With awards season well under way and Spring 2016 couture week right around the corner (starting this Sunday), we felt it appropriate to tap our EIC Rachel Zoe for her all-time favorite atelier looks on the red carpet. Who better than the couture connoisseur and stylist extraordinaire herself to discuss the glamorous collision of entertainment and high fashion? Click through for 17 of the most drop-dead-gorgeous gowns donned by starlets, according to Rachel.
Oscars 2010: Zoe Saldana In Givenchy Haute Couture
"It takes someone like Zoe to pull off a dress like this, because it's clearly an art piece. She's a statuesque beauty, and I love that she took a chance."
Oscars 2007: Penélope Cruz In Atelier Versace
"This was just a dream. She looked like a princess, not to mention one of the most extraordinary beauties. To me, it's the best she has ever looked."
Met Gala 2015: Amanda Seyfried In Givenchy Haute Couture
"She's magnificent. She dresses with so much confidence, and it's not overpowering. This was a nice new take on white."
Baby2Baby Gala 2015: Kerry Washington In Giambattista Valli Haute Couture
"This was a very weirdly appropriate place to wear this dress, because it's very feminine and girly but still has an edge to it because it's black. I love the way she wore it. She's so modern and cool."
Oscars 2013: Jennifer Lawrence In Dior Haute Couture
"It was Cinderella meets Grace Kelly in a modern-day moment. This was the first year I worked with her and she felt so beautiful, confident and elegant. I draped a Chopard necklace down her back because I thought she needed a little sparkle but nothing overpowering."
London's Nine Premiere 2009: Kate Hudson In Atelier Versace
"That bodice is completely corseted and beaded, and the bottom is asymmetrical and so high in the front. Kate was giving so much leg—it's just the best way to do sexy couture."
Oscars 2015: Emma Stone In Elie Saab Haute Couture
"It's a really hard color to wear and the dress shows a lot of skin. But I feel like it just worked for her because of her pale skin, and her red hair popped. I loved it."
Met Gala 2007: Cameron Diaz In Christian Dior Haute Couture
"Obviously the hottest pink of hot pinks from the John Galliano days. No one wears couture the way Cameron does—she takes a kind of surfer approach to it. She just throws on a ball gown and some Fred Leighton turquoise. It was a very unexpected pairing that totally worked with her blonde hair and electric blue eyes."
Venice Film Festival 2011: Keira Knightley In Valentino Haute Couture
"The new Valentino team had come in that year. She looked medieval but still modern, and she’s so breathtaking that it just worked."
LA's Star Wars Premiere: Lupita Nyong'o In Alexandre Vauthier Haute Couture
"This was badass. I love her open back and all the sequins and beads. I love that it was for a Star Wars premiere because it feels very galactic. She always looks like she's having fun—that’s what is so great about her. She just beams on the carpet."
Met Gala 2013: Gwyneth Paltrow In Valentino Haute Couture
"I kind of love that it doesn't look so serious. There’s a sporty element to it, and she just looks really comfortable."
Oscars 2004: Jennifer Garner In Vintage Valentino Haute Couture
"This was a very last-minute choice. She was hesitant to put it on, but once she did she was like, 'This is the most beautiful dress I have ever seen.'" The way she stood in it was just perfect."
LACMA Art + Film Gala 2015: Naomi Campbell In Givenchy Haute Couture
"This was a moment. The dress was from one of my favorite Givenchy couture collections and Naomi is one of Riccardo Tisci's muses. It's like snakeskin—very reptilian."
Venice Film Festival 2008: Anne Hathaway In Atelier Versace
"This goes down as probably my favorite dress I have ever worked with. She stood like a dancer and was just so elegant. What you can't see in the photos is the pearlescence in the ruffles and flowers. That dress is heaven. It makes me happy every time I look at it."
Oscars 2010: Diane Kruger In Chanel Haute Couture
"This was a Chanel moment I was hoping for. Diane Kruger wears couture so beautifully. It takes a fashion person to wear that dress and really own it, and she did. It's feminine with an edge and just completely cool, like she is."
Grammys 2015: Rihanna In Giambattista Valli Haute Couture
"Some people argued that it looked costumey and like bubble gum, but I thought it was heaven. She was the perfect person to wear it. It was the anti-princess wearing the princess dress."
Met Gala 2015: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley In Atelier Versace
"That dress was painted on her. I can't imagine anyone else in it but her."
