Carla Hall's Best Halloween Costumes Through the Years

Here’s a bit of deep Carla Hall lore: The chef, author and Food Network star decided to pursue her love of food when, in her 20s, she was working in Paris as a fashion model. That might not come as much of a surprise to viewers who’ve seen her costumes on Halloween Baking Championship and Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking: You can take Carla from the runway, but you can’t take the runway from Carla. Carla also shares her lethally brilliant looks with a side of dad jokes (“Don’t let me alienate you,” she cracked when she revealed this costume during Season 11). But best of all, she shouts out the team members who transform her, shares behind-the-scenes details and voices her infectious love of what she rightly calls “the most wonderful time of the year.” Read on for our favorite Carla costumes (so far).

This is the haute couture, lowest-levels-of-hell combo Carla served (and sat in hair and makeup for two and a half hours) during Season 11. Gorgeously ghastly, darling! “Look at all of this,” she gushed in a behind-the-scenes video. “I tell you, they did a great job.”

Fellow judges Stephanie Boswell and Zac Young materialized during Season 11 as the ghost of Joan of Arc and the ghost of middle school, respectively. Carla, in turn, brought the (haunted) house down as the ghost of disco with a larger-than-afterlife Afro and an oversized lamé cape. “I’m gonna be in somebody’s shot,” she announced as she strutted behind the scenes. “I don’t know if it’s [host] John [Henson]’s or Zac’s, but somebody don’t have space today.”

Backyard coops are adorable and trendy, but so few influencers warn us about how getting pecked by the wrong bird can lead to awkward full moons forever. Consider Carla, captured here as the unforgettable werechicken of Season 10’s finale. Can you imagine how much cracked corn Food Network must have had to keep in the green room for her?

Carla seemed to have had a grisly accident halfway through Season 10, but the show went on without a hitch. She’s a consummate pro, of course, and we hear medics can reattach just about anything these days as long as you hang on to it. Bonus: Black hides bloodstains!

Carla stepped up her curb appeal and cultivated a bit of a Pee-wee’s Playhouse vibe as an anthropomorphic portal in Season 10. With a costume like this one, an ultra-committed candy distributor could prop open their own front door and perch in its place to make trick-or-treaters jump on Halloween. Too much, or just enough?

During Season 9, Carla paid tribute to the ultra-colorful, oh-so-cranial extraterrestrials from Tim Burton's cult classic Mars Attacks! (1996). This costume called for another marathon with the show's magnificent makeup artists, but on the bright side, there wasn't much to learn if she felt like quoting the movie: the brainy aliens' only lines are "Ack, ack!"

Carla kicked off Season 9’s carnival theme with what she’s called one of her favorite costumes. This iconic look guided contestants into the episode’s main event — preparing evil clown cakes — and haunted fans’ memories all season. (Is “evil clown” redundant? Discuss.)

Carla helps determine the contestants’ fortunes every week, but during Season 8, she made it official as a seer with an actual third eye.

Fitness instructors stress the importance of cooling down, but did Carla listen? Season 7 was inspired by classic '80s slasher films, and her Episode 4 homage to the era’s VHS fitness queens was neon bright and impressively dark.

Nomenclature is strictly regulated when it comes to sparkling beverages, and so it was for Carla during Season 6. To be labeled "Halloween Baking Bubbly," you have to be a judge on Halloween Baking Championship; otherwise, it’s just sparkling clothes.

An episode of Season 6 featured infernal twists (Fresno chiles and fire elements!). Carla heated things up as a devilish diva. Truth be told, this look would get her past the velvet rope at most clubs.

Carla made a splash in the Season 5 finale with a costume that was both deceptively simple and downright brilliant. Bedecked with purple tulle and a looped rope, then topped with sparkling makeup that frothed into a bubbling, iridescent updo, she was Food Network’s first-ever judge and bath pouf.

Colorful and countercultural, Carla piled on hues by the handful for her Season 4 costume debut. This punky neon hippie look is proof that you don't need to go all out on special effects to create an effective costume. Just consider Coco Chanel's much-repeated line about looking in the mirror and removing one accessory, then disobey that advice over and over (and over).

Historians believe that Nefertiti — the most famous queen of ancient Egypt and Carla's costume for the Season 3 finale — called asparagus "the food of the gods" (and was depicted with a fan made of it in a 5,000-year-old piece of art). We're grateful to Carla for channeling the ruler's spectacular look and not her rumored tastes: Asparagus desserts are too scary, even for Halloween.