Oscars Red Carpet: Best Dressed at the 2023 Academy Awards

Judging by the arrivals at the 95th Academy Awards in Hollywood, the days of playing it safe on the red carpet are over – and so is the red carpet. Embracing the maximalist themes circulating through high fashion houses, stars brought vibrant colors, rich embellishments and touches of fantasy to a path now laid out in a faint beige dubbed ‘Champagne’. (This could be the start of a sarcastic hashtag called #OscarsSoBeige.)

However, some of the nominees continued to channel the themes and characters of their most recent films, transforming their formal wear into a glamorous extension of their film wardrobe. Throughout awards season and even now, the attire of the “Everything Everywhere All at Once” nominees touches on a bit of surrealism, while “Elvis’s” Austin Butler channels a bit of ’50s rock ‘n’ roll. It’s easy to imagine conductor Lydia Tár in one of the perfect ensembles worn by Cate Blanchett. Others cleverly use the Oscar carpet as just another kind of stage on which to audition new characters, like the sexy vixen, the sophisticated woman, or the gender-biased glamster.

The Oscars red carpet is the culmination of a month-long image campaign that is as much about the actors’ sense of style as it is about the nominated films.

Awards shows today help movie stars use their fashion sense to secure their place in the top tier of acting. It’s no longer a given that movies (and their empty theaters) enjoy more prestige than TV shows, but when their stars can convey couture convincingly or set fashion trends, the image dividends flow, especially for the actors. It’s not surprising, then, that they can land lucrative advertising deals or even run a prestigious fashion house like Pharrell Williams, who was recently appointed men’s creative director at Louis Vuitton.

The high stakes make the arrival of the Oscars even more exciting. The stars are saving the best of their many high fashion ensembles for this event.

Here are the highlights from the Oscars champagne carpet: