“Look how nice everyone looks,” said Michael Keaton as he viewed the SAG Awards audience while accepting his best actor award for Dopesick on the stage in Santa Monica’s Barker Hangar on Sunday night.
It’s been two years since SAG-AFTRA members gathered in person to celebrate outstanding work in their industry, and the absence — coupled with a delayed start to the 2022 awards season — created an enthusiasm for glamour that was palpable on the SAG Awards red carpet. From early arrivals like King Richard’s Saniyya Sidney to longtime fashion favorites like Lady Gaga and Cate Blanchett, dressing up was embraced in ways that felt playful and a bit relaxed or was teeming with high drama and couture-quality details.
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Indeed, curating the evening’s attendees into a top 15 best-dressed selection proved to be a bit of a challenge this year, only because the night offered such a terrific and comprehensive roundup of stylish stars. With very few exceptions, everyone was a sartorial winner at Sunday night’s SAG Awards, but here’s a look at the A-listers who elevated the fashion conversation just a bit more as they exhibited standout style and set social media ablaze:
Saniyya Sidney in Zuhair Murad
Every awards show should include a terrific princess moment, and that’s precisely what happened Sunday night when Saniyya Sidney, who plays a young Venus Williams in King Richard, arrived early on the red carpet. Sidney looked the picture of perfection in an off-the-shoulder organza gown in a beautiful blue aster hue from Zuhair Murad’s Spring/Summer 2022 ready-to-wear collection. Jewelry and Jimmy Choo shoes aside, Sidney’s best accessory was her giddy enthusiasm for being at the star-studded event.
Cate Blanchett in Giorgio Armani Privé
The Nightmare Alley nominee often tops best-dressed lists, and Sunday night proved why she’s hall-of-fame level. The fit of Blanchett’s Giorgio Armani Privé gown was impeccable, while it also included one of the evening’s most beautiful details, as the plunging neckline was embellished with sizable onyx stones in a variety of cuts. Against this architectural gown, Blanchett wore earrings and an assortment of rings in different gemstones by Pomellato.
Kerry Washington in Celia Kritharioti
Yellow was the color trend of the night at the SAG Awards, and no one exemplified it better than Kerry Washington, who looked stunning in a bright silk strapless gown with corset detailing by Celia Kritharioti, a designer based in Athens, Greece. The gown is from Kritharioti’s Spring/Summer 2022 couture collection, which indeed is rooted in bright, happy colors. Washington paired the look with high-jewelry diamonds by Paris-based Messika.
Ariana DeBose in Maison Valentino
DeBose is also enjoying a Cinderella moment this awards season, with designers clamoring to dress her amid extensive praise for her performance as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. On Sunday night she picked up the SAG Award for best supporting actress in a strapless gown of bright fuchsia silk faille, shaped with a lush gathered back, from Pier Paolo Piccioli’s Spring/Summer 2022 “Anatomy of Couture” haute-couture collection. Just the right touch of diamonds by De Beers finished the look.
Lady Gaga in Giorgio ArmaniPrivé
The House of Gucci nominee was one of the night’s most anticipated guests among fashion fans, and she didn’t disappoint, arriving in a custom Giorgio Armani Privé gown of white silk satin, featuring a bodice that folded open to reveal lush gold embroidery. It was one of those gowns that you’d love to view up close to get a better sense of the handcraft. The same was true for Gaga’s jewelry, intricate pieces from the 2022 Tiffany Blue Book Collection, the house’s designation for its high-jewelry offerings, including a Schlumberger Flowers and Leaves necklace in 18-karat yellow gold and platinum, embellished with diamonds.
Will Smith in Dolce & Gabbana
A SAG winner for his performance in King Richard, Smith was hands-down among the night’s best-dressed men in an impeccably tailored custom three-piece evening suit in midnight blue. Smith finished the look with a pale blue shirt and black textured tie, but the standout element of the ensemble was the suit’s 10-button, double-breasted waistcoat, a detail that transformed the look from simply elegant to utterly memorable.
Jessica Chastain in Dior Haute Couture
A few of the night’s high-wattage women eschewed gowns in favor of tuxedo-influenced looks, including Jessica Chastain, who took home a SAG Award (and upended everyone’s Oscar predictions) for her starring role in The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Chastain went with a nude wool and silk-jacquard suit by Dior Haute Couture, paired with climber earrings and a pair of rings from the Reflections of Nature collection by De Beers.
Jung Ho-yeon in Louis Vuitton
The SAG Award winner for Squid Game also wore a dress fashion fans were eager to view up close: a custom look by Louis Vuitton. The gown, with a front slit and spaghetti straps, was hand-embroidered all over with crystals and silver beads. The head-to-toe Vuitton ensemble also included diamond earrings and a sapphire and diamond ring, while her matching hair ribbon also drew raves: Known as a daenggi, the accessory is traditionally worn with braided hair and was a nod to her South Korean heritage.
Andrew Garfield in Saint Laurent
The Tick, Tick … Boom! star’s arrival was eagerly anticipated by his fans, and Garfield indeed sent Twitter into a frenzy when he arrived in a custom Saint Laurent suit by Anthony Vaccarello. Following the ceremony, Garfield’s stylist, Warren Alfie Baker, revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that the suit was the result of the duo’s mutual love for Peter Jackson’s Beatles documentary, Get Back, and was designed to exude a sense of relaxed, ‘70s-inspired British cool. Mission accomplished.
Jean Smart in Christian Siriano
The beloved Hacks star and SAG winner sported one of the night’s most dramatic details, courtesy of Christian Siriano. The designer’s sleek, long-sleeve burgundy gown combined matte and shiny silk, but it was the sculpted portrait neckline, which framed Smart’s face and shoulders beautifully, that elevated the design. Smart finished the look with jewelry by Rahaminov Diamonds and Mindi Mond New York, as well as Jimmy Choo shoes and a Christian Louboutin clutch.
Jada Pinkett Smith in Gareth Pugh
Pinkett Smith shopped her closet for her SAG Awards look, telling red carpet commentators early in the evening that her voluminous navy and black Gareth Pugh gown was a vintage find she purchased several years ago, though she hadn’t worn it prior to Sunday night’s event. “I saw it in there and thought, OK, it’s time,” she said. The actress finished the look with a Cartier statement bib necklace in diamonds and sapphires.
Kevin Costner in Brioni
For classic elegance, it was tough to beat Kevin Costner, who walked the red carpet with wife Christine Baumgartner. The Yellowstone actor, who along with his fellow castmembers was nominated for best ensemble in a drama series, wore a navy single-breasted tuxedo by Brioni, a beautiful fit with details that included a satin peaked lapel, satin bow tie and satin band trousers, as well as a pocket square in the subtle but always stylish presidential fold. Costner finished the look with David Yurman cufflinks embellished with black diamonds, an Omega timepiece, and patent-leather oxfords by Christian Louboutin. Baumgartner also looked terrific in a sparkling gown by Tony Ward Couture, with Bulgari jewels.
Naomi Watts in Fendi
Watts went the modernist route in a high-neck gown from Fendi’s Spring/Summer 2022 couture collection by Kim Jones. The navy gown in silk georgette offered subtle details that combined to create a stunning look, from its micro-embroidery to its deep-cut armholes and the tails that Watts casually wrapped around her arms. Diamond jewels by Cartier and navy satin platform sandals by Christian Louboutin finished the look.
Selena Gomez in Oscar de la Renta
Part of the nominated cast for Only Murders in the Building, Gomez was attending her first SAG Awards and worked with longtime stylist Kate Young to create a moment that felt, in Young’s words, “grand and over the top.” A black velvet gown with puffed sleeves from Oscar de la Renta’s Fall/Winter 2022 collection provided the perfect framework for the Bulgari diamonds and emeralds, including a high-jewelry Serpenti choker.
Elle Fanning in Gucci
Playing against all those opulent gowns she wears on The Great (nominated for best ensemble in a comedy series), Elle Fanning opted for the ease of a menswear-influenced evening look. Fanning wore a custom Gucci outfit that consisted of a cream silk duchesse and matching georgette sheer blouse, black pinstriped flared pants embellished with crystals, a pale blush silk bowtie, and black leather platform sandals. Jewels by Cartier and Pasquale Bruni finished the look.
