Photo: @polkurucz / @earlymorningriot
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!”
Photo: @polkurucz / @earlymorningriot
Photo: @polkurucz / @earlymorningriot
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!”