London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 29, 2025

15 Oscar Looks That Caused a Stir

15 Oscar Looks That Caused a Stir

Björk’s swan dress and Céline Dion’s infamous white tux make the list.

The upcoming Academy Awards ceremony on April 25 is the grand finale of this year’s awards season-and if the Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards, and other events from this past month are any indication, it’s bound to be a night filled with memorable fashion looks. In anticipation of the big night, Vogue is taking a look at some of the most controversial and iconic choices in the show’s history-specifically, the looks we can’t help but discuss year after year.

Past award ceremonies have spurred some of the most debated moments in fashion. Was Bjork’s swan dress genius or plain mad? Did Angelina Jolie’s #RightLeg social media moment overshadow her Atelier Versace gown? Was Jennifer Lawrence’s Dior gown worth the stumble it caused? Many of the style choices have rich backstories, such as the reason why Billy Porter wore a gown and not a tux in 2019, which add context and depth to the red carpet moments.

The truth is fashion is subjective. What is best dressed to one person may be worst dressed to another. But one thing is clear: These looks had people talking.

Below, 15 Oscar fashion moments that caused a big stir, in chronological order.



Barbra Streisand, 1969


When Barbra Streisand took home the best-actress award for her performance in Funny Girl, the singer-slash-actress wore a sequined pantsuit by Arnold Scaasi, fitted with flared legs and tuxedo cuffs. The ensemble, which happened to be almost entirely see-through, caused quite a stir, and the then 26-year-old later said she hadn’t considered the outfit’s unique vulnerability on the Oscars stage. “I had no idea that when the lights hit that outfit, it would become transparent,” she said in a later interview. “I thought to myself, I’m going to win two Oscars in my lifetime, and I’ll be more conservative next time.”



Cher, 1986


Cher, the queen of theatrics, undoubtedly stole the red carpet that year. She wore a design by her longtime collaborator Bob Mackie: a midriff-baring black sequined gown, complete with a dramatic feathered headpiece. It was a full-on Las Vegas showgirl look that had people talking for years. She reportedly wore the outfit as a defiant move against the Academy, which failed to nominate her for her turn in Mask. Though Cher may regret the choice, it remains iconic nonetheless. “I knew some people in the Academy didn’t think that I was a serious actress,” she said to British Vogue. “I always felt a bit sad that I presented Don Ameche with his best-supporting-actor award in that outfit. It seemed to make him a little nervous.”



Kim Basinger, 1990


Half gown, half tuxedo, Kim Basinger’s Frankenstein-like ensemble (styled with one single white glove) had critics divided. Not many people are aware, though, that the white satin design was not a creation from a high-luxury label: The actress actually designed it herself.



Whoopi Goldberg, 1993


Whoopi Goldberg certainly turned heads when she wore this purple and green brocade jumpsuit (with matching shoes!) to the 1993 Oscars-the ensemble even complete with a dramatic cape, too. The outfit got mixed reviews, but you can’t knock her for attempting to venture outside a sea of too-safe gowns!



Lizzy Gardiner, 1995


Lizzy Gardiner, an Australian costume designer who won the Oscar that year for best costume design, showed up to the red carpet in her own unexpected design. Her dress was made out of 254 American Express Gold cards, all joined together by wire. “On the night it really upset a lot of people,” Gardiner later reflected. “A lot of women, I think they felt upstaged or pissed off that I wasn’t taking things as seriously as I should.”



Céline Dion, 1999


On the fashion front, the 1999 Oscars were arguably one of its most interesting years on record. But an undebatable highlight was Céline Dion’s backwards tuxedo, designed by John Galliano and paired with a dapper slanted-brim hat. It was quite a departure for the time period, when the red carpet was still very much dominated by traditional gowns. “When I wore that, everyone was wearing dresses, not pants,” she later recalled. “I was the only one with pants in a backward suit from Galliano, and if I would do this today, it would work. It was avant-garde at the time.”



Björk, 2001


It was the dress that shook the globe: Icelandic singer Björk spurred one of the biggest pop-culture moments of all time when she wore a swan dress by Marjan Pejoski to the 2001 Oscars. The frock’s full skirt and long swan neck, wrapped around Bjork’s own like a scarf, have since been preserved in museums around the globe. The controversial look even came with an egg-shaped purse to match. The singer brought six ostrich eggs with her and scattered them on the red carpet. “Other people’s bodyguards kept picking them up and saying in their thick American accents, ‘’Scuse me, ma’am, you dropped this,’” she told GQ.



Gwyneth Paltrow, 2002


Gwyneth Paltrow departed from her elegant, and oftentimes sweet, red-carpet looks in 2002 by going glam goth. She wore an Alexander McQueen dress with a tight, ruched top and full taffeta skirt. The surprising style moment was panned by critics, and Paltrow herself had some regrets. “I still love the dress itself, but I should have worn a bra, and I should have just had simple beachy hair and less makeup,” she later said. “Then it would have worked as I wanted it to-a little bit of punk at the Oscars.”



Angelina Jolie, 2012


Angelina Jolie’s 2012 Oscars look is definitely the most meme’d in recent history. The actress fully committed to the dress’s thigh-high slit, showing off her right leg on the red carpet so much that her exaggerated pose spurred a whole social media movement dubbed simply #AngiesRightLeg. There is even a Twitter account for her left leg, because her right “got all the spotlight.”



Anne Hathaway, 2013


Anne Hathaway’s ill-fated Prada dress for the 2013 Oscars brought some drama to the red carpet. The actor, who won the best-supporting-actress award that year for her performance in Les Misérables, made a last-minute decision to wear the pink Prada gown just hours before the show when her original Valentino dress was deemed too similar to another actress’s. But Valentino had already sent a press release confirming Hathaway would wear the house’s design. Not only did critics slam the gown’s awkward bust silhouette-Hathaway later joked, “It looked like my nipples were hard”-but the last-minute change was also widely perceived as a snub to Valentino. Hathaway eventually apologized. “Though I love the dress I did wear, it was a difficult last-minute decision as I had so looked forward to wearing Valentino in honor of the deep and meaningful relationship I have enjoyed with the house and with Valentino himself,” she said. “I deeply regret any disappointment caused.”



Jennifer Lawrence, 2013


Winning best actress for Silver Linings Playbook in 2013, Jennifer Lawrence chose a strapless Dior gown by Raf Simons for the occasion. Its full, voluminous train undeniably stunned on the step-and-repeat-but when she later climbed the stairs to accept her Oscar during the ceremony, it caused her to trip and resulted in a viral sensation.



Pharrell Williams, 2014


In 2014 Pharrell ditched traditional menswear codes in favor of a shortened Lanvin tuxedo, complete with shorts-not trousers. He also wore shoes without socks. The daring look had critics divided but cemented the singer as one of Hollywood’s biggest risk-taking men.



Rita Moreno, 2018


In 2018 actress Rita Moreno had fashion fans talking after she chose to recycle the Oscars gown she originally wore in 1962, when she earned the best-supporting-actress prize for her role in West Side Story. The gown was altered slightly for its second appearance: The neckline was made strapless, and Moreno added a heavy gold necklace for dramatic effect.



Billy Porter, 2019


Billy Porter stole the spotlight when he attended the 2019 Oscars in a custom ball gown, not a tuxedo, by Christian Siriano. “I’ve always wanted to wear a ball gown, I just didn’t know when,” Porter told Vogue of the look. “I want people to understand that you don’t have to understand or even agree with other people’s authenticity or truths, but we must all respect each other. People are going to be really uncomfortable with my black ass in a ball gown-but it’s not anybody’s business but mine.”



Sandy Powell, 2020


British costume designer Sandy Powell wore a cream suit to the 2020 Oscars that had a bunch of signatures all over it. She collected them from A-list stars throughout awards season, such as Robert De Niro and Renée Zellweger, and then later auctioned off the suit for an Art Fund charity, which hoped to help preserve and maintain the home of late friend and mentor Derek Jarman, an English filmmaker and artist. (It ended up fetching roughly $22,230 USD at auction.)

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
China and Russia Deploy Seductive Espionage Networks to Infiltrate U.S. Tech Sector
Apple’s ‘iPhone Air’ Collapses After One Month — Another Major Misstep for the Tech Giant
Graham Potter Begins New Chapter as Sweden Head Coach on Short-Term Deal
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa Alleges Poison Plot via Chocolate and Jam
×