The Academy Awards are the belle of the ball of award season, where starlets and studs get to step out in their most glamorous ensembles.
Sunday evening’s show showed many got it right and others who … well, let’s just say, need to fire their stylists. Here are my top 12 best and worst dressed of the night!
Best Dressed: Carey Mulligan in Balenciaga
Carey Mulligan in this recreation of Cristóbal Balenciaga’s velvet and tulle “Mermaid” dress is what fashion dreams are made of. The gown first appeared in Balenciaga’s 1951 winter collection and was famously worn by British model Barbara Goalen.
It’s no coincidence Mulligan was itching to wear it to this year’s Oscars. According to WWD’s Booth Moore, actress Felicia Montealegre — whom Mulligan played in last year’s “Maestro” — married American composer Leonard Bernstein in 1951, the year the gown made its debut.
Mulligan played the styling to perfection, letting this dress have its moment without competing necklace(s), bracelets, or elaborate hairdos. The giant studs on her ears are all that’s needed for a fashion moment like this.
Carey Mulligan attends the 96th Annual Academy Awards at Dolby Theatre on March 10, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
Carey Mulligan attends the 96th Annual Academy Awards on March 10, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
Worst Dressed: Emma Stone in Louis Vuitton
Emma Stone’s having as many Oscars as Bette Davis makes no sense to me and neither does this dress. From the shoulders up, she’s a knockout.
But this Louis Vuitton custom gown from Nicolas Ghesquière could double as one of those paper fortune tellers you made during science class in 4th grade. It doesn’t help that this shade of mint is strikingly similar to nurse scrubs.
Emma Stone at the 96th Annual Oscars held at at the Ovation Hollywood on March 10, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)
Emma Stone attends the 96th Annual Academy Awards on March 10, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by John Shearer/WireImage)
Best Dressed: Ryan Gosling in Gucci
Ryan Gosling in this custom Gucci suit is a guide on how to do relaxed menswear for an otherwise stuffy evening. The sequin piping, unbuttoned silk shirt, and black patent leather lace-up shoes make for an undeniably cool look without being underdressed.
Ryan Gosling attends the 96th Annual Academy Awards on March 10, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)
Ryan Gosling attends the 96th Annual Academy Awards on March 10, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
Best Dressed: Lily Gladstone in Gucci
Another Gucci moment on Sunday evening was Lily Gladstone in this custom frock where the brand’s creative director Sabato De Sarno teamed up with Joe Big Mountain, a Native American behind the Ironhorse Quillwork label.
The result of the collaboration is a bold, and yet not overbearing, nod to Gladstone’s heritage and her victory as the first Native American actress to be nominated in a major Oscars category.
Lily Gladstone attends the 96th Annual Academy Awards on March 10, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by John Shearer/WireImage)
Lily Gladstone attends the 96th Annual Academy Awards on March 10, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by John Shearer/WireImage)
Worst Dressed: Emily Blunt in Schiaparelli Couture
Beware of this floating shoulders trend, it can ruin a red carpet for even the biggest of stars.
It’s a shame that likely hundreds of hours of sequin work on this dress is utterly wrecked by Schiaparelli’s insistence to include trompe l’œil briefs, giving the illusion of men’s underwear, and jutting straps that look as comfortable as sheet metal.
Emily Blunt at the 96th Annual Oscars held at at the Ovation Hollywood on March 10, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)
Emily Blunt arriving on the red carpet at the 96th Annual Academy Awards in Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, CA, Sunday, March 10, 2024. (Christina House/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Best Dressed: Kirsten Dunst in Gucci
I could hardly narrow down to only two photos of Kirsten Dunst in this beautifully crafted custom Gucci gown that could easily be a wedding dress. Every angle that this dress is photographed from is more regal than the next, a hard
The dress is particularly significant for Gucci as it helps usher in creative director Sabato De Sarno’s vision of passionate simplicity, in a very public way, at the luxury house.
Kirsten Dunst attends the 96th Annual Academy Awards on March 10, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by John Shearer/WireImage)
Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons at the 96th Annual Oscars held at Ovation Hollywood on March 10, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Lexie Moreland/WWD via Getty Images)
Worst Dressed: Cynthia Erivo in Louis Vuitton and Ariana Grande in custom Giambattista Valli Haute Couture
These two were, I assume, using the Oscars as press for their upcoming film version of “Wicked” where Erivo plays Elphaba, who becomes the Wicked Witch of the West, and Grande assumes the role of Galinda, later becoming Glinda the Good.
Eviro’s green leather ruffled (what the actual hell) gown and Grande’s custom Giambattista Valli cotton candy explosion look like costumes cut from the movie. Cheesy, tacky, and most of all, ugly.
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande speak onstage at the 96th Annual Oscars held at Dolby Theatre on March 10, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Variety via Getty Images)
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande speak onstage during the 96th Annual Academy Awards at Dolby Theatre on March 10, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Best Dressed: Lupita Nyong’o in Giorgio Armani
Lupita Nyong’o gets invested in her fashion choices. This year’s Oscars was no exception.
Knowing she’d help present during the Best Actress category, Nyong’o dipped into her personal archive to pull out this custom Armani Privé gown from 2020 but never worn. The gown is an homage to her soft blue silk Prada gown she won 10 years ago while winning her first Oscar.
Lupita Nyong’o at the 96th Annual Oscars held at Ovation Hollywood on March 10, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Lexie Moreland/WWD via Getty Images)
Lupita Nyong’o at the 96th Annual Oscars held at Ovation Hollywood on March 10, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Lexie Moreland/WWD via Getty Images)
Worst Dressed: Margot Robbie in Versace
Margot Robbie had some of the greatest fashion moments on the red carpet last year with her whirlwind press tour for “Barbie” recreating look after look of the iconic doll. It’s only fitting that Oscars watchers assumed she’d cap off the year of Barbie with a pink spectacular (despite the Academy snubbing her!)
Instead, Robbie chose this jarring black sequined number right off the runway from Versace’s Fall 2024 collection. With its uncomfortably taut bodice and awkwardly placed draping, this was a miss that no one saw coming.
Margot Robbie attends the 96th Annual Academy Awards at Dolby Theatre on March 10, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
Margot Robbie at the 96th Annual Oscars held at Ovation Hollywood on March 10, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Lexie Moreland/WWD via Getty Images)
Best Dressed: Jennifer Lawrence in Dior Haute Couture
JLaw lands on my best dressed list mostly because polka dots are nearly impossible to pull off in still photographs. They don’t tend to pop, instead appearing flat, but they work remarkably well on her in this ladylike long-draped strapless number from Dior Haute Couture with Swarovski diamonds.
Jennifer Lawrence at the 96th Annual Oscars held at Ovation Hollywood on March 10, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Lexie Moreland/WWD via Getty Images)
Jennifer Lawrence at the 96th Annual Oscars held at Ovation Hollywood on March 10, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Lexie Moreland/WWD via Getty Images)
Worst Dressed: Florence Pugh in Del Core
Florence Pugh has become a staple on my worst dressed list. Here, in this space age ensemble from Del Core, she does it again and with flying straps!
Florence Pugh at the 96th Annual Oscars held at at the Ovation Hollywood on March 10, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)
Florence Pugh attends the 96th Annual Academy Awards on March 10, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
