Janelle Monáe Won Halloween
Every celebrity’s favorite holiday is Halloween. You have to remember that a great number of them were the kind of kids that made their whole family watch them perform an original play in their living room. They love to put on a little show, and what is Halloween about if not putting on a little show for your friends, neighbors, and Instagram followers? The celebrity who loves Halloween the most is Heidi Klum, but a close second is Janelle Monáe, whose costume this year is a master class in celebrity kookiness.
I love this because it really stretches the definition of “Halloween costume.” Is it still a Halloween costume if I can’t tell who’s wearing it? If it’s possible that celebrated multi-hyphenate Janelle Monáe might not be in there at all? This is Schrödinger’s Monáe!
She is in there, of course. We know this because she went on The Jennifer Hudson Show to debut the look. (Why this didn’t happen on The Drew Barrymore Show is beyond me.) Hudson (dressed as Whitney Houston) asked if she should refer to her guest as E.T. or Janelle.
The bit where E.T. says, “It’s Janelle Monáe!” while waving its little hands has made me cry laughing several times in the last 24 hours.
Backstage at Hudson’s show, Monáe was wheeled through the hallway in full E.T. drag by two handlers dressed as … the Men in Black?
Absurdism is alive and well. As a Halloween treat, here’s an incredible photo of a half-Monáe, half-E.T. hybrid. I didn’t see The Substance, but I’ve heard that something like this happens in that movie.
So, what’s the deal with all of this? Monáe recently graced the cover of The Hollywood Reporter, where she revealed that she has a “fairy Halloween mother” who bankrolls her intricate costumes.
“My job is to make people believe in their imagination. That is a job, that is my purpose. Imagination inspires nations. It is important to the committee of imagineers that I go out and I do that good work,” Monáe said. “There’s a fund that is set aside to make people believe in art, and again, believe in performance art. What I’m doing is performance art, and it is drawing attention to the need for money in the arts, for more grants for schools.”
Ya know what? Sure. We need more outré celebs, and if Monáe thinks that dressing up as E.T. will result in more funding for arts education, I’m all for it. Speaking of funding, do you want to know how Monáe’s costume collaborators get paid?
“Well, we pay people in jelly beans,” the singer explained. “We pay in dandelions, we pay people in orchids, and we also pay them in sorbet. It’s a whimsical version like Burning Man, where there is no currency.”
Of course. Sorbet for everyone! Happy Halloween!
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