Oscar Best Dressed: Zoë Saldaña (Lainey)

I posted earlier today about Adrien Brody’s unfocused, unprepared, and interminable acceptance speech. The opposite of that is Zoë Saldaña whose speeches all award season have been personal and considered, delivered with very few stumbles. While Adrien’s speeches seemed to deteriorate with every award show, Zoë’s have only improved – like the way an athlete’s performance is calibrated to peak at the Olympics or whatever the major competition is in their sport. 

Zoë, of course would have accounted for the possibility of not winning but there is no way she wouldn’t have prepared, whatever that means, whether it’s writing down her thoughts and memorising them or hiring someone else to. 

“You hung the moon. And our beautiful, perfect sons — Cy, Bowie and Zen — they fill our skies every night with stars. My grandmother came to this country in 1961. I am a proud child of immigrant parents, with dreams and dignity and hardworking hands. And I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award, and I know I will not be the last.”

In my opinion, this part of her speech existed somewhere outside of her head before it went back inside to lie in wait for its appearance, hopefully on stage at the Oscars. And, frankly, since the Oscars are a television event, it made it better for the audience that she actually put some real thought into it, without compromising her sincerity. 

@rollingstone

Zoe Saldaña, Oscar winner + proud child of immigrants. #oscars #oscar #academyawards #zoesaldana #emiliaperez #oscars2025 #bestsupportingactress #emiliapereznetflix #emiliaperezfilm #emiliapereztrailer #emiliaperezmovie #emiliaperezcast

♬ original sound - Rolling Stone

Now can we talk about the dress? The dress, from what I’ve seen while casually cruising through socials, is polarising. So by now I guess it’s obvious which side I fall on – this Saint Laurent is one of the most original looks of the night, and multiple trends happening at the same time. Sheer gloves were everywhere last night and Zoë’s were done best. It’s the symmetry between the gloves and that chainmail bust. On top of the tiers, which we also saw a lot of on the carpet, only Zoë’s tiers were also bustled, and soft pleated! And it works, for me it works!

I like the way the fabric falls, like it’s living and breathing…giving jellyfish? LOL. But there’s a richness to the fabric and the colour, suggesting that it’s heavy but it also seems light and moveable. It’s ambitious, a swing, and a frontrunner almost never goes for a swing. Which is why I appreciate Zoë and her stylist Petra Flannery so much. Maybe this isn’t as polarising, though, when you compare it to the Vanity Fair dress because everyone I know hates this. 

I’m not mad at this either! It’s not my favourite VF look but I get it. Would it improve for you if the belt wasn’t brown? Or if the top wasn’t black? Because I like the silhouette it’s just kind of a weird mash of colours?