‘Super Bowl of Hollywood style’: Oscars red carpet stuns with shimmering gowns, soft pastels and ‘chic-maverick’ suits

Louise Talbot
Mar 11, 2024, updated Mar 11, 2024

Stars on the Oscars red carpet

Source: ABC TV

Hours before host Jimmy Kimmel officially kicked off the 96th Academy Awards, Hollywood’s A-listers graced the red carpet for the annual runway spectacular.

Barbie‘s Margot Robbie, Zendaya (Dune: Part Two) and Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer) went for a shimmering theme for the biggest night in showbiz, and, unusually for the Academy Awards, no one major trend dominated celebrity outfits.

Red carpet arrivals began an hour earlier than expected on March 11 (AEDT), with the main awards ceremony starting at 10am.

Interestingly, Robbie, who has replicated Barbie outfits throughout her global press tour and throughout awards season, wore a black vintage gown on Sunday – it was originally worn by supermodel Claudia Schiffer in 1994.

The Hollywood Reporter praised nominees Cillian Murphy, Ryan Gosling and Colman Domingo for their “chic-maverick approach”, while Florence Pugh and Lupita Nyong’o joined the list of superstars pulling off nominees for gown-of-the-year award.

“The 2024 Oscars are once again proving to be the Super Bowl of Hollywood style,” it wrote, pointing out the emerging trend of “mermaid core” [a hint of sparkle, aquatic motifs] on Carey Mulligan (Maestro) and Emma Stone (Poor Things).

Zendaya, 27, wore a shimmering outfit of an iridescent purple dress with a black sparkling bodice and palm tree-inspired detailing, from Armani Prive.

Blunt, 41, wore a fashion label that has dominated the red carpet for this awards season, Schiaparelli. The Italian fashion house is known for polished designs with a hint of the surreal.

Blunt’s sequinned gown had heavily structured straps and cheeky detailing that looked like the outline of Y-fronts. She paired it with strings of Tiffany & Co jewellery.

Barbie actress America Ferrera, 39, took a leaf out of co-star Robbie’s style book, wearing a pink chainmail Versace gown – which looked like a version of one Robbie wore to a Barbie event in Sydney last year.

Pugh, 28, wore a lesser-known label – Del Core, a Milanese brand founded in 2020. The bodice of the gown was matched by a statement snake-style Bulgari necklace.

Stone, 35, was one of the celebrities to opt against sparkles on the red carpet, instead drawing inspiration from the 18th-century costuming of her character Bella Baxter in Poor Things.