Elle Fanning, Anne Hathaway, and More

If there is one thing that reliably breaks the monotony of a red carpet season filled with predictable columns and safe sparkle, it is volume. This year’s Academy Awards red carpet included sculptural silhouettes, exaggerated proportions and couture-level construction that immediately elevated the visual conversation.

The Oscars has long rewarded this kind of fashion message. The idea goes back to Hollywood’s earliest couture alliances, like Audrey Hepburn arriving at the award show in 1954 wearing Hubert de Givenchy. The gown, in what today would easily read as the Pantone color Cloud Dancer, carried a sculptural purity and highly crafted floral embroideries that would still feel like a red carpet winner today, proof that great couture silhouettes never really go out of style. In more recent decades, dramatic shapes have shined on the carpet when it needed it most, from Halle Berry’s unforgettable embroidered gown by Elie Saab in 2002 to Penélope Cruz’s sweeping feathered confection by Donatella Versace in 2007, just to name a few. 

The renewed love of volume also mirrors what happened on the Paris runways this January during Paris Couture Week, where designers doubled down on architectural shapes. Corset bodices, 18th-century shapes and sculptural constructions felt closer to wearable history than traditional eveningwear.

The sculptural mood of the night also came with a slightly mischievous subtext, almost like the revenge of the 1950s housewife. Full skirt silhouettes swept the carpet in tulle confections channeling the Grace Kelly “To Catch a Thief” era of polished midcentury glamour. A perfect example was Elle Fanning in Givenchy by Sarah Burton, the sweeping skirt paired with a perfectly matching Cartier necklace. But the “Madman” housewife’s fantasy did not stay sweet for long. It took on a darker, more modern twist with Rose Byrne in a dramatic black floral number by Jonathan Anderson for Dior. Anne Hathaway added another layer of tension to the trend in her own black gown with floral embroideries by Alessandro Michelle’s Valentino Couture, proving that even the most nostalgic silhouettes can feel unexpectedly subversive in the right context. 

When those couture gestures land on the Oscars’ carpet, they do more than photograph well. They inject drama and unpredictability into a red carpet that can often play it safe, reminding everyone that Hollywood’s biggest night is still one of fashion’s most powerful stages.