Janelle Monáe unveils prosthetic creature for second annual Wondaween festival
The singer plans her costumes years in advance and commits to full character portrayals, a practice she describes as essential to her creative process.
By Thomas Schneider ·
Janelle Monáe will appear in full prosthetic makeup for her Wondaween Festival: Creature Carnival, an event taking place on October 29 in Los Angeles. The festival marks the second year of her partnership with Bacardi, which serves as the official spirits sponsor for the event.
For this year's appearance, Monáe adopted a creature aesthetic. Her look features a peachy pink shag wig topped with a black hat. A wrinkled, green-tinted prosthetic covers her face, and she replaced one eye with a hot pink swirl. Her outfit consists of a ruffled white blouse, black-and-white striped suspenders, and long strands of pearls mixed with black beads. She also wore prosthetic hands with bloody knuckles.
Monáe holds a Spookito in one of the prosthetic hands for promotional materials. The drink is a Bacardi Halloween variation of the mojito. It contains 1.5 ounces of Bacardi Superior rum, 1 ounce of lime juice, 0.5 ounces of simple syrup, 0.25 ounces of grenadine, 8 to 10 mint leaves, and soda water. The recipe calls for muddling the mint with lime and syrup, adding the rum and ice, stirring, and topping with soda water before drizzling grenadine on top.
The singer views the holiday as a dedicated space for creative expression. She told The Hollywood Reporter that Halloween has been a happy space for her since childhood. She described it as a time to ask how people can become agents of joy, happiness, and imagination. "I do this because my heart needs it," she said.
Monáe plans her costumes with considerable lead time. She told People that her E.T. costume from 2024 took two years to complete. Designer and tailor Alex Navarro and stylist Alexandra Mandelkorn collaborate with her to execute these looks. Her history of elaborate disguises includes dressing as Chucky as a child in Kansas City, as The Mask in a yellow suit, and as the Cat in the Hat in 2025.
She commits to each character for the full duration of the day. Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, Monáe explained that when she gets into costume, she transforms completely. Whether portraying a white rabbit or Diva Plavalaguna from The Fifth Element, she remains in character for every interaction from morning until night. She stated that Wondaween Season allows all the different versions of herself to be fully realized.
The current festival takes over a secret location in Los Angeles. It follows a series of previous Wondaween events, including a vampire-themed party at Santa Monica Pier. For that event, Monáe wore a black latex cape, a tattooed prosthetic chest, fangs, and pointed ears. She also appeared in a Frankenstein-inspired outfit in October 2025, which included a black coat, white shirt, skinny tie, and bowler hat.
The Spookito drink is available through the Bacardi partnership. The event serves as a continuation of her annual tradition of blending high-fashion elements with pop culture references. Monáe has stated that she shares a similar aesthetic sense with the Cat in the Hat, specifically regarding the use of black and white with a pop of red.
Source: KBFB
