11 Oscars Looks That Caused a Stir

Christian Allaire
Updated

11 of the Most Controversial Oscars Looks of All Time

When Barbra Streisand took home the Best Actress award for her performance in Funny Girl, the singer-slash-actress wore a sequinned 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, 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 sequinned 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, who 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.”
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.
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.”
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.”
It was the dress that shook the globe: Icelandic singer Bjork 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, leather 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 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’s 2012 Oscars look is definitely the most meme’d in recent history. The actress fully committed to the dress’s high-thigh slit, showing off her right leg on the red carpet so much so 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’s ill-fated Prada dress for the 2013 Oscars brought some drama to the red carpet. The actress, who won the Best Supporting Actress award that year for her performance in Les Miserables, 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 Prada’s awkward bust silhouette—Hathaway later joked "it looked like my nipples were hard"—but the last-minute change was 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."
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.
Last year, 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. Moreno added a heavy gold necklace for dramatic effect.

Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony is the grand finale of this year’s awards season. Around here, red carpet fashion usually occupies as much Monday water cooler talk as the award-winners themselves. In anticipation of the big night, Vogue is taking a look at some of the most ill-fated 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 controversial and debated moments in fashion. Was Bjork’s swan dress quietly 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 unusually rich backstories, so it’s up to one to decide for themselves if they should be a best-dressed or worst-dressed moment. But one thing is clear: the looks had people talking. And that’s a fashion state of mind that, at the very least, isn’t boring or forgettable.

Above, 11 Oscars fashion moments that caused a big stir, in chronological order.

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