White Gowns + More – Fashion News

Each year, the Oscars red carpet comes with a few key fashion trends that not only set the tone for the evening (and the way we look at it in posterity), but also inform how regular people dress for a big night out. In the late ’90s, Sharon Stone inspired women to pair ballgowns with white button downs, and a whole slew of spaghetti-strap dresses informed what high schoolers would wear to their proms (think Gwyneth Paltrow in a pink Ralph Lauren number in 1999, or Julia Roberts in vintage Valentino in 2001, both of which spawned countless knock-offs). More recently, the red carpet has taken to using fashion as activism, such as when a group of actresses wore black at the 2018 Golden Globes as a statement of solidarity on the Me Too movement. More often than not, however, a fashion statement on the Oscars red carpet is less explicit, and more implicit on a collective vibe or sign of the times.

For this year’s Academy Awards, the red carpet was swapped out for a “Champagne” hue, as a way of providing a bit of variation on the evening. And while there may or may not have been a correlation, the switch to an off-white carpet made for an interesting background with this year’s crop of Oscars fashion trends.

Here, a look at the top three trends that walked the carpet lsat night and some insight as to how we might see them in real life later this year.

1. Bridal white

The Oscars red carpet is often glittering with gold sequins, liquid metallic silks and other sparkling Champagne-hued embellishments meant to make subjects shine like human statuettes. Rarely has that look included white, since a white gown has traditionally been reserved for bridal moments, not the red carpet. But at Sunday’s awards show — and the numerous after parties — white was the most prevalent hue for the gowns walking the carpet.

Michelle Williams’s Chanel couture column gown featured a delicate crystal-embroidered lace overlay, while Emily Blunt styled a bare-shouldered, long-sleeve Valentino dress with Alexandre Birman heels, a Judith Leiber crystal bag and Chopard chandelier earrings for what might be interpreted as something a modern minimalist bride would wear to nuptials.

But the evening’s big moment for the white gown came from Michelle Yeoh, who wore a Dior haute couture ivory silk organza gown embellished with waves of feathers to win her Best Actress award. As the first Asian woman to win it, the white gown read like a sartorial milestone for making history — a moment much more significant than a wedding.

2. Opera gloves

The second-biggest fashion trend at the Oscars seems to have come directly from Paris Fashion Week and the rest of the fall winter ’23 runways. Gloves — and more specifically, opera-style gloves, which reach up above the elbow — were everywhere.

Velvet gloves provided a head-to-toe-and-fingers effect for Tracee Ellis Ross’s Balmain look, which came directly from the brand’s fall winter ’23 runway show at PFW last week. Danielle Deadwyler’s patterned Versace mini dress and turquoise gloves also came directly from the runway, at the brand’s L.A. runway show just days earlier.

Both Rihanna and Yara Shahidi pulled looks from Bottega Veneta’s fall winter ’23 runway show for colorful, textured looks that incorporated matching gloves.

Camila Alves McConaughey also tried the look with a dramatic Louis Vuitton gown — and wore her Cartier bracelet and rings over matching gloves for a look that is pure vintage throwback.

3. Oversized flowers

While florals are certainly not groundbreaking (enter Miranda Priestly’s deadpan remark), and they weren’t exactly a big trend on the spring summer ’23 runways, plenty of stars chose a flower accent — and really ran with it.

Both Nicole Kidman and Michael B. Jordan opted for an oversize floral lapel situation; she in a custom Armani Privé sequined gown with a massive silvery, 3D flower on both her shoulder and her hip, while Jordan swapped his traditional Louis Vuitton tuxedo from the awards show for an oversized black flower lapel moment at the Vanity Fair Oscars party. Suki Waterhouse also opted for a supersize flower in a silver sequined Elie Saab gown. All three looks had a whiff of Carrie Bradshaw’s penchant for the flower as major accessory.

Elsewhere, Halle Berry donned a Tamara Ralph white gown with a high slit and a series of gilded rosettes, while Iris Apatow sported a sequined Colin LoCascio gown dotted with flowers, including around her neck. Tessa Thompson took the floral motif to a bralette as part of her tuxedo gown — which also included opera gloves.