This year’s red carpet for the 98th Academy Awards was a bit boring, with most actors dressed in the same color palette, black and white, as well as the same four major fashion houses.
Here, I break down my best and worst dressed list from the evening. Enjoy!
Best Dressed: Rose Byrne in Dior
By far, this year’s best dressed was Rose Byrne in this traditional, embroidered gown from Dior by Jonathan Anderson. Lots of actresses chose Dior for the evening, celebrating Anderson’s new tenure at the Parisian label, but no one quite pulled it off like Byrne.
If timeless were a dress, it’d be this gown.
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 15: Rose Byrne attends the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 15: Rose Byrne attends the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
Worst Dressed: Pedro Pascal in Chanel
I’m generally sick of seeing this man who has seemingly been astroturfed into our consciousness by the Hollywood press and East Coast media establishment.
If he’d dressed well for the Oscars, I’d have given credit where credit was due. But a jacketless suit with a blooming white sea urchin and your freshman-year English teacher’s glasses deserves its rightful place as the worst look of the night.
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 15: Pedro Pascal attends the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 15: Pedro Pascal attends the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
Best Dressed: Elle Fanning in Givenchy
Elle Fanning very rarely gets it wrong on red carpets. And this year’s Oscars were no different. In this Givenchy gown by Sarah Burton, formerly of Alexander McQueen, Fanning is a dream.
Better yet, she described that the wisteria vines, hand-sewn by Burton’s team onto the gown, are a nod to the wisteria trellis that graced her childhood home. It’s those personal touches that make fashion fashion.
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 15: Elle Fanning attends the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)
Elle Fanning at the 98th Annual Oscars held at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by JC Olivera/WWD via Getty Images)
Worst Dressed: Timothée Chalamet in Givenchy
This guy’s whole vibe is getting tired and he’s only 30. The stacked rings on each hand, the stache, shrimping boots and baggy pants paired with an otherwise beautiful double-breasted white jacket can’t help but read as forced, gauche, and unworthy of an Oscar.
It really feels like Chalamet played Bob Dylan in that one movie and now genuinely believes… he’s Bob Dylan.
Timothée Chalamet at the 98th Annual Oscars held at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Gilbert Flores/Penske Media via Getty Images)
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 15: Timothée Chalamet attends the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)
Best Dressed: Teyana Taylor in Chanel
I have my issues with Teyana Taylor’s look in general. She, like Jennifer Lopez, is one-note when it comes to fashion. It’s the same see-through bodice every red carpet it seems.
But in this Chanel number, there’s something oh so Cher in Bob Mackie about it. Who could ever be opposed to a little bit of Bob Mackie?!
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 15: Teyana Taylor attends the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 15: Teyana Taylor attends the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
Worst Dressed: Anne Hathaway in Valentino
It’s giving 2011 hair, 2004 gown, and 2008 wide patent leather belt. The oughts have made a comeback, yes, but this is everything that should have been left in the Great Recession era.
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 15: Anne Hathaway attends the 98th Annual Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 15: Anne Hathaway attends the 98th Annual Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
Best Dressed: Jessie Buckley in Chanel
This take feels controversial because at first glance, it would seem that a giant red sash was tied across Jesse Buckley’s otherwise cute bubblegum pink chiffon dress. But there’s something that works here, whether it be the color, the structure of the bodice, or the fact that it is loosely based off a gown by Edith Head that Grace Kelly wore to the 1955 Academy Awards.
It’s modern yet harkens to the past, not the easiest feeling to evoke in fashion today.
Jessie Buckley at the 98th Annual Oscars held at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Gilbert Flores/Penske Media via Getty Images)
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 15: Jessie Buckley attends the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)
Worst Dressed: Alicia Silverstone in Christian Siriano
How could you be this clueless to walk out of the house in such a sad, flailing frock? I’m still in shock over the gown’s back draping that appears as a sagging diaper in photos.
Alicia Silverstone at the 98th Annual Oscars held at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Gilbert Flores/Penske Media via Getty Images)
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 15: Alicia Silverstone attends the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
Best Dressed: Mia Goth in Dior
We don’t see as many delicate, whimsical, or ethereal gowns on the red carpet today like we used to 20 years ago. It’s why Mia Goth’s custom Dior dress made its way onto my best dressed list.
Is it the most memorable, most stand-out of the evening? Not particularly, but it feels like a lost sense of dressing, to just want to look, well, pretty.
THE OSCARS® – Hosted by Conan O’Brien, the 98th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 15, at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live on ABC, streamed live on Hulu and airs live in more than 200 territories worldwide. (Disney/Maya Dehlin)
MIA GOTH (Photo by Maya Dehlin/Disney via Getty Images)
Mia Goth at the 98th Annual Oscars held at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by JC Olivera/WWD via Getty Images)
Worst Dressed: Gwyneth Paltrow in Giorgio Armani
I hadn’t put Gwyneth Paltrow on this list at first draft because I’d only seen photos like this first one I have listed. But keep scrolling and you’ll soon realize why this otherwise boring silk gown had to round off my worst dressed list.
Gwyneth Paltrow at the 98th Annual Oscars held at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by JC Olivera/WWD via Getty Images)
Hollywood, CA – March 15, 2026: Gwyneth Paltrow arrives on the red carpet at the 98th Annual Academy Awards held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, CA, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [email protected].
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