Today we continue with my 50 of the Most ICONIC Red Carpet Looks EVER list. I did my research. The looks in this list are all based on looks that stars wore on red carpets all over the world. Now while some might think of Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, Katherine Hepburn, Rita Hayworth, and Twiggy when they think of iconic fashion moments. That is true, but you won’t find any of them on these lists. If you’re ready to ask me why I have an answer. Mostly their iconic fashion moments all were created for them by the costume designers contracted by the studios they worked for. I wanted to include only the looks that weren’t planned in conjunction with the studio for their impact. They might have been pulled together by high paid stylist, but not in a way that a studio would craft a look for their star based on the image they wanted them to have. Now this look is only ranked from the oldest to the newest and not based on how iconic I think that the look is. So let’s get into it.31) Cate Blanchett in Armani Prive at the 2014 Golden Globe Awards: Regular readers of If I Was A Stylist may be SHOCKED that I’ve only included one look from my red carpet queen in my ICONIC Red Carpet Looks list. I love Cate, but she doesn’t necessarily push boundaries of fashion. She always delivers glamour. I loved this black lace Armani Prive moment as soon as I saw it. Again it was classic glamour done perfectly to kick off her winning awards season for Blue Jasmine. What I think made this specific gown iconic is the fact that Cate decided to re-use this gown four years later as the gown she wore to the 2018 Cannes Film Festival Opening Ceremony the year she served as the festival jury president. I loved it the first time and while I was initially disappointed she decided to recycle for the opening ceremony I applauded the Eco-Chicness of the option. It was the first time we had seen a major star recycle a major red carpet look for the red carpet and it sparked conversations about Eco-Glam. 32) Lupita Nyong’o in Ralph Lauren at the 2014 Golden Globe Awards: While Lupita Nyong’o had worn all of the major labels and major couture creations while premiering and promoting 12 Years A Slave from the films debut at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival her real “I’ve arrived” fashion moment was this red Ralph Lauren caped gown at the 2014 Golden Globe Awards. I remember Lupita was the first star to show up. She was giddy and she knew she looked beautiful. This super sleek moment was modern and dramatic all rolled into one major moment. I had high expectations for her to shut down the red carpet come awards season and she kicked it off in the best way possible. 33) Rihanna in Adam Selman at the 2014 CFDA Awards: I mean it makes sense that given the fact that at the 2014 CFDA Awards Rihanna received the Fashion Icon Award and the look she wore on the red carpet to accept the award made this list. The crazy thing to me is that I didn’t include any of her looks prior to 2014 in this list. Honestly when I was building this list there were a lot of Rihanna looks in contention, but I had to weigh against other moments. I ultimately decided that this nude crystal encrusted Adam Selman gown scoop neck gown with a matching durag, and powder pink fur stole evoked a modern idea of Josephine Baker. This is gown is far from the first “Naked Dress” but it is the most successful iteration of the trend of dresses I sometimes wish would go away. If anyone could make me love this look it is Rihanna. 34) Lily Collins in Elie Saab Couture at the 2014 Rome Film Festival: A gown that spawned a thousand copies. If you go to any online evening wear store even now you will find some iteration of this dramatically glamorous Elie Saab Couture strapless hand painted ombre gown that Lily Collins wore to the 2014 Rome Film Festival. This look is super glamorous and elegant, but it really is the consumer aspect of this gown that to me makes it an ICONIC moment. 35) Emma Stone in Christian Dior Couture by Raf Simons at the 2015 SAG Awards: This awards season Emma Stone was making the rounds promoting Birdman. She spent most of the season wearing looks that were menswear inspired. Many will say that her Lanvin jumpsuit at the Golden Globes was more iconic, but personally I thought this custom black tuxedo inspired Christian Dior Couture by Raf Simons was so much better. It was sleek, sheer, powerful, and sexy all rolled into one dramatic package. The gown itself was perfection all on it’s own, but with the sleek updo, perfect makeup, and the asymmetric earrings I really fell in love with this look and it narrowly missed out on my 2015 Best Dressed of the Year list.

Read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, Part 5 here, and Part 6 here.