Selena Gomez was definitely one of the best-dressed women of the Oscars. I know I’ve been saying that about a lot of women, but I really do believe it – it was a surprisingly good night for fashion, albeit a bit boring and same-y overall. There were no huge trainwreck-style moments, at least that I saw, although Miley Cyrus really did try, bless her heart. Anyway, Selena has a shockingly good awards-season run, and her Ralph Lauren dress at the Oscars capped it all off. As a fellow big-rig hauler, I’ve been fascinated to see how Selena dresses for her large bust. She’s giving us a masterclass in clever tailoring and what I assume is smart foundation garments, including a minimizer of some variety. Selena’s team apparently based this on a Sofia Loren look, which makes sense. Her necklace is Bulgari, and yes, her fiance Benny Blanco was there. I would pay $50 to hear what Taylor Swift thinks of Selena’s fiance.

As for Miley Cyrus… yeah, she tried it. She wore a McQueen look with dumb gloves (is she Madonna??). Minus the gloves, the dress is fine, almost boring. But Miley’s styling included bleached brows and her whole face looked “off.”

Anok Yai wore Marni – eh. She’s so beautiful, but this looked so cheap.

H.E.R. also wore Ralph Lauren, like Selena. Someone always tries to channel Ferrero Rocher, and this year it was H.E.R.

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Mindy Kaling was one of my picks for best-dressed at this year’s Oscars. Mindy is often invited to the Oscars as a presenter, and she almost always goes to the Vanity Fair Oscar party too. This year, she did what she usually does – goes solo to the Oscars, then met up with BJ Novak for the parties. Sigh. Anyway, she wore this silver Oscar de la Renta gown and I love it. I said this last night, but doesn’t this feel like a very “Duchess of Sussex” look? Mindy really leaned into the Meghan-esque styling, choosing a halter-type dress, doing her hair in a sleek low pony. The makeup was a bit “off,” but I also think Mindy has messed with her face a little bit too.

Tennis star Coco Gauff was invited to the Oscars! She wore Miu Miu and her mom was her date. I loved this look on her – very few women can pull off this sunny shade of yellow. Indian Wells starts later this week (that’s why Coco is in California).

Marissa Bode wore RVNG couture – the skirt is different, but I can’t figure out if it was designed specifically to puff up like that. Marissa and Storm Reid (below) were also two of the few women in red. That was really off-trend this year – there were so many really pale looks at the Oscars this year.

Storm Reid in Alexandre Vauthier – it’s a cute look… for the Oscar parties. I wish the younger girls would storm with the mullet dresses for big events like the Oscars. It’s giving “they think it’s a cocktail party.”

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Michelle Yeoh’s royal blue Balenciaga was a perfect presenter dress. There wasn’t anything distracting or attention-grabbing about it, and she looked so elegant in it. She moved like a queen in this gown. I love a classic gown, executed well, in a bold jewel tone. I would have liked to see her hair down, but I understand why she wore it slicked back so as not to distract from all that fabric.

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Look at this photo of Michelle and Halle Berry holding hands on the carpet!

Early arrival Rachel Sennott was also in Balenciaga, in a light plum sequin strapless gown. I wasn’t fond of her makeup, but this is a great gown for a non-nominee. I’m basic like that though.

Scarlett Johansson kind of phoned it in with this velvet vintage Mugler gown. She presented Best Makeup and Best Hairstyling along with June Squibb. They made some weird jokes about how they were played by other actors in makeup. It just made me think about what a great actress June Squibb is to deliver those dumb lines so well. June really should have been nominated for best actress, for Thelma, but I guess no one put money in that campaign. I was disappointed that she didn’t win an Independent Spirit Award for that at least, as Anora swept the Spirit Awards as well.

Scarlett directed June in Eleanor The Great, out sometime this year and costarring Chiwetel Ejiofor. June was wearing custom Johnny Was. If you have not seen Thelma yet, you can watch it on Hulu and it’s safe around most kids. (It can be scary for younger kids.) I saw it twice at the theater last year and it’s one of my favorite movies of all time now.

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Elle Fanning attended the Oscars for the first time! I didn’t even realize that Elle has never attended before, because she’s such a regular at other awards shows. Elle was part of the ensemble for A Complete Unknown, so she’s been hanging out with Timothee Chalamet and Monica Barbaro throughout the awards season. She decided to go all out for her Oscar debut – she wore the first-ever red carpet debut of Sarah Burton’s new collection for Givenchy. It’s honestly a stunning gown and she looked like a princess. The molded bust reminds me of Burton’s work on the Princess of Wales’s wedding gown, actually. It would not surprise me at all if Elle’s look ended up on a lot of brides’ inspo boards. Elle also wore Cartier jewelry (she was so excited that she got pieces out of the Cartier vault).

It would have been so special to see Isabella Rossellini win an Oscar. Alas, it was not to be, and I genuinely feel like Oscar voters made a terrible mistake by not voting for Isabella when they had the chance. Isabella honored people she loved and lost with her Oscar ensemble – a blue velvet Dolce & Gabbana gown to honor the late David Lynch, and the same earrings her mother Ingrid Bergman wore when Bergman won her Oscar. Isabella also wore a Bulgari necklace.

Unfortunately, Isabella had bad mojo coming into the Oscars, because she was accompanied by my nemesis Laura Dern. Dern’s Gucci look was fine, but those bangs!! LMAO.

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Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo surprisingly opened up the Oscars, singing a medley of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “Home” and “Defying Gravity.” They both sang their asses off, but I did feel like it was a quick admission that Wicked was not going to win many Oscars – the film ended up winning for Costume Design and Production Design and nothing else. The one good thing that has come out of the years-long Wicked promotion is that Ariana and Cynthia are absolutely besties. You can’t fake that closeness for this long – they love each other dearly, and the shot of Ariana watching Cynthia sing is iconic.

Fashion-wise… well… much to say. Ari and Cynthia’s red carpet looks were not my taste. Ari wore Schiaparelli, a structural lampshade in a pale cream/pink, basically. Cynthia wore Louis Vuitton, a custom look in a rich, dark green velvet. I much preferred their performance ensembles – Cynthia wore a gorgeous Vivienne Westwood gown, and Ari wore a custom Schiaparelli in ruby-red, with a “ruby slipper” worked into the design at the back. As if Ariana’s whole dress was the ruby slipper. This was the first time Ariana has worn red or burgundy for anything involving Wicked, correct? Her awards season has been dominated by pinks and creams. The Westwood look was also a rare lighter ensemble for Cynthia.

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Two time Oscar winner Emma Stone presented Best Actress last night, which went to Mikey Madison in somewhat of an upset. Emma wore a very simply designed Louis Vuitton sheath gown. I wasn’t too impressed with this on camera, but LV has a closeup on their Instagram and the sequin-look pieces are actually button-like and have tiny lines on them. This is both dazzling and forgettable at the same time, like a solid formulaic action movie. I like it, but I won’t remember it.

I can say the same for Ana de Armas’s silver and Louis Vuitton gown. It looked really pretty on camera though and I liked how it sparkled when she was presenting with Samuel L. Jackson.

Ooh Ana posed with Edgar Ramirez! They are hot together. They were rumored to have dated back in 2016 when they did a couple of movies together. I appreciate how Ana used to be everywhere when she was dating Ben Affleck and then she just retreated and focused on her work.

Director Ava DuVernay was also in LV, in a phenomenally sleek gown with very unique structurally draped shoulders. I like how bold this is.

Nickel Boys’ Ethan Herisse was in cool-looking LV suit with a tiny pattern of sequins. Nickel Boys did not get enough love last night. It only nominated for Best Picture and Best Screenplay, which Anora swept. (I don’t have an ID yet on Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor or Brandon Wilson’s looks.) I love seeing Oscar nominee Aunjanue on screen and she’s sure to win an Academy Award in the next few years. She steals every scene she’s in.

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Just so we’re clear, Kylie Jenner was Timothee Chalamet’s bad-luck charm. The only award he picked up during this year’s awards season was the SAG Award, and that was the one awards show where he didn’t bring Kylie Jenner as his date (he brought his mom). Not to get too “Club Chalamet” about all of this, but in Timmy’s place, I might have told Kylie to just meet up later at the Vanity Fair party. Instead, Kylie was front and center at the Oscars, sitting right beside her boyfriend of two years. There were a lot of cutaways to Timothee too, so Kylie got a lot of attention.

I mean, I’m only halfway joking. Actors are superstitious though, so I do wonder if Timothee considered NOT bringing Kylie to improve his shot at the Oscar. It’s also notable that Timmy lost the Oscar even though he won the SAG Award – usually the SAGs are the best way to predict how the acting Oscars will go, but this year, the SAG lead actor winners lost their Oscar races. It’s a situation where Timmy is so young (he’s not even 30 and he already has two lead-actor Oscar noms) and AMPAS voters feel like they’ll have plenty of time to give him an Oscar.

Fashion notes: when he walked the carpet solo, he wore a butter-colored Givenchy tuxedo, the cut of which was very “Bob Dylan.” He changed into a stylish black tux/suit for the parties. Kylie wore a custom Miu Miu to the Oscars, then changed into an Ashi Studio dress for the Oscar after-parties. They’ve continued to refuse to walk red carpets together, but they’ll happily pose together inside various events.

Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner kiss after the Best Actor #Oscar was announced. #AwardsSeason pic.twitter.com/gTpuchT5sa

— E! News (@enews) March 3, 2025

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Presenter Halle Berry was such a standout on the red carpet in this intricately designed and fabulously executed Christian Siriano gown featuring thousands of mirrored pieces. I love the sequin mesh sides and the little train. I was just blown away by this gown. Christian Siriano was part of the E! fashion panel and he said it was a career goal to dress Halle for the Oscars. You could tell how proud he was of this look and he should be, it was phenomenal. The only thing I’ll say against it is that it flashed on camera and reflected the light in a way I found distracting when she was on stage. I don’t know how they could have avoided that. I would watch a two hour documentary on this dress. Her styling is also perfection.

I would have loved to have seen Van Hunt on the red carpet with her but he doesn’t need to go to everything and I imagine that these ceremonies can be a drag for plus ones. Sometimes I think about Don Cheadle saying that he feels restrained at the Oscars because he can’t talk smack about people when the cameras catch every moment. That’s so relatable to me apart from getting to go to the Oscars.

Presenter and EGOT Whoopi Goldberg wore a “custom Siriano liquid water” off the runway gown. I like how bold this is, the color and reflective properties of the fabric are such and standout. As a Gen X woman I love seeing Whoopi. She was a staple of my teen years. Whoopi brought her daughter, Alex Martin, as her date.

Performer Queen Latifah was also in Siriano, in a lovely crimson gown with puffy shoulders. Queen Latifah did the Quincy Jones tribute last night and I like that they opened with Ease on Down The Road from The Wiz! That was the first movie I remember seeing in a theater. I was five and I had skipped school that day, but my mom still let me go to the movies.

Speaking of the performances, we had a whole ass tribute to James Bond for some reason. I’m thinking Amazon paid for that. My favorite performance was Raye doing Skyfall at the end. She was adorable in her red carpet interview and I will be watching her career. Raye wore Vivienne Westwood and she looked like a bombshell.

Doja Cat was very on brand in leopard print retro Balmain. This was kind of cool looking and we’ve seen so much worse from her. I kind of loved her performance outfit with the dripping sequins even though it was quite on the nose for “Diamonds are Forever.”

Lisa of Blackpink was in a custom Mark Gong tuxedo dress on the red carpet. This is one of the most unique looking tuxedo gowns I’ve seen and I see the craftsmanship and thought that went into it. The designer describes it on Instagram as “a long tailored coat with a long pleated white shirt and velvet bow tie.” He calls it “strong, confident but mysterious” and says “it was joyful and exciting to create this look.” It definitely shows! I love how the buttons for the shirt continue down the skirt and how everything layers delicately.

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While I didn’t want Demi Moore to win the Oscar, I actually felt sorry for her when Mikey Madison’s name was called for Best Actress. To be fair, I think even Demi knew it was a toss-up – in the past two months, Demi and Mikey have been splitting the awards down the middle, with Demi picking up the SAG Award, Golden Globe and Critics Choice, and Mikey winning the BAFTA, Spirit Award and a lot of critics’ awards. Demi dressed like a winner though – her Armani gown was beautiful and I honestly thought she was going to end up winning, based solely on style vibes. She dressed for success! I like that she went for a very traditional look too.

Felicity Jones also wore Armani – she’s gone for very sleek, simple looks throughout the awards season, probably because she was never a favorite in Best Supporting Actress. Which is a shame – I remember seeing a movie critic/awards-watcher say, back in December, that people should have put some money behind Felicity’s campaign, because she really did a good job in The Brutalist. It’s true. Still, she’s part of yet another Oscar-winning film and she starred opposite another Oscar-winning lead actor (she did the same in The Theory of Everything).

Raffey Cassidy is the British actress who played Zsófia in The Brutalist. A difficult role, and she hasn’t gotten enough attention for what she did in that film. She ended up getting a lot of attention at the Oscars, just because she was the only woman (I saw) wearing Loewe. And it was a really good Loewe too!

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Lupita Nyong’o is one of the latest brand ambassadors for Chanel. Originally, I thought it was bad luck for Lupita, who is usually known as one of the best-dressed women on any given red carpet. I thought she would be confined by Chanel’s tweed-and-pearls philosophy. Instead, something magical happened – Chanel’s designers have been customizing some of their best gowns for Lupita, and she looks like the second coming of Audrey Hepburn. Lupita’s Chanel look at last night’s Oscars was one of my favorites of the night. I love how they incorporated the “Chanel pearls” into her hair.

Fernanda Torres also got a custom Chanel. I thought this was fine? I had a weird premonition that she would win Best Actress, but that did not happen. Her film – I’m Still Here – did win Best International Film, which was thrilling for Brazilians.

Lily-Rose Depp’s Chanel roots are generational – her mother is a long-time Chanel devotee and brand ambassador, and Lily basically inherited the Chanel contract. I know Lily-Rose is the kind of woman Chanel wants to dress, but this is giving me nothing.

Margaret Qualley’s Chanel look was my second-favorite after Lupita’s. There were several women in velvet, and this was one of the better options.

And finally, Penelope Cruz is a long-time Chanel devotee and this felt like something she has already worn a million times, and like it was already in her closet.

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