The Prettiest Oscars Red Carpet Looks in History

best Oscars red carpet dresses of all time — (Image credit: Getty Images)

The 98th Academy Awards will be held in Los Angeles on March 15. This year's nominees include Emma Stone, Elle Fanning, Teyana Taylor, and Timothée Chalamet, while presenters include Anne Hathaway, Chase Infiniti, Zoe Saldaña, Nicole Kidman, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and more. I'm waiting with bated breath to find out which movie will win Best Picture, but I'm mostly excited to see what everyone will wear on the red carpet. I am a fashion editor and not a movie critic, after all.

Ahead of this year's ceremony, I wanted to take a walk down memory lane and revisit some of the prettiest Oscars dresses in history. This list is highly subjective, but I did my due diligence reviewing hundreds of outfits dating back decades. Just for fun, I also polled my Who What Wear coworkers to find out which dress they think is the most beautiful. Their top pick? Carey Mulligan's Balenciaga look from 2024. In my mind, however, all of these dresses deserve our praise. Scroll down to see my favorites.

Nicole Kidman's green dress at the 1997 Oscars

Thanks to her chartreuse Dior Haute Couture dress by John Galliano, all eyes were on Nicole Kidman at the 1997 Academy Awards.

Emma Stone's fringed Givenchy dress from 2017 will certainly go down in fashion history.

Michelle Williams wore a yellow dress to the Oscars

In 2006, Michelle Williams wowed in saffron Vera Wang.

best Oscars red carpet dresses in history

If I had to choose just one look, it would probably be Marion Cotillard's Jean Paul Gaultier dress from 2008.

Lupita Nyong'o won her first Oscar wearing this ethereal Prada gown in 2014.

Kirsten Dunst at the 2007 Oscars wearing a Chanel dress

Kirsten Dunst wore a spectacular Chanel Haute Couture dress to the event in 2007.

Halle Berry's excellent Elie Saab dress from 2002 is etched into my brain.

Gwyneth Paltrow memorably wore a Ralph Lauren dress to the Oscars in 1999, the year she won Best Actress for her role in Shakespeare in Love.

Julia Roberts won gold wearing this striking Valentino dress in 2001.

Gucci designed Lily Gladstone's striking 2024 gown in collaboration with Indigenous artist Joe Big Mountain of Ironhouse Quillwork.

Diahann Carroll at the 1969 Oscars wearing a pink gown

My list would not be complete without mentioning Diahann Carroll's 1969 dress. Ariana Grande re-created this look at the 2026 Critics Choice Awards.

America Ferrera wearing a pink dress at the Oscars

In 2024, America Ferrera wore a pink Atelier Versace gown in homage to Barbie, for which she was nominated in the supporting actress category.

Jennifer Lawrence at the 2013 Oscars in a pink strapless dress

Remember when Jennifer Lawrence took a tumble on the stairs en route to accepting the 2013 Best Actress award? At least her Dior gown was flawless.

Carey Mulligan's Balenciaga dress from 2024 was inspired by a gown from 1951.

Wearing this dramatic feathered Versace gown, Penélope Cruz arrived at the 2007 Academy Awards as a Best Actress nominee for Volver.

Zendaya earned a spot on my list thanks to this Armani Privé number from 2024.

Audrey Hepburn chose this charming lace dress in 1954.

Lucy Liu looked spectacular in Versace at the 2000 Academy Awards.

Greta Lee's black-and-white Loewe dress in 2024 was elegance personified.

In 2005, Hilary Swank won Best Actress for Million Dollar Baby wearing this backless Guy Laroche dress.

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Erin got her start as a Who What Wear intern in 2011—back when the site only published a single story per day. (We have since increased that number twentyfold.) She graduated magna cum laude from USC and lives in Los Angeles. In college, she also interned at Refinery29, where she was promoted to editorial assistant and then assistant editor. After nearly three years at R29, she came back to WWW in 2015, where she is now the Associate Director of Fashion News. From the Oscars to the Met Gala, she leads the site's entire red carpet coverage strategy. She specializes in celebrity and fashion news but also enjoys writing travel features and runway reports. She frequently contributes to WWW's social accounts and has a sizable following on her personal TikTok.