompanied by several Klum-lookalikes, and Kali, the multiarmed Hindu goddess of death and destruction.

Klum has said she starts planning her costume for the next year immediately after her party wraps.

Among the other celebrities who walked the carpet at the Hard Rock Hotel New York were a green-painted Darren Criss as Shrek, Maye Musk as Cruella de Vil and Ariana Madix as Lady Gaga.

Last year, Klum and Janelle Monáe turned up to their respective parties in the same costume: E.T.

Monáe was hosting her annual party on Friday, too, and came dressed as a vampire attacked by a shark. The actress and singer-songwriter turned the entire month into a series of Halloween-themed immersive experiences across the Los Angeles area, concluding with a party at her home in Studio City. Earlier in the week, she had dressed as the Cat in the Hat.

“Halloween gives context to what I already do every day,” Monáe told The Associated Press earlier in October. “As an artist, I’m always transforming, world-building and inviting people to play in the worlds I create.”

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This story has been corrected to show that Janelle Monáe was dressed as a vampire on Friday, not the Cat in the Hat.

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Associated Press journalists John Carucci in New York, Jordan Hicks in Los Angeles, Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City and Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu contributed reporting.