Best Lead Actress nominee Michelle Yeoh—widely expected to be the woman of the evening at tonight’s 95th annual Academy Awards—took the red/champagne carpet with a statement of confidence for the ceremony ahead: In a white fringe Dior gown accented with numerous diamonds, she seemed almost to be floating on air.
The star behind the multiverse romp Everything Everywhere All At Once has already won a slew of awards leading up to Hollywood’s most celebrated event, setting her up for what many analysts predict will be her first Oscars win. If she snags the little gold statuette, she’ll be making history as only the second non-white woman in Academy Awards history to win in the Best Actress category.
“I believe in taking calculated risks,” the 2022 ELLE Women in Hollywood honoree told the magazine in October, “because if you keep doing the same thing, then there is no excitement. Nothing original will ever come from that.”
Styled by Jordan Johnson Chung with Dior makeup by Sabrina Bedrani and hair by Mara Roszak, Yeoh paired the Dior gown with a white Richard Mille watch and Moussaieff Jewellers diamonds. “If I have to go out, I wear a really great shirt and baggy trousers or jeans,” she told ELLE in October, but she views her red carpet style as “playtime,” and as a statement of respect to her fans. Shabby chic won’t cut it. “They don’t dream about seeing you messy, and walking away from the trailer to set with hair curlers and a big bathrobe. You have to give them the fantasy.” Tonight, she’s one step closer to doing just that.
Culture Writer
Lauren Puckett-Pope is a staff culture writer at ELLE, where she primarily covers film, television and books. She was previously an associate editor at ELLE.