Here Are 14 BTS Facts About Some Of The Most Memorable Looks Worn To The Oscars...Ever

The color of the dress Lupita Nyong'o won her Oscar in reminded her of her hometown.

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The Oscars are almost here! On March 10, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will hold the 96th Academy Awards, capping off this year's awards season. The event is always star-studded, and the red carpet is hallowed ground in Hollywood. So, ahead of film's biggest day of the year, here are 14 facts about some of the most memorable Oscars looks over the years:

1. Cher didn't get a Best Actress nomination at the 1986 Oscars for her role in Mask. So when asked to present at the show, she decided to attend in an attention-getting Bob Mackie look.

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''I wasn't going to go at all,'' Cher told the New York Times in 1987. ''And then they asked me to present, these people who had just said, 'No, you can't be one of us.' I thought, 'O.K., you can go in a simple black dress and be just like everyone else.' But then I decided, 'I'm going to remind them of what they don't like about me.'" Cher, who at the time had previously been nominated for Best Supporting Actress in 1984 for the film Silkwood, would go on to win Best Actress in 1988 for the film Moonstruck.

2. The negative reaction to Whoopi Goldberg's green and purple dress at the 1993 Oscars "hurt" her feelings.

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"It kept me from dressing up for a very long time. You have to remember, in those days, they would say things and you’d think, ‘Do I really look that ridiculous?'” Whoopi told Page Six in 2023.

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3. Gwyneth Paltrow wore Harry Winston earrings and a necklace while winning Best Actress for Shakespeare in Love in 1999. She re-wore the jewelry at her 2018 wedding to Brad Falchuk.

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"After I won, my dad [Bruce Paltrow] as a present surprised me with them — now I'm going to cry — so that was very sweet," Gwyneth told Vogue in 2021. "And I wore the earrings and necklace when I got married to Brad, in homage to my dad and as a way of keeping him there with us."

4. Celine Dion has no regrets about wearing a John Galliano tuxedo backwards to the 1999 Oscars.

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“When I wore that look, yes it was at the Oscars, and when I wore that, everyone was wearing dresses, not pants,” Celine told People in 2017. “I was the only one with pants in a backward suit from Galliano and if I would do this today it would work. It was avant-garde at the time. And it doesn’t matter, you just have to assume what you wear, you wear, and I did.”

5. Julia Roberts said Mariah Carey bought the bracelet she wore to the 2001 Oscars, where she won Best Actress for Erin Brockovich.

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"The bracelet I didn't get to keep, but you know what? Mariah Carey bought it. That's who has that bracelet right now," Julia told British Vogue in January.

6. At the 2001 Oscars, Björk laid an egg on the red carpet while wearing a Marjan Pejoski swan dress.

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"I really laughed when I heard that," Marjan told British Vogue in 2001. "It was fantastic of her. So rebellious, at a traditional occasion like the Oscars. I respect tradition of course, but everybody and everything deserves to be laughed at from time to time."

7. In 2002, Halle Berry made history as the first Black woman to win Best Actress, which she did for her performance in Monster's Ball. The iconic Elie Saab gown is currently on display at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles.

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"Look who made it to the Academy Museum in Los Angeles, California! Not only will this historic @eliesaabworld gown remain in the expert care of the museum’s curators and conservators, but it will also be accessible to generations of people for whom the dress also holds meaning and forever be a reminder that all things are possible. Thank you @academymuseum!" Halle wrote on Instagram in 2023.

8. Angelina Jolie wore the headline-making Versace dress with a thigh-high slit to the 2012 Oscars because it was "comfortable."

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"There's a whole longer story behind that — I had a more complicated dress and I wore the more comfortable dress, which was that one, and I think I was just so comfortable that..." Angelina told Extra in 2019 while at the premiere for her film Maleficent: Mistress of Evil. "I think when you feel comfortable, when you feel yourself — which is very much the theme of the film, and we know this in life — you embrace it. And sometimes, maybe it appears to be a thing, I don't know."

9. At the 2014 Oscars, Lupita Nyong'o won Best Supporting Actress for 12 Years a Slave. She opted to wear a blue Prada dress to the ceremony, in part, because the color reminded her of her hometown.

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"It's a blue that reminds me of Nairobi, [Kenya], so I wanted to have a little bit of home," Lupita told E! on the red carpet.

10. Cate Blanchett wore an altered version of her 2015 Maison Margiela Oscars gown to the 2023 BAFTAs.

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"It’s not just couture gowns that take hundreds of hours to make but all clothes that are filling landfills. We need to get the word out to get rid of this ridiculous notion that dresses cannot be worn twice! Beautiful clothes should last a lifetime," Cate previously told The Hollywood Reporter in 2018 after rewearing her 2014 Golden Globes gown to the Cannes Film Festival that year.

11. Billy Porter wore a ball gown to the 2019 Oscars, in part, as an act of "political art."

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"From this [Oscars] moment, I want people to understand that you don’t have to understand or even agree with other people’s authenticity or truths, but we must all respect each other," Billy told Vogue in 2019. "People are going to be really uncomfortable with my black ass in a ball gown — but it’s not anybody’s business but mine."

12. Natalie Portman's 2020 Oscars dress featured the last names of women who directed celebrated films that year, in response to only men being nominated for Best Director at the ceremony.

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"I wanted to recognize the women who were not recognized for their incredible work this year in my subtle way," Natalie told a reporter on the red carpet. Her Dior dress featured the last names of directors Lorene Scafaria (Hustlers), Lulu Wang (The Farewell), Greta Gerwig (Little Women), Mati Diop (Atlantics), Marielle Heller (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood), Melina Matsoukas (Queen & Slim), Alma Har'el (Honey Boy), and Céline Sciamma (Portrait of a Lady on Fire).

13. Joaquin Phoenix wore the same Stella McCartney suit throughout the 2020 awards season, including to the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards.

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He reportedly wore the same suit to the Oscars the following year, too.

14. Finally, Ana de Armas's 2023 Louis Vuitton Oscars dress took over 1,000 hours to make.

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"This gown was very special. It took over 1,000 hours to make and is completely hand beaded. If you look closely, it’s like morning dew on falling rose petals…" Ana's stylist Samantha McMillen wrote on Instagram last year.

Did any of these facts surprise you? Tell us in the comments below, as well as which of these looks is your favorite!

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