This year, the Oscars took place on February 9th at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood. Although the Oscars are meant to celebrate the best artistic and technical directors, films, and actors in the industry, many viewers’ eyes were focused on the fashion the stars displayed on the red carpet. 

There were many different trends that made a huge statement at the red carpet, such as embellishment, capes, and possibly an excessive amount of jewels. Although almost the red carpet looks were fabulous on the stars, there were five that really stood out to me, and the rest of the Oscar viewers. 

Starting from the bottom up, Billie Eilish’s look came in fifth for me. Her look was an oversized pantsuit, which matched her traditional style of baggy clothes, designed by Channel. The off-white, fuzzy suit has multiple embroidered Chanel logos and a large black graffiti Chanel logo on the side. Her shoes, which were half-hidden by her pants, were fluffy black and white sneakers. She also made a statement with lace fingerless gloves, which showed off her very long acrylic nails. This look came in fifth place solely because it wasn’t much out of her comfort zone for her normal day to day outfits. 

Coming in fourth place is Janelle Monae who came in Ralph Lauren. Although this dress was very much talked about, due to its uniqueness, this came in fourth for me because of the shape and style of the dress. The dress was very special due to its inclusion of 168,000 Swarovski crystal which took 600 hours of work to hand embroider. It also included an open back long sleeves and draped hood. Monae also wore a teardrop crystal choker and her bold red lip pulled the look altogether.  All in all, this look was a very elegant twist on a medieval-style dress and was for sure a statement piece. 

In third place, I chose Scarlett Johansson in Oscar de la Renta mostly because of how incredibly the dress fit her figure. This Oscar de la Renta styled dress was shimmery and silver in color and included a mesh bodice with draped fabric. The train of the dress was long enough to cover her shoes and her accessories included diamond drop Forevermark earring, a bracelet, and her engagement ring. Her simple hair and makeup pulled the look together by giving the dress a voice. This dress, although somewhat simple, made Johansons already stunning figure even better and was a great pick for the Oscars.

Coming in second was Brie Larson in Celine. This dress, similar to Monae, included 13,00 Swarovski crystals that took 1,200 hours to hand embroider. The color was nude pink and featured a stunning bedazzled cape, a high slit detail, deep v-line neck, and vertical stripes. She also carried a pale pink Jimmy Choo Celeste clutch which pulled the look together. The simple, yet the extravagant look of this beautifully embellished, form-fitting dress made it place second place for me.

The number one dress worn at the Oscars was Natalie Portman in Dior. What made this dress such a statement piece was the hand embodied names featured on the cape of the year’s most notable female directors. These were directors that weren’t acknowledged at the Oscars, despite their hard work in film. An example of a name featured on the cape is Greta Gerwig who directed Little Women. Despite this sexism related statement, the dress itself was gorgeous and looked gorgeous on her. The dress was sleek black with gold stitching detailing on the front and she wore it with a long black cape. The dress came in first for me not only for the design but for the message that Natalie Portman stated.