Oscars stars ready for their big fashion moment as red carpet opens

As Hollywood’s biggest names gather for the Oscars on Sunday, A-list celebrities will have their moment in the spotlight on the red carpet. Some will win there even if they fail to take home an Academy Award.

For this year’s nominees, the Oscars red carpet is the final chance to dazzle before the curtain closes on award season. While some stars stick to traditional codes of red-carpet attire choosing to wear tuxedos and evening gowns, others shake it up with their own fresh spin on black tie dressing.

Teyana Taylor, Timothée Chalamet and Emma Stone are just a few of the fashionable actors up for Academy Awards. With their track record of red carpet risk-taking, these stars are guaranteed to liven up the carpet.

Chalamet famously wore a Givenchy by Sarah Burton butter yellow leather suit to the 2025 Oscar ceremony.

Each red carpet leading up to the Oscars has served as Taylor’s runway. Nominated for best supporting actress, Taylor has become one to watch for her stylish choices. At the Golden Globes, she showed off a jeweled bow whale tail on the back of her custom Schiaparelli draped black gown. Taylor delivered another showstopping look at the Actor Awards when she wore a Thom Browne dress with a bodice designed to look like a painting of the female form.

The Oscars have the potential to catapult an actor’s career into another level of star status.

With that magnitude in mind, some actors choose to play it safe on the carpet, arriving in old Hollywood Glamour instead of edgy or dramatic looks, leaving the more risque looks for the after parties.

The luxury fashion houses from Armani, Dior, Valentino, Prada to Chanel dominate the Oscars red carpet each year. Rarely will celebrities wear an independent designer on the carpet as many of these household names are under contracts as brand ambassadors with these major brands.

Frankenstein actor Mia Goth, for instance, was named a brand ambassador by Dior last year and wore a black Dior gown to Golden Globes.

Oscar attendees sometimes make more than fashion statements. Actors have made political statements as well with “ICE OUT” or “BE GOOD” pins have made an appearance at several red carpets this award season in response to the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Other stars have shown their support by wearing red pins to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. As the Iran war rages on, the carpet could see more celebrities using their moment to address the latest global turmoil.

The Oscars ceremony will kick off at 7 p.m. Eastern/4 p.m. Pacific at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles with the red carpet opening around 3:30 p.m. EST.

For more coverage of the 2026 Oscars, visit https://apnews.com/hub/academy-awards.