Black Dress Brigade, (plus a couple of rogue jewels)

Did they know something? The Black dress babies, did they know? 

Because with the exception of Anna Sawai, whose perfect Armani Privé sparkling column was perfect for her presenting job – sorry, but there are no other adjectives, particularly when that woman’s face is involved: 

Anna Sawai #Emmys

— Pop Noire (@popnoire.bsky.social) 2025-09-15T01:06:09.092Z

…just about every other woman wearing black was a nominee who didn’t win, didn’t expect to win, didn’t get so much as a flattering camera shot… so maybe it really is a code everyone knows. 

Uzo Aduba wore a dress from Safiyaa that shared DNA with Cristin Millioti’s – the squared-off front panel plays off the soft pink, but it’s ultimately not all that definitive, as looks like this go. 

This skeet (seriously that’s what we’re saying, right? Still?) encapsulates all my thoughts on Sharon Horgan’s look, except that the face she’s making is taught to Irish children in toddlerhood, translated as “I don’t care anyway, or have any emotions at all as it happens”

lingerie masquerading as a dress on a red carpet is always tacky and ugly unless sharon horgan does it and then its perfect and good

— joy (@savortheveal.bsky.social) 2025-09-14T23:00:13.871Z

I choose to believe Keri Russell wore this Armani gown because she knew 
1. That it would be a fitting tribute

2. That she would not win, and therefore would not burn a more iconic dress on this night.

3. That she and Matthew Rhys would amuse themselves making jokes about her breast-balloons, or whatever the hell is on the front of that dress, all night and it would make the time pass that much faster. 

Chloe Sevigny, of course, is a joy no matter what. She’s always dressing for herself first, and everyone else second – in this case I feel like this Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarrello gown is suggesting some sort of vaguely witchy time travel – some 1500s queen who was transported to our timeline in order to avoid a very unpleasant trial she was about to undergo… 

Quinta Brunson has been on a flawless style streak for several years now and this dress is no different – fit, style, everything about it works, but this is a Louis Vuitton for posing in, not winning in, and it’s pretty clear she knew that, probably far before she chose it. 

There were a couple of colourful characters last night – Janelle James wore a delicious halter in plum (!) from designer Cucculelli Shaheen, which I absolutely rewound three times just to hear her say it like it was both a question and an answer: 

 

Sheryl Lee Ralph was impeccable in this custom blue Diane Von Furstenburg, which has a colour so deep and dense you could meditate in it, and I think I might, given how goofy things get at a million o’clock on a typing night… 

 

In short, nothing show-stopping, because woman on this page knew the show was not stopping here. Which makes me wonder – how confident do you have to be to grab that unusual dress? The iconic one you win in? Is it the network campaigning for you? Do you have a bunch of seemingly superfluous brunches? What is the threshold, below which you better get a black dress that says ‘you and I both know this is not the year’?