NEW YORK – Paris Hilton revisited Britney Spears’s snake-draped MTV performance, Kim Kardashian dressed as her daughter North West, and Lisa Rinna copied a Kylie Jenner premiere look for Halloween 2026. Familiar people supplied the inspiration for those costumes, while other stars turned to cartoons, horror films and their own television history.
Hilton revealed her Spears tribute on Oct. 23. The reference was the singer’s performance of “I’m a Slave 4 U” at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards, with Hilton reproducing the green top, butterfly-patterned shorts and sparkling accessories. NBC News reported that the yellow snake around her shoulders was real and named Tango.
In a behind-the-scenes video, Paris Hilton described a new appreciation for Spears after handling the animal herself. She contrasted posing with it at home with the demands of performing onstage in front of thousands of people. The tribute depended on an instantly recognizable stage image rather than a fictional character, down to the animal that helped make the original performance famous.
Kardashian chose someone closer to home. She dressed as North West, according to The Hollywood Reporter. That put a family resemblance at the centre of her costume, in contrast with Hilton’s recreation of a music performance from a quarter-century earlier.
The choice also reversed the usual direction of celebrity imitation: Kim Kardashian took her inspiration from her daughter rather than another adult performer. It was one of several costumes in the roundup built around a recognizable person, although the available coverage does not establish that impersonations outnumbered every other kind of costume.
Rinna’s reference was Jenner’s orange outfit from the December 2025 premiere of Marty Supreme. In her Oct. 30 Instagram post, she wore an orange dress with torso cutouts, a long dark wig, smoky eye makeup and a large silver cross necklace. She captioned the photographs “King Lisa,” a nod to Jenner’s King Kylie persona, NBC Los Angeles reported.
Film and cartoon characters supplied a different set of references. Riverdale co-stars Camila Mendes and Madelaine Petsch paired up as Betty and Wilma from The Flintstones. Tyga shared a Martian costume inspired by Mars Attacks! and another as Count Orlok from Nosferatu. Those looks relied on established screen characters rather than an imitation of a contemporary celebrity’s wardrobe.
Music videos provided another route. Keke Palmer and her son recreated Janet and Michael Jackson’s black-and-white “Scream” video, while Usher and his family dressed as Toy Story characters. Both examples turned the costume into a group performance. Rickey Thompson chose a more specific red-carpet reference: Zendaya’s look at the 2011 premiere of Justin Bieber: Never Say Never.
The Today show’s Oct. 30 broadcast took a television-history approach. Savannah Guthrie began as an NBC page leading a tour through familiar programming. Willie Geist appeared as Johnny Carson’s Carnac the Magnificent, Dylan Dreyer became Jeannie from I Dream of Jeannie, and Al Roker recreated Eddie Murphy’s Gumby from Saturday Night Live.
Live with Kelly and Mark also made Halloween a programme-wide production. Its episode featured more than 60 costumes, The Hollywood Reporter reported, with references including Spider-Man, The Odyssey and Toy Story 5. Rinna’s Jenner costume appeared alongside executive producer Michael Gelman as Timothée Chalamet, recreating the coordinated orange outfits Jenner and Chalamet wore to the Marty Supreme premiere.
