Heidi Klum's Wildest Fashion Moments

Ex-Victoria's Secret model Heidi Klum taught us a style rule to live by as the host of "Project Runway": "In fashion, one day you're in, and the next day, you're out." The supermodel's other career credentials include hosting "Germany's Next Top Model" and the Amazon series "Making the Cut," which are also fashion-themed, so she spends a lot of time focusing on dressing her best.

In a 2016 interview with Vogue Australia, Heidi revealed that she even worries about making chic wardrobe choices when she's not filming, and she's devised a way to ensure that she's rarely caught in low-effort looks. "I don't slop around, I'm not in the baggiest sweatpants from 20 years ago! I got rid of everything that I would never want to be shot in," she said. She also doesn't phone it in during the spooky season; Heidi's Halloween costumes are always the talk of Hollywood, whether she's freaking out the web as a wiggly worm or wowing fans by bringing the "Shrek" character Princess Fiona to life.

Heidi is such a style star that her daughter, Leni Klum, decided to raid her closet when she needed a prom dress. However, Leni picked out a classic, strapless black gown instead of one of Heidi's louder looks, as she revealed on Instagram. "Yes, people will judge what you wear. But in the end, I just don't care about what other people think," Heidi once told British Vogue. This fashion philosophy makes for some must-see red carpet looks.

Heidi Klum's lingerie got a major upgrade each time she walked in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, and her status as one of the world's top supermodels earned her the honor of wearing the brand's bedazzled Fantasy Bra three times. However, the star-studded bra she wore in 1999, which was valued at $10 million, wasn't featured in the show. Two years later, the Fantasy Bra made its Victoria's Secret Fashion Show debut. Klum's bust bling was covered with pink sapphires and valued at $12.5 million, earning it the Guinness World Record for the world's priciest bra. But her most memorable Fantasy Bra might be the final one she walked the runway in.

In 2003, Klum wore the $11 million bra on "The Tonight Show." She had a black blazer on over the lingerie, which she planned on showing off to the audience and viewers at home. "Before that, I was yodeling, and as I was yodeling, it broke," Klum recalled on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," after being asked to describe her most catastrophic wardrobe malfunction. Host Jay Leno and fellow guest Martin Short took a look at the back of the bra to see if they could repair it, then covered Klum with their coats as they carefully investigated the front of the garment. Per British Vogue, some tape served as a temporary fix, and Klum was able to whip open her coat and dazzle viewers with her diamond-encrusted delicates.

When she attended Elton John's Oscars party in 2013, Heidi Klum rocked a glittering gold gown designed by Julien McDonald. It featured a chevron pattern and sheer, geometric panels that wrapped around the sides and back. According to Klum, some fans of the look thought that she looked worth her weight in gold, but it was possibly her plunging neckline, not the dress' art deco aesthetic, that they liked most. "A lot of people are complimenting my dress, but they aren't looking into my eyes when they say it," she quipped to Page Six.

Klum later told E! that she had a "make it work" moment when she fell in love with the revealing frock; the neckline was actually so low that she decided to have a few inches sewn up. "I was kind of worried that, if I would have left it like this, that, you know, an accident might have happened," she explained.

The dress caught the attention of the hosts of the E! series "Fashion Police," per CNN, and it got overshadowed by an offensive joke that late comedian Joan Rivers made about it: "The last time a German looked this hot was when they were pushing Jews into the ovens." (Yikes!) The Anti-Defamation League blasted Rivers' distasteful remarks, but she refused to apologize for them on "Showbiz Tonight," saying, "This is the way I remind people about the Holocaust. I do it through humor."

Before she left Germany for the land of opportunity, Heidi Klum actually had aspirations of being a clothing designer. However, her plan to attend a Düsseldorf design school got derailed when she entered a modeling competition and won. Years later, when she landed a job hosting "Project Runway," she found herself surrounded by the creative types who would have been her classmates.

For the show's competitors, having Klum wear one of their designs on the red carpet was almost as good as winning the whole enchilada. In 2014, she gave Sean Kelly the kind of exposure aspiring designers dream of by rocking the contestant's fun fringe frock to the Creative Arts Emmys. The vivid blue gown was a real showstopper, especially when Klum spun around to make the fringe fly.

Speaking to Us Weekly at the event, Klum revealed that Kelly was the winner of an episode that was yet to air and had spent just $200 on the materials he used to create the dress. "It's not that comfortable," she confessed. "It's very heavy. "Project Runway" viewers had their own complaints about the stunning garment: It was a spoiler. "Well you just ruined Thursday's show for a lot of people," tweeted one disgruntled viewer. "Why would you show the dress before the show? Annoyed." But as the official "Project Runway" Twitter account pointed out, "This moment for the winning designer was bigger than the episode."

When Heidi Klum hit the red carpet at the 2014 American Music Awards, her Versace gown landed her on E!'s "worst dressed" list. It was also a major fashion misfire for many Twitter users, some of whom commented on the sparkly pink bandage detail that was wrapped around the black garment. "Heidi Klum's dress is brought to you by duct tape: Available in a festive new range of glitter shades, just in time for the holidays," quipped one netizen. It looked like Barbie grabbed a roll of that tape in pink and desperately tried to fix her favorite LBD after a young, aspiring fashion designer took a pair of office scissors to it. There was a cutout on the midsection and an opening on the ankle-length skirt that bared Klum's left leg. "Heidi Klum, girl you rich. Why you only buy half of a dress?" another critic snarked. 

Unlike Klum's gown, One Direction wasn't missing any pieces at the time, and she became the envy of teen girls everywhere when she hung out with the boy band backstage. But she certainly didn't need the "What Makes You Beautiful" singers' assurances that "Being the way that you are is enough." The confident model already seems to know this, and no fashion critic's comments are going to make her feel insecure. "As long as I am happy with my wardrobe choice, that's all that matters to me," she told British Vogue.

After seeing Heidi Klum walk the red carpet in a canary-yellow dress at the 2015 Emmy Awards, some people were convinced that the supermodel was taking sartorial cues from a certain Sesame Street resident. "Love that Heidi Klum went as Big Bird. God I wish Joan Rivers was still alive, she'd be all over this dress," one Twitter user wrote. "Heidi Klum looks like Big Bird got a botched bikini wax," quipped another social media comedian, apparently in reference to the feather-like appliques that covered the gown from bust to crotch. There was also a single billowy chiffon sleeve trimmed with feather-like fringe and more of the fabric draped on the right side of Klum's body. Her skirt was constructed out of sequined netted material that showed off a pair of high-heeled sandals that Big Bird could never pull off. Klum's avian-inspired attire was an Atelier Versace design.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, the temperature was hovering around 100 degrees on the red carpet, so it made sense that Klum chose a light and airy gown crafted from breathable fabric. As for the garment's quirky construction, Klum's description of her style influences might explain why she's drawn to looks that have a lot going on. "Sometimes I want to be sassy, then I want to be super sexy, then I want to be Business Barbie, then I love to be bohemian," she told SheKnows, "so it's all very eclectic."

Heidi Klum told People which style aesthetic she feels that she can't pull off, and it turns out that she's not a big fan of ruffles and other ultra-feminine flourishes. "I don't love super flirty silhouettes. To me, when it's cinched in the waist and these kind of frilly, flare skirts, it's just not me," she said. "I like a harder, structured line." So Klum was stepping out of her comfort zone at the 2016 Academy Awards when she stepped out in a frothy Marchesa gown with an A-line skirt. The tulle princess dress featured a single puffy sleeve, floral embellishments, and a cutout on the bodice. While it was also a lovely shade of lavender, it landed Klum on Cosmopolitan's list of the night's biggest fashion offenders.

The look also got roasted on social media, where Klum was accused of pulling a Scarlett O'Hara. "Whoa! Heidi Klum might need to go curtain shopping. She clearly repurposed that one into a dress," one Twitter user wrote. For others, the look wasn't giving Cinderella, but her magical singing stylist. "Oh dear. Heidi Klum looks like she raided the fairy godmother's closet," read another critique. The dress scored Klum a spot on ET's list of the worst-ever Oscar gowns the following year, but Klum had no red-carpet regrets. Speaking to "The Insider With Yahoo!," she said of the look, "I don't like simple dresses. To me that's too boring. I like fun fashion."

Heidi Klum flawlessly executed the naked dress trend at the 2017 MTV VMAs. Her gown was mostly sheer, but intricate embroidery and beading transformed it into a work of art — or perhaps architecture? Its pièce de résistance was a keyhole detail that was so generously cut that it was more of a cleavage window. While showing a lot of skin on the red carpet can sometimes ruffle the feathers of the fashion police, her risk paid off and landed her on People's "Best Dressed" list.

It's hard to believe that Donald Trump actually dared to declare, "Sadly, she's no longer a 10," when commenting on Klum's appearance to The New York Times two years prior. Klum proved just how bad the former president is with numbers when she rocked the daring dress, which was a Peter Dundas design, with all the confidence of a seasoned supermodel who spent years posing in lingerie for a living. 

Klum also looks so at ease in so little coverage because she's always been preternaturally comfortable in her own skin. She explained where this comfort level comes from to Ocean Drive in 2016, saying, "I grew up going to nude beaches with my parents, so I'm a nudist. I have no problems with nudity at all. I'm very free." She also told ET that she hates tan lines, and avoiding them can be beneficial when rocking a look like her VMAs dress.

If Heidi Klum were a competitor on "America's Got Talent," perhaps the judge's talent would be showing off her amazing ability to take the most mundane of outfits and transform them into funky fashion statements. When she attended the "Louboutin Express" presentation in Paris in 2019, she took two staples of most American closets — a basic T-shirt and a good pair of jeans — and used her footwear and accessories to elevate her look.

Her tee was black and just a tad sheer, while her jeans featured a dark wash with whiskering on the front. However, most of her legs were covered by a pair of black, thigh-high Christian Louboutin boots with sparkly fringe spiraling around the shaft. She accessorized with stacked necklaces, numerous chunky rings, and a gold bangle on each wrist. A small, rainbow-colored leopard-print purse with a chain strap was slung over her shoulder.

While Tom + Lorenzo felt like Klum's look majorly missed the mark, the fashion blog did give her props for staying true to her personal aesthetic. Speaking to People about her favorite go-to outfit when she wants to look stylish in a snap, she pretty much described the ensemble above. "If you have a great pair of jeans, a great blouse, a pair of heels — boom," she said. "It can be that simple and put together."

For the 2020 Elton John AIDS Foundation Oscars Viewing Party, it looked like Heidi Klum grabbed Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi's favorite throw rug and belted it around her waist — and many of the "Making the Cut" star's fans agreed that the bold look was the cat's meow. "I'm sorry still picking up my jaw you look amazing," one of Klum's Facebook followers wrote. "Another nice dress, like the leopard print!" read a second comment. Her sartorial smash hit was designed by Jean Paul Gaultier.

Speaking to E! about her love of all things leopard, Snooki once said, "I call it 'my color.'" However, she might have to catfight Klum for ownership of the fierce feline print. It was possibly the Gaultier's gown's fabric, not its unique structure, that appealed to the supermodel, as she shares Snooki's fondness for outwardly flaunting her inner leopardess. "I think the leopard print is a new classic! Leopard is never out of style," Klum told Vogue in 2017. "It's strong and wild and a little bit mysterious, like a modern woman should be." She even incorporated the pattern into her Esmara clothing line. 

The print was also plentiful in one of her favorite red carpet looks: a dramatically flared mini dress designed by Christian Siriano. Klum rocked it with coordinating thigh-high Le Silla boots. "I love a little matchy-matchy moment," she confessed to E!.

Heidi Klum rocked a pearlescent mini dress for the Season 1 finale of her Amazon series "Making the Cut," and some viewers felt that she failed to make it work. From some angles, it appeared as though a small pair of Victoria's Secret angel wings had been affixed to the wrong side of Klum's body. But the stiff, protruding fabric actually wrapped around to the back of the garment — not that anyone was paying much attention to that side of it. The low neckline was what captured the attention of many armchair fashion critics. "I'm convinced Heidi is wearing this dress backwards. No way would a designer make an expensive dress that shows that much boob," one person tweeted. Another viewer opined that it was "so tacky and age-inappropriate on her." But there were those who applauded Klum's look. "How is no one talking about Heidi Klum's boobs in the 'Making The Cut' finale?!?! Those things were sitting next to me on the couch," wrote one admirer. "She is such a f***ing queen, I love her!!!!"

The dress, which was designed by Cong Tri, accomplished exactly what Klum wanted it to. "I always love to get a response from people when I wear certain things," she told Decider. "I fell in love with this thing. ... I thought it was great for the cleavage. It was short, reminded me a little bit of Victoria's Secret days."

"America's Got Talent" might be one of the few reality competitions Heidi Klum has appeared on that has little to do with fashion, unless she's critiquing a quick-change artist's performance, but this doesn't stop her from bringing her style A-game to the judge's table week after week.

Speaking about her fashion philosophy to Vogue Australia in 2020, Klum said, "Fashion should be fun and exciting so I would probably say that my style is eclectic. I like to mix and match and just have a lot of fun with it. It always depends on my mood." She was clearly in a mood to have a good time based on the outfit that she wore during an August 2021 episode of "AGT." Mixing prints is a great way to make a style statement, but can look clownish if not executed properly. 

Dolce & Gabbana brilliantly removed the guesswork from the equation for Klum's look, which featured over half a dozen different prints, from florals to baroque patterns to a few cheetah-print strips. They were stitched together to create technicolor dream trousers and a bustier halter top. Klum's vibrant ensemble also included a floral silk robe. Massive pearl earrings adorned with purple blossoms, a pop of red lipstick, and a high bun completed her look, which clearly had her feeling herself — it inspired her to channel her inner flamenco dancer for a fun Instagram video.

Heidi Klum rocked a pink feathered frock for a fun night of making a few dreams come true and dashing many others on "America's Got Talent" in August 2021. The dress, which was a Rêve Riche design, didn't just bring to mind a flamingo because of its color and embellishments — its brief hemline showed off Klum's long legs. Unfortunately, it also put her at risk of a wardrobe malfunction.

Klum wasn't trying to balance on one leg in her pointy heels when disaster struck. Rather, she was bending over the judge's table to pose for a selfie with fellow judge Sofia Vergara, who was also clad in pink. Klum failed to think about the view this would afford the audience members behind her, and she ended up flashing a number of fans. To make matters even worse, one person in the crowd captured the moment on camera and shared it on TikTok. 

Klum was a good sport about the incident. She shared the video on her own Instagram page and captioned her post, "Note to self ... don't bend over in a short skirt," adding a pair of laughing emoji to let her followers know that she found her mishap hilarious. And don't expect Klum to stop rocking mini dresses just because of her NSFW moment at work. "I'll still be wearing miniskirts when I'm 90," she once vowed to Grazia.

For one of Maxim's 2022 Super Bowl parties, Heidi Klum channeled the loud and proud, rockstar style of a member of Penny Lane's "Almost Famous" posse. It was a fitting look, as her date was an actual rocker: Tokio Hotel guitarist Tom Kaulitz. Klum rocked a lilac mini dress designed by Dundas. It featured lace-up cutouts on the chest and sides that showed off generous swaths of skin. Over it, she wore an off-white shag coat. High-heel slides completed her ensemble, and she wore her hair styled in soft waves for even more of a '70s vibe. As for her musician hubby, he rocked a leather coat, striped dress shirt layered over a dark T-shirt, and baggy striped pants.

Klum's look was a miss for many. "Looks desperate at 48. She can still show off her beautiful body without having to wear a pink shoelace dress," read one Facebook comment. "The hair and the road kill fur scream more street walker than the dress," another critic wrote. "I know for a fact she would've came for that dress had a contestant made that on 'Project Runway.' C'mon Heidi."

The haters could hate all they wanted to, but Klum had already become a diehard fan of Dundas' sexy, lace-up designs. A few weeks prior, she shared an Instagram photo of herself rocking a similar maxi dress in yellow. "This is my new favorite dress," she wrote.

For the Hollywood premiere of "Avatar 2: The Way of Water" in 2022, Heidi Klum could have made a splash by hiring the artists who design the prosthetics for her over-the-top Halloween costumes and tasking them with transforming her into a statuesque blue Na'vi. But instead, she turned to Lever Couture. The designer appeared to discover the way of water, recreating it in fabric form and shaping it into a dress. 

Gauzy, shimmery tulle was draped over Klum's body so that it looked like seafoam floating on gentle waves. Her gown featured a one-shoulder silhouette and a high slit that showed off her famous legs. And while they might not be as long as a Na'vi's, they're well worth putting on a display as often as possible. Klum told The Wall Street Journal that both of her legs were once insured by an employer, but one of them was only insured for $1 million — $200,000 less than the other one — because she had cut it on broken glass when she was a child, which required stitches and left a scar. Leave it to Klum to confirm that something that sounds like an urban legend is actually true.

Klum also admires creativity. She gave an Instagram shoutout to artist Angelica Hicks, who created her own "Project Runway"-style challenge by using plastic food wrap to recreate Klum's "Way of Water" dress.

In 2023, Heidi Klum hit the Golden Globes red carpet wearing a flamboyant look that wasn't a hit with former "Fashion Police" panelist Melissa Rivers. "There is no reason for her to be at half of these shows or red carpets, and we end up talking about her every single time ... [and] not because she looks good," Rivers told Page Six. The look that had her trashing Klum's mere presence on any red carpet was an upcycled micro mini dress designed by Kevin Germanier. It was covered with silver sequins and featured sheer side panels. Lavender feathers wound around the garment, making it look like Klum was wearing a feather boa. On her feet, she wore slinky high-heeled sandals.

Klum shared an Instagram video of Angelica Hicks creating a Barbie-sized version of her outfit using foil, a torn-up tampon, and purple eyeshadow, proving that she really loves it when people have fun with fashion. In fact, in an interview with Harper's Bazaar Singapore, Klum revealed that one of her earliest forays into fashion was crafting Barbie clothing with help from her mother.

"I was always expressive, even in school. That set me apart, even though I was teased for being different," Klum told The Wall Street Journal. "I didn't care." She's clearly maintained this attitude about her clothing choices throughout her life, and now the uber-successful fashion icon can just smile and dismiss her critics with a chirpy, "Auf wiedersehen!"