Lace, butterflies and a Liz Taylor bouffant: the looks of the Academy Museum Gala
At the Oscar museum's sixth gala in Los Angeles, Charlize Theron, Kim Kardashian and Hunter Schafer went for sheer, vintage and velvet. Theron, Domingo and Carpenter were honoured.
Archive image · Photo: Fred Cherrygarden / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences held the sixth gala of its film museum in Los Angeles on 17 October 2026. Charlize Theron, Colman Domingo and director-composer John Carpenter were honoured; the co-chairs were Steven Spielberg, Kate Capshaw and Robert Rodriguez. A performance by Taylor Swift had also been announced; she arrived in a pale blue pleated Dior gown.
Theron wore a sheer black Tom Ford column dress with lace and crystal embroidery and Boucheron jewellery – The Zoe Report saw it as part of the lingerie-dressing trend. Kim Kardashian arrived in a vintage Balenciaga gown with a bouffant reminiscent of Elizabeth Taylor. Hunter Schafer chose a custom black velvet Prada column with a bow and a white georgette panel.
Butterflies and wings were a recurring motif: Elle Fanning wore a Valentino gown with a butterfly bodice, Amandla Stenberg butterfly-adorned Zimmermann, and Janelle Monáe a Robert Wun couture gown with a mermaid skirt and wings. Emma Chamberlain paired Giorgio Armani Privé with a dark brown pixie cut.