A Delightful Grammys Red Carpet

Is red carpet marketing dated? In recent months, I’ve heard this sentiment from friends who work in fashion editorial, which struck me as surprising. Sure, editors tend to prefer dressing models over celebrities (Grace Coddington famously stayed away from Vogue cover shoots once they started going to movie stars), and social media makes the world go ‘round, but celebrities still deliver the “impressions” that help land labels on the Lyst index. One person made the point to me that instead of investing so much in red carpet dressing, brands could invest more in product innovation which… is hard to argue with.

And yet! The Grammys Sunday night made the case for red-carpet investment. It’s funny how this event used to be seen as “lesser,” fashion-wise, than the Oscars, which has always been much more serious. But now, the Grammys feel modern and fun and the Oscars feel less cool. Unlike the Oscars in recent years, people seemed to enjoy watching it instead of resenting that they did. The clips that overwhelmed my feeds the next morning made me want to watch more of the performances and put Cowboy Carter back on loop.

The night underscored that the music industry benefits from a host of things that the movie and television business lack:

Also, unlike the Oscars, the Grammys don’t come with the feeling that the music industry needs to be saved and that the award show can do some of that saving.

The show still had some serious, heartfelt moments, like when Beyoncé won for Best Country Album and Album of the Year (for the first time, after, she said, “many, many years”); Chappell Roan called out the industry for not giving young artists healthcare; Lady Gaga spoke in support of trans and LGBTQ people; and L.A. firefighters walked the carpet and presented an award to Beyoncé. The Recording Academy made it possible for this group of rich, glamorous people to gather together wearing rich, glamorous things in a way that made the start to 2025 feel a little less garbage.

I didn’t love everyone’s looks, but I enjoyed just about all of them somehow anyway. Ahead, a look at the fashion that won the night. (I’m not addressing Kanye West and Bianca Censori, which was a depressing display if not an unexpected one. I would not be surprised to see him successfully mount some sort of fashion-world comeback during Trump 2.0.)

Taylor Swift

Taylor is coming off one of her biggest fashion moments of the last three months — the aggressively blah Louis Vuitton hoodie she wore to her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s football game that went viral enough to draw commentary in Bloomberg about how, “Luxury logos are back. Not everyone is happy about it.” The sparkly red Vivienne Westwood minidress she wore to the Grammys was, for her, kind of a shrug. It wasn’t her best- or worst-ever dress — it was just fine, a reminder that she has a way of making every designer’s work look more Taylor Swift’s dress than theirs. She looked cute in it, but I like the version of it that you can buy better.

Taylor gave the press something to talk about with the little “T” charm she wore dangling over her thigh, which fans have decided acknowledged Travis Kelce. (Either that or it was an excuse for fashion websites to try to sell us an accessory I have never thought about before today: thigh chains.)

The dress seemed to indicate her place at the awards — it wasn’t going to be Taylor’s Grammys this year, the way it was last year. When she put the black blazer on in the crowd and danced with Margaret Qualley she looked like she was at an office Christmas party, and that felt right.

Beyoncé

Beyoncé wore custom couture Schiaparelli with a bandana motif and keyhole cutout in the front, adorned with a dangly little pearl. “TEXAS TOPAZ,” the brand called it. Schiaparelli is not my favorite, but this seemed like a fine way to incorporate Western flavor into an evening dress. However, that pearl was quickly overshadowed by what looked like white wires poking out of the neckline. You can see them in some photos, but not all, suggesting they were indeed a mistake — not great advertising for Schiaparelli! The wiring was probably necessary in large part to make the keyhole (“an iconic code of the Maison,” quothe Schiaparelli.com) lay flat. And yet it sabotaged all involved.

Charli XCX

Charli wore Jean Paul Gaultier couture by Ludovic de Saint Sernin with cutout shoe booties, or “shooties” if you want to be really aughts-y about it. She made it work, especially given that this is the sort of mop-like dress that would both literally and figuratively swallow so many of us alive.

Jennifer Lopez

I find crinkly the inner tube around her hips both absolutely unnecessary and terribly essential. I know she’s so famous that she probably never HAS to hold anything for herself or anyone else, not even her own children, but that Stéphane Rolland skirt had enough shelf space to hold Taylor Swift’s jacket, clutch bag, and bottle of champagne. She probably knew this would get people to talk about her, and that’s the kind of thinking these red carpets need.

Chappell Roan

She wore a 2003 couture Jean Paul Gaultier dress, styled by 26-year-old Genesis Webb, who called it “disgustingly stunning.” Sure! Roan has so much goodwill right now she could have shown up wearing a heather gray Champion sweatsuit and shower slides and we all would have loved it.

Lady Gaga

Gaga showed up wearing a fantastic gothic leather jacket and full skirt by indie designer Samuel Lewis. She got the whole “pay for play” part out of the way by wearing Tiffany jewelry that legacy outlets like Vogue waxed on and on about. Later, to perform with Bruno Mars, she wore a Valentino dress that felt very “I was craving French toast, so the first thing I did was churn my own butter.”

Sabrina Carpenter

The pale blue JW Anderson gown was not only perfect for her, but also allowed Vogue to run a headline about her “shak[ing] her tail feathers.” The dress was probably taped to her skin, but appeared to be held up by the weight of the $1 million strand of diamonds hanging down her back, which was a neat party trick. I wonder if she changed into the gold column gown because the blue dress was too tenuous to wear through the night. Or maybe she just liked how it looked with the matching flask. I want one.

Miley Cyrus

Congrats to Alaïa, which got a big shoutout for creating the fairly simple black dress Miley wore to present Record of the Year. “I’m here for two very important reasons tonight,” she told the audience. “Number one, look at this gown.” At the last Grammys, she carried her little Gucci bag up onto the stage with her to accept her award for “Flowers,” which was probably the best thing that happened to Gucci’s PR since Alessandro Michele left. (The bag moment apparently wasn’t planned.) Miley Cyrus: getting fashion PRs raises since 2024.

Cardi B

This Roberto Cavalli dress had everything — animal print, mixed materials, sparkles, feathers, asymmetry. It looked great on her (maximalist icon Anna Dello Russo threw it in her Grammys Instagram carousel) and made a strong case for more Cavalli on red carpets. I love beige but I’m also tiring of it and miss this stuff.

Doechii

Doechii wore different Thom Browne looks on the carpet and to accept her award for Best Rap Album, making her the third woman ever to do so, after Lauryn Hill and Cardi B. Both of these looks were gray and tailored and worn over a white shirt and tie with Thom Brown armbands. The 30 dancers in her performance wore, per the brand’s Instagram, “thom browne uniform.” Browne doesn’t have to hope he gets Miley-level flowers (sorry) from the people he dresses, he just makes sure that his signatures are all over their clothes. I like his red carpet work best when you can’t tell right away that it’s by him. But that shorts suit is like luxury Americana by now.