The wildest looks from the 2026 Emmys red carpet

Awards season is officially back, and while the 2026 Emmys red carpet delivered its fair share of elegant gowns and sharply cut suits, there were a few looks that made us stop, take a second look, and wonder, “Wait, what is happening here?”

The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards proved that dressing for the red carpet doesn’t always have to mean playing it safe. There were archival fashion moments, exaggerated proportions, theatrical feathers, unexpected colour combinations and, in one particularly committed case, an outfit that took its cues directly from the Emmy statuette.

Here are the looks that had us doing a double take.

Odessa A'zion 

Odessa A’zion has never seemed particularly interested in following the traditional red-carpet rulebook, and her Emmys look was no exception. The actor wore an archival Jean Paul Gaultier ensemble from 1996, pairing a floor-length lace-up skirt with a coordinating cropped jacket and layers of long, swaying fringe.

The look has all the things that make ’90s Gaultier so recognisable: a slightly rebellious attitude, body-conscious construction, and a sense of movement that makes the clothes feel almost more like costume than conventional eveningwear. The fringe adds another layer of drama, breaking up the otherwise structured silhouette as it moves around the body. Against a carpet full of predictable gowns, it felt distinctly rock ’n’ roll.

Shailene Woodley 

Shailene Woodley’s Balenciaga look was never going to quietly disappear into the background. The actor paired a plunging periwinkle halter top with dramatically embellished gold leggings, burgundy opera gloves, and an oversized statement necklace, creating a look that seemed to pull from several different fashion worlds at once.

The tension is what makes it interesting. The sleek, skin-baring halter feels distinctly eveningwear, while the high-shine leggings bring a disco-meets-futuristic quality to the look. Add the deep burgundy gloves and sculptural jewellery, and suddenly there are several competing colours, textures and proportions fighting for attention. It’s maximalist, a little chaotic and very deliberately so.

Colman Domingo 

Colman Domingo has never been particularly interested in letting a black-tie dress code dictate the entire conversation, and his bespoke Valentino look was another example of that.

Rather than the standard tuxedo, Domingo wore white silk trousers with a matching jacket featuring a mandarin collar and traditional frog-button detailing. The silhouette was elegant but decidedly less formal than the usual peak-lapel tux, while the tonal white palette gave the whole look a slightly surreal quality on a carpet dominated by darker tailoring.

It’s not outrageous by red-carpet standards, but that is almost the point. Domingo took a familiar eveningwear formula and changed the proportions, colour, and fastening enough to make it feel fresh without losing the polish expected of the occasion.

Emma D'Arcy 

Emma D’Arcy’s red-carpet wardrobe has never been particularly interested in conventional ideas of what an awards-season look is supposed to be, and their Emmys appearance continued that streak.

Rather than relying on the familiar formula of a floor-skimming gown or traditional tuxedo, D’Arcy’s look leaned into a sharper, more unconventional silhouette. The styling felt considered without being overly polished, with the proportions and construction doing much of the work.

And while their appearance was memorable in its own right, D’Arcy also gave us one of the evening’s best pop-culture moments when they joined Emilia Clarke on stage to present an award. Fashion moment, television moment, Emilia Clarke and Emma D’Arcy in the same frame? We’ll take it.

Megan Stalter 

There are costume changes, and then there is deciding to simply become the Emmy statuette. Megan Stalter arrived with the Emmy’s iconic atom balanced above her head, her skin painted gold, her hair sprayed gold, and a pair of enormous angel wings completing the transformation. The result was less “red-carpet gown” and more living, breathing interpretation of the award itself.

It could have easily tipped into novelty costume, but the sheer commitment is what makes it work. Stalter didn’t just reference the Emmy statuette with a gold dress or metallic accessories; she took the concept literally and built an entire look around it. If the brief was to be impossible to ignore, she understood it perfectly.

Eunice Bae

Eunice Bae went in the opposite direction from the understated gowns that tend to dominate awards-season carpets, wearing an archival Bill Blass dress in an unapologetically vivid shade of yellow.

The colour was already enough to command attention, but the feather detailing pushed the look firmly into theatrical territory. Rather than falling neatly around the body, the feathers gave the gown volume and movement, turning a classic evening silhouette into something much more expressive.

It felt wonderfully old-school in the best possible way: glamorous, dramatic, and completely unafraid of being a little extra. On a carpet where restraint can sometimes become the default, Bae’s look made a convincing argument for dressing up and then taking it several steps further.

The final verdict? 

The 2026 Emmys had plenty of classic Hollywood glamour, but the looks we’re still thinking about are the ones that refused to play by the usual red-carpet rules. Whether it was archival Gaultier, maximalist Balenciaga, a reworked tuxedo, larger-than-life feathers, or one very literal Emmy statuette, these were the outfits that gave us something to actually talk about.

And really, isn’t that what a red carpet is for?

Lead image: Getty Images 

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