The SAG Awards grew up in 2026 – new name (the Actor Awards now), new home (Netflix), and, for the first time in 32 years, an actual dress code. The Shrine Auditorium hosted on March 1, Kristen Bell hosted for the third time, and in partnership with Elle the carpet came with a prompt: “Reimagining Hollywood Glamour from the ’20s and ’30s.” Reader, the room understood the assignment. Sheer panels, opera gloves, flapper beading, plunging lace, and a couple of trompe l’oeil moments that made my jaw hit the floor. This was the most fun a pre-Oscars carpet has been in years, and I have opinions. Counting down from 10.
10. Yerin Ha in Balenciaga
Everyone went gown, and the Bridgerton breakout went rogue – in the best way. Yerin showed up in a fringed Balenciaga crop top and sharp tailored trousers with a belt and David Yurman jewelry, basically translating the “’20s glamour” brief into menswear-flapper instead of slip-dress-flapper.
Embed from Getty ImagesIt’s the look that proves you can honor a theme without doing the obvious thing, and on a carpet drowning in floor-length sparkle, the girl who showed some ankle and an inch of midriff is the one I kept scrolling back to. Cool-girl supremacy.
9. Kristen Bell in Georges Hobeika Couture
Hosting AND serving is a flex and Kristen knew it. Her glittering Georges Hobeika Couture sheer dress was crusted in diamond detail and finished with a dramatic caped skirt that billowed every time she moved, plus Messika jewels for good measure.
Embed from Getty ImagesHosts usually play it safe so they can change four times and run a show – Kristen instead walked out in something with genuine red carpet ambition and pulled focus from people who only had one job that night. Power move.
8. Jenna Ortega in Christian Cowan
Our reigning goth princess did the unthinkable: she wore winter white. Jenna’s Christian Cowan satin slip dress, threaded through with intricate lace inserts, was pure silver-screen siren – the kind of look that would’ve made sense in a 1932 studio portrait and makes just as much sense on your FYP.
Embed from Getty ImagesIt’s restrained for her, but that’s the point; the lace did the talking and the whole thing whispered old-Hollywood instead of screaming it. A masterclass in doing the theme literally without looking like a costume.
7. Rose Byrne in Chanel
If the brief said “flapper,” Rose said “say less.” Her snow-white embroidered silk crepe Chanel dress was the single most on-theme look of the night – beaded, fluid, and fit for a 1925 supper club, finished with Gianvito Rossi shoes and Messika diamonds.
Embed from Getty ImagesThere’s a version of this that reads costume-y, and Chanel sidestepped it entirely with that quiet, expensive embroidery. Rose has been quietly building one of the best award-season runs going, and this was her thesis statement.
6. Emma Stone in Louis Vuitton
Nominated for Bugonia and dressed like the prize, Emma floated in wearing a lilac slip gown encrusted in beadwork with a matching long-sleeved bolero over the top. The bolero is what makes it – it takes a pretty pastel gown and gives it that ’30s sophistication, the cover-up-as-couture energy the theme was begging for.
Embed from Getty ImagesLouis Vuitton has dressed Emma into one of the most consistent red carpet partnerships in the business, and this soft-lilac moment is going straight into the highlight reel.
5. Kate Hudson in Valentino
Buttermilk yellow is a hard color to wear and Kate made it look like the easiest thing in the world. Her custom Valentino gown was all artful draping and ruched detail, the kind of liquid construction that moves like it’s alive, and she stacked it with opulent Emily P. Wheeler diamonds.
Yellow on a carpet usually photographs either washed-out or neon – this hit the exact creamy in-between that reads rich. Kate doesn’t go to that many of these anymore, so when she does, she does NOT miss.
4. Chase Infiniti in Louis Vuitton
The One Battle After Another breakout took the ’20s brief most literally of anyone and won for it. Chase’s gold Louis Vuitton gown shimmered into a mermaid silhouette and was topped with a matching ’20s-style beaded headpiece, with De Beers diamonds finishing the story.
Embed from Getty ImagesA headpiece is a high-difficulty move – get it wrong and it’s a Halloween costume – and she landed it flawlessly, looking like she’d walked straight out of a Jazz Age portrait and into 2026. A genuine star-is-born carpet moment.
3. Gwyneth Paltrow in Givenchy
Gwyneth came back to the carpet and immediately reminded everyone how it’s done. Her plunging black lace Givenchy gown was pure 1930s screen-siren – sheer, sultry, and grown – and then she went and authenticated the whole thing with a pair of actual vintage Belperron earrings from 1930. That’s not styling, that’s curation.
Embed from Getty ImagesWhile everyone else interpreted the era, Gwyneth wore a piece of it. Timeless, unbothered, and quietly the most expensive-looking person in the building.
2. Demi Moore in Schiaparelli Haute Couture
Demi has been on an absolute tear this award season and she saved a knockout for the Actor Awards. Her Schiaparelli Haute Couture look paired a sleek black halter bodice with an enormous, theatrical white-and-black ruffled skirt – the kind of high-drama proportion play that only couture can pull off – finished with a black clutch and Harry Winston diamonds.
Embed from Getty ImagesIt’s architectural, it’s monochrome, it’s impossible to look away from. Schiaparelli plus Demi is a cheat code at this point, and this might be the best entry in the entire collaboration.
1. Teyana Taylor in Thom Browne
Was there ever any doubt? Teyana has ruled one carpet after another this season and she ended the run with the look of the night – a one-of-a-kind sculptural Thom Browne dress so intricately worked in gold and silver sequins that it read as a trompe l’oeil sheer dress, painted onto her body, finished with Thom Browne shoes and Tiffany & Co. jewels.
Embed from Getty ImagesIt’s the rare look that’s both editorially insane AND completely controlled, the work of a theatrical designer and a muse who trust each other completely. Everyone else dressed for the theme. Teyana looked like she invented it. Best dressed, full stop.
Honorable mentions
Chase Sui Wonders kept the night romantic in Miss Sohee Couture with Tiffany & Co. jewelry, and Abby Elliott brought fairy-tale polish in Paolo Sebastian with Jimmy Choo. Claire Danes leaned clean and modern in Prada with Rahaminov Diamonds – a sleeker counterpoint to all the beading.
Embed from Getty ImagesAnd the men actually showed up for once: Paul Mescal in slouchy Saint Laurent with Cartier, Michael B. Jordan in an impeccably cut Tom Ford suit, and Timothée Chalamet quietly rewriting the rules in a cream blazer, no tie, and a single silver chain. Tailoring with a pulse – more of this, gentlemen.
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