The naked dress has spent years fighting for every last inch of red carpet real estate. While not every celebrity has decided to put their clothes back on yet, a few have picked up their crowns to revive the princess-core trend. Turns out you canlook beautiful without giving cameras a tour of undergarments masquerading as a dress.
Princess dressing is making its way back into celebrity fashion, and it's honestly cleansing the red carpet. Gemma Chan has gone full storybook heroine in tiers of pink satin. Lili Reinhart recently reached into the couture archives for a pastel floral gown fit for an enchanted garden, while Florence Pugh wrapped herself in lavender tulle that only a fairy godmother could be responsible for.
Then there's Anya Taylor-Joy, proving a princess can ditch the pastels entirely and turn up in black lace, pearls, gloves, and a hat large enough to deserve its own invitation to the ball.
After an era dominated by exposed underwear, sheer gowns, naked dresses, and strategically placed embellishments, perhaps the red carpet is finally rediscovering the fun of leaving something to the imagination.
Gemma Chan Goes Full Storybook Princess
If the assignment was 'princess', Gemma Chan earned bonus points.
For an appearance at the Berlinale, the actress wore a sweeping blush-pink gown with a fitted bodice before the skirt erupted into tier after tier of ruffles. Delicate straps kept the top relatively simple, letting the tiered skirt and trailing hem to carry the look.
It is the sort of silhouette generations of animated royalty have trained us to recognise immediately. There is volume that speaks elegantly, satin that threatens to outshine her beauty, and a train to leave a trail of youthful sophistication. All that's missing is an inconvenient curfew and a pumpkin parked outside.
Yet Chan's version presents itself as a more grown-up fairytale. The streamlined bodice, sophisticated styling, and softly tousled hair stop all that pink from wandering into children's birthday party territory.
Princess dressing, apparently, can now stay out past midnight.
Lili Reinhart Raids the Couture Archives
Lili Reinhart took the fairytale fantasy somewhere greener. For The Love Hypothesis premiere in New York, Reinhart wore an archival Elie Saab Spring/Summer 2004 Couture gown. The soft pink base and trailing green floral embroidery practically demand a field to frolic through.
Rather than relying on enormous volume, the dress builds its fairytale credentials through detail. A corseted bodice gives way to a long, fluid skirt covered in delicate botanical embellishment, while touches of lavender around the original runway design add another layer of pastel.
One Instagram commenter summed up the colour combination by inviting another fairytale into the story: 'Elphaba & Glinda vibes.'
Twenty-two years after it first appeared on the runway, the gown doesn't look remotely ready for retirement. If anything, Reinhart makes a convincing case for why some princess dresses deserve a sequel.
Florence Pugh Makes Lavender Look Regal
Florence Pugh described her look as a 'sensational lavender princess dress', and it's difficult to argue with the diagnosis. A fitted, softly shimmering corseted gown forms the base, but the real magic sits around her shoulders, where enormous folds of lavender fabric billow like glamorous clouds.
Then the Bulgari jewels vie for your attention. Pugh paired the gown with a gorgeous necklace and rings. This much colour could easily skew sugary, but she managed to give it the full royal treatment instead.
While the overall aesthetic was pretty enough for a child to call Pugh a princess, there is an element of quirky toughness present. The undone updo and dramatic Westwood draping keep the whole affair slightly unruly in the most charming way possible.
This isn't a princess waiting patiently in a tower to be rescued. Obviously, she has already found the exit and decided to make a stop at the Emmy Awards.
Anya Taylor-Joy Takes Princess Dressing to Paris
Next, Anya Taylor-Joy turned up to prove that pink isn't the only colour in a princess' wardrobe. For a Tiffany & Co. appearance in Paris, the actress went in the opposite direction of the colour wheel: black lace, sheer tights, heels, white gloves, pearls, and a spectacular wide-brimmed hat. Who needs a ballgown when your hat could practically have its own postcode? Well, that's one way to announce that royalty has entered the building.
For this Parisian event, Anya Taylor-Joy's regal energy was tangible. The Mad Max Saga actress wears it all with the confidence of someone who has never once wondered whether she's overdressed. Sometimes, you don't need a tiara to look like royalty. You just need to look expensive enough that your aura serves as your crown.
After years of celebrities competing to see who can make the least fabric count as a dress, the red carpet suddenly having more clothes feels like a fairytale twist worth rooting for. Who knew that being fully dressed would become one of the most rebellious things you can do on the red carpet?
