The Emmys red carpet was peacock blue this year: Zendaya shimmered in Prada, Selena Gomez turned to gold Louis Vuitton and Sarah Pidgeon embraced ’90s minimalism as television’s biggest night became a showcase for fashion’s competing moods.
LOS ANGELES — Technically, there was no red carpet at the 2026 Emmy Awards.
For NBC’s centennial year, the traditional red was replaced with peacock blue outside the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. Against that unusually cool backdrop Monday evening, television’s stars arrived in crystal, gold, leather, pastel silks and sharply tailored suits — transforming the entrance to the 78th Emmys into an unusually varied fashion stage.
If one theme connected the evening, it was the collision between old Hollywood glamour and a more contemporary willingness to experiment.
Zendaya Turns Prada Into Spectacle
Zendaya arrived in custom Prada, wearing a crystal-covered gown that immediately became one of the evening’s most discussed looks. Vogue described the dress as one of the night’s maximalist standouts, contrasting its extraordinary embellishment with the quieter silhouettes worn by several other stars.
The appearance continued Zendaya’s long-running collaboration with stylist Law Roach, a partnership that has helped transform red-carpet dressing into something closer to narrative image-making.
Rather than treating awards fashion as an accessory to an acting career, the pair have repeatedly approached clothing as part of a star’s broader cultural identity. At the Emmys, the strategy was unmistakable: amid minimalist gowns and conventional eveningwear, Prada’s field of crystals was designed to command attention.
Selena Gomez pursued shine from a different direction.
Gomez wore a gold Louis Vuitton column gown, its metallic palette inevitably echoing the Emmy statuettes being carried inside the theater later that evening. Vogue highlighted both Gomez and Zendaya among the ceremony’s prominent maximalist moments.
The Return of Minimalism
Yet some of the evening’s strongest fashion statements relied on restraint rather than spectacle.
Sarah Pidgeon, nominated for her portrayal of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy in “Love Story,” appeared in a lilac Chanel slip dress embellished with pearls. The reference was difficult to miss: Bessette-Kennedy remains one of the enduring symbols of 1990s American minimalism, and Pidgeon’s look translated that aesthetic for a contemporary awards carpet.
Elle Fanning similarly embraced the slip silhouette, wearing mint-green Ralph Lauren Collection. Against the peacock-blue carpet, the pastel color became a statement without requiring architectural construction or heavy embellishment.
Pastels appeared elsewhere throughout the arrivals, with pale blues and pinks proving particularly compatible with NBC’s unconventional carpet color.
The result suggested a broader fashion shift. After years in which awards-show dressing often seemed governed by the need to create an instantly viral image, several stars embraced simplicity — but with enough color, craftsmanship or historical reference to prevent simplicity from becoming anonymity.
Keri Russell Makes Leather Formal
Keri Russell offered perhaps the evening’s clearest argument for understated rebellion.
The “Diplomat” star wore a custom black leather Khaite halter gown — notably the label’s first custom red-carpet dress. Russell told Vogue that she had fallen in love with an existing version before designer Catherine Holstein and stylist Frank Fleming adapted it into a more formal piece.
Leather brought an edge rarely associated with conventional Emmy gowns, but the streamlined silhouette kept the look firmly within eveningwear.
Russell’s husband, Matthew Rhys, arrived in made-to-measure Thom Browne, pairing a twill tuxedo with a white Oxford shirt, cashmere vest, bow tie and wingtip boots. Rhys described Browne’s appeal to Vogue as a balance between classic tailoring and subversion.
It was a useful description of the broader carpet, too.
Menswear Loosens Up
Traditional black tuxedos remain awards-season fixtures, but the Emmys demonstrated how much room now exists inside the category of menswear.
Colman Domingo appeared in Valentino with a robe-style jacket and flared trousers, while Alan Cumming chose an embroidered black-and-white tuxedo. Oscar Isaac wore Celine, and Sterling K. Brown appeared in blue tailoring that complemented the transformed carpet.
The evolution is subtle but significant. Men’s awards-show dressing was once largely a question of lapel width, shirt choice and bow tie versus necktie. Today, silhouette, texture and proportion carry considerably more weight.
And then there was Megan Stalter.
The “Hacks” performer abandoned understatement entirely and appeared transformed into an Emmy statuette, complete with gold body paint — a deliberately theatrical joke that turned the logic of awards dressing on its head. Instead of dressing to win an Emmy, Stalter effectively dressed as one.
The Emmys Red Carpet Is More Than a Fashion Parade
The modern red carpet exists in two worlds simultaneously. It remains a ceremonial entrance, but it is also an enormous global distribution platform for fashion houses.
A gown photographed in Los Angeles can appear across social media within minutes and circulate internationally before the first award has been presented. Designers are no longer dressing stars only for the few hundred people gathered outside a theater; they are dressing them for millions of screens.
That helps explain the range visible on this year’s Emmys red carpet. Crystals compete with minimalist slips. Leather competes with silk. Traditional tailoring shares space with robe jackets, embroidery and conceptual comedy.
And perhaps the peacock-blue carpet was an appropriate setting for it all.
For one evening, television’s familiar red-carpet ritual literally changed color. The fashion followed suit — glamorous, occasionally strange and increasingly comfortable with the idea that there is no longer a single correct way to dress like a star.
Emmys Red Carpet: The Night’s Fashion Notes
- High Shine: Crystals, gold and metallic finishes
- New Minimalism: Slip dresses and streamlined silhouettes
- Unexpected Material: Keri Russell’s custom Khaite leather
- Menswear Direction: Looser silhouettes and expressive tailoring
- Statement Moment: Megan Stalter transforming herself into an Emmy statuette
- The Carpet: Peacock blue in recognition of NBC’s 100th anniversary
