Oscars Outfits 2025- Old Hollywood glam meets historical nods
Photo Credit: All photos by Getty Images, Art by the Style Historian.
With any red carpet show, pinpointing trends in a sea of hundreds (upon hundreds) of images can be a tough order.
But as always, we’re up for the challenge.
Our key 2025 Oscars fashion takeaways from Hollywood’s biggest night —
1. The suits stole the show
In a world where I typically am bored by suits, I really enjoyed the suiting from this year’s Oscars - and even found them much more interesting than the (seemingly) never-ending line up of snatched gowns.
Photo Credit: All photos by Getty Images, Art by the Style Historian.
These are just a snapshot (there’s truly too many to choose from), but I love that the men are doing more — the silhouettes, the accessories, the flared pants! It’s like we’re finally waking up to the potential of menswear.
From a fashion perspective, it probably also helps that the evolution of changing silhouettes is allowing for suits to be more fun.
2. More historical nods and inspo
As always, there were lots of historical nods and inspo on the carpet. While I always find historical re-creations fun (I especially loved Doja Cat in Balmain inspired from the 1950s), I’m hoping we start designing really cool, new things that years from now people will be gagged over. When archival fits and big historical fashion moments first started happening at press events and award shows, I was so intrigued and invested, but now I’m feeling like I want to see a change. I’m ready to be surprised and inspired!
Photo Credit: All photos by Getty Images, Art by the Style Historian.
3. The method dressing continues
When I sat down with Loeke de Waal, the LA-based culture writer at NRC (Netherlands daily paper), to chat all things method dressing ahead of the Oscars, I shared I expected the method dressing to continue from Ariana Grande at the Academy Awards, given the especially method-heavy Wicked presser.
(The article is linked above, and while in Dutch, I encourage you to pop it into Google translate for a good overview of method dressing - we chat method dressing origins, the evolution of method dressing on the red carpet since the early 90s, and the role of method dressing as a marketing/PR strategy.
And if you haven’t read our own deep dive into the history of method dressing, well you are missing out - it is one of our most-read articles).
Okay, back to method dressing and Oscars takeaways I promise.
Photo Credit: The Style Historian
We definitely saw method dressing come to life at the Oscars for Ariana Grande (as predicted, sorry for the humble brag) — and I think this might be the first time (nearly) an entire cast has shown up committed to the bit! Even better that the glorious Paul Tazewell won best costume (and the first black man to win this award 🏆).
I have been so impressed with Tazewell’s creations - in an interview with Teen Vogue last year, Tazewell spoke to how Glinda’s iconic bubble dress is inspired from the original gown from the Wicked musical (a dress that originally drew inspiration from Dior’s Junon dress from 1949).
Photo Credit: Top Left Corner to Right: 1. The original Broadway Glinda dress and its Junon inspiration, Reddit. 2. The Junon dress by Christian Dior, 1949, The Met. 3. Glinda’s iconic bubble dress, designed by Paul Tazewell, Giles Keyte. 4. Universal Pictures.
His work has been truly stunning and I’m so glad he’s getting his flowers.
Plus his Dolce & Gabbana suit on the red carpet is chef’s kiss (scroll up to the suiting image to see!)
It also seems fitting that the cast whose film took home Best Costume Designer has been turning coordinated method dressing looks for weeks, and did so on Hollywood’s biggest night.
Photo Credit: All photos by Getty Images, Art by the Style Historian.
4. Old Hollywood glam reigned supreme
While Old Hollywood was definitely the aesthetic of the 2025 Oscars (take Julianne Hough’s Dior for example - it’s giving Grace Kelly, or Selena Gomez’s viral 16,000 glass droplets Ralph Lauren gown), my eye was drawn to people I really didn’t know or recognize. While the A-listers with their couture were stunning (Ariana Grande in Schiaparelli immediately comes to mind), I really enjoyed looking at ensembles that took a risk, celebrated individuality and did something else other than snatched-old-Hollywood glam (which we love, but these days, I’m in the mood for NEW!)
Photo Credit: All photos by Getty Images, Art by the Style Historian.
I particularly loved the work of Manish Malhotra (bottom right photo above) - the only Indian designer to dress someone on the red carpet this year. They dressed Guneet Monga in a brown corset sari, who is the producer of the Oscar-nominated short film Anuja (see bottom right corner image above).
What were your takeaways from the 2025 Oscars outfits? Do you agree or disagree with the above? Notice any other trends?
Let me know below - I’d love to hear more.
Until next time,
- TSH
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The Style Historian is a lifelong thrifter and style enthusiast passionate about the stories behind the fashion, trends and styles we see today.
She covers these histories on her weekly blog, The Style Historian, and on her Instagram @thestylehistorian_.
In 2022, she founded her online vintage shop, Good Find Studio, in an effort to minimize her closet and live more sustainably.
When not researching, she can be found watching a good doc or anything on Bravo, thrifting and spending time outdoors.