This is the year the Oscars finally embraced high fashion

Straight-from-the-catwalk designs and high-concept gowns made for a creative red carpet – although there were misses among the hits.

Well... all those who said the dramatic creative changes at the top of big fashion houses last year wouldn’t cut through to the public didn’t anticipate the Matthieu Blazy (Chanel) and Jonathan Anderson (Christian Dior) red-carpet effect.

Both designers, not yet a year into their posts, have been relentlessly showcasing their wares (and wears) during this awards season. It’s fair to say neither fully hit their stride until Sunday night, with both serving up dress after stunning dress.

First out of the limos (a surprisingly early arrival for an A-lister; she was one of the first to arrive) was Jessie Buckley, radiant in red and pink Chanel. Over the past few months, Buckley has often looked as though fashion was happening to her rather than for her. But Danielle Goldberg, a top Hollywood stylist who also works with Greta Lee and Saoirse Ronan, finally captured Buckley’s contradictions – she’s both earthy and luminous – with this joyful strapless satin and silk dress, part sculpted, part flowy. For the first time, Buckley looked comfortable as well as radiant.

Like Buckley, Rose Byrne, in hour-glass Dior, embroidered with white cyclamen, met the right dress. Kirsten Dunst in architectural black ruffles; prima ballerina Misty Copeland in a David Koma black tuxedo with a white tutu hem (shades of Jonathan Anderson’s new Bar jackets at Dior), Kate Hudson (not normally a notable dresser, but her watery blue beaded Armani Prive strapless peplum dress looked stunning); Chloe Zhao in her Lady Dedlock black veil and Audrey Nuna, in a tailored gold and black jacket that exploded into a Scarlett O’Hara crinoline below the waist, all looked delightfully idiosyncratic.

You’ve got to hand it to Gwyneth Paltrow, who always knows how to steal the spotlight. In her blush pink Armani Prive gown, she took the concept of a thigh split to new heights – a not-so-subtle reminder that the over-50s can still bare all when it’s done judiciously. Naomi Watts also rocked slit-to-the hip Balenciaga at the after party, while Philipine Leroy-Beaulieu did a deep V-neck. And then there was 80-year-old Goldie Hawn, still somehow working her dizzy blonde charm and getting away with it.

It’s rare that red carpet dresses jet in direct from a show. These days they’re usually created from scratch. The fact that Byrne and her stylist Kate Young felt confident taking on a catwalk design (an adaptation of look 35 from the spring 2026 couture collection), is just one example of how this year’s Oscars fully embraced high fashion – not the gimmicks, but the creativity and craft. They even had Dame Anna Wintour presenting. If you didn’t stay up (that’s what we’re here for), she was good at playing herself – and as Naomi Campbell has frequently demonstrated, that’s not a given.

Bland beige and samey sadness be gone. Gen Z and millennial actors like Mia Goth in frothy white Dior, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas in an exploded Loewe neckline, Odessa A’zion in a Valentino crystal-embellished wrap jacket and long black skirt, and Teyana Taylor have all grown up with Instagram and TikTok, where anyone can familiarise themselves with and air their views about major designers without forking out for a subscription to Vogue.

Taylor hasn’t put a foot wrong on the red carpet (although she could have lost the necklace). I’d assumed that one reason she has such amazing poise is that she has a long neck. But this Chanel textured slip dress revealed she simply has incredible posture and knows how to bend her body into shapes for the camera.

The moment they get a decent role, actors are courted by major houses. Nicolas Ghesquière, Louis Vuitton’s creative director, designs unapologetically conceptual clothes that aren’t always easy to wear. Vuitton pays its ambassadors life-changing sums of money, so those chosen quickly learn how to enrage with high-concept outfits. Not everyone’s a winner. Chase Infiniti’s ruffled, corseted, draped train had almost as much going on as One Battle After Another, her Oscar-nominated breakout. Conversely, Emma Stone’s shimmery empire line had too little. At least it did in pictures. Zendaya on the other hand, was perfection in an off-the-shoulder brown Vuitton dress that suited her colouring beautifully.

For all the stunning frocks, the biggest lesson is about styling. Red lipstick was the biggest star. Renate Reinsve, the Norwegian nominated for Best Actress in Sentimental Value, had already selected a stunning, strapless red Vuitton dress with an off-centre train. But her less-is-more styling (matching red shoes and lipstick, slicked back hair and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy decision to forgo jewellery bar a single cuff) made it outstanding.

Styling decisions also rocketed Kathy Bates’ lavender grey beaded satin gown by bridal designer Sareh Nouri into the memorable category. When was the last time you saw such a sophisticated matching of hair and outfit colours? Melissa McCarthy’s gold beaded dress with its black neckline and long sleeves and Wunmi Mosaku’s emerald green sequinned Louis Vuitton were two more well-judged decisions. And Kate Hawley, whose Frankenstein costumes won her an Oscar, looked glorious in her billowing black taffeta bow-necked cape and multiple brooches.

Men are embracing brooches too. I lost count of how many. Much better than that blighted era when they expressed their rebelliousness by rejecting bow ties and dressed like identical bouncers. I liked this year’s floppy bow ties trend, as seen on Paul Mescal, among others.

For women, peplums are a definite thing. More high fashion from the catwalks – see a (thinner than ever) Nicole Kidman in Chanel. Heavy handed accessorising made Anne Hathaway’s floral Valentino – not a million miles from Byrne’s Dior – seem old-fashioned. Elbow length gloves, diamond drop earrings, blinding necklace and backcombed hair were the embodiment of the old adage (which I just made up). Namely: you don’t have to take it all, just because it’s all available to you.

Other misses? It seems like plucking low hanging fruit because she always gets it wrong, but Heidi Klum’s strapless, corset-style, jewelled bodice managed to look basic despite all those adjectives.

Timothée Chalamet’s once-again too-long trousers are a no from me. The normally sure-footed Vicky Krieps could have oomphed up her make-up slightly. The curved neckline on her Bottega Veneta black column dress didn’t need that necklace either.

Initially, from the pictures I thought Sigourney Weaver’s gold Valentino dress washed her out in the pictures, and that her make-up wasn’t helping. On stage however, the effect was subtle and delicate. This Oscar dressing malarkey isn’t easy.