13 WORST Red Carpet Looks Of All Time
Fashion will never be right or wrong, and one person's gown of horror may be another's dream frock. But this list is all about the gowns that we found downright horrific, even if somebody else may find them beautiful. The following red carpet looks were worn by celebs who are known for setting fashion trends and establishing themselves as fashion icons, so we know that one bad dress doesn't mean a gal has bad style. Besides, you know you're not taking enough risks if you haven't found yourself on at least a few worst dressed lists, right? These dresses featured head pieces that we can't work out, color combinations that make us feel drunk (and not in a good way!), whole missing sections, and way too many frills. From the Oscars, the Met Gala, the Golden Globes, and the Grammys red carpet, here are 15 looks that we consider to be the worst of all time.
13 Demi Moore
We'd just like to say loud and clear that this dress has found its way onto a lot more worst-dressed lists than this one! Not even Demi Moore's striking good looks and perfectly toned body could save her from this disaster. For the 1989 Academy Awards, Demi decided to design her own red-carpet look, and it didn't go too well. If we were asked to picture a dress that features tight bicycle shorts, a metallic-lined skirt, and a bustier, we wouldn't be able to do it so thank goodness we have pictures! Why are we reminded of batman when we look at this? She definitely gets points for being creative, especially with the lace trim on the biker shorts. Demi allowed the experts to design her dresses from then on, which is for the best. We know the fashion was different in 1989, but this would be mind boggling in any decade.
12 Kim Basinger
It seems that self-designing dresses was a thing back in the late '80s and early '90s. The following year in 1990, Kim Basinger arrived at the Academy Awards in her own self-designed dress. This look was totally different to Demi's, but that doesn't make it better! The neckline of the dress was asymmetrical, which ended up making it look like it was unfinished rather than adding to the piece. The one glove brought in Disney elements, although in a much tackier way than we're used to considering the gold print. We're not sure if she was going for a bit of a futuristic princess look with the shiny Cinderella ball gown paired with the one-sleeved jacket, but if you're going to go for princess style, we think the traditional kind is much better! This was totally shocking at the time because everybody knew Kim to be the epitome of elegance and style.
11 Cameron Diaz
Cameron Diaz can pull off just about anything she tries, and to be honest, she looked so much better in this kimono than most people would. But that doesn't mean that we like it! She chose this Ungaro Couture look for the Oscars in 2002, and although she does get points for being daring, we won't ever be able to look at it without cringing. The bagginess of the kimono made it seem like it was too big for her, and it looked as if it were either about to fall down or trip her. The arms were cut at an awkward length and the salmon background kind of washed her out. Don't get us started on the Fred Leighton necklace which was worn as a belt and gave the illusion that she was 20 pounds heavier! She definitely stood out from everybody else, but this is probably our worst Cameron look ever!
10 Geena Davis
We'll always have respect for Geena Davis-the woman brought us Thelma for goodness' sake! But her appearance at the 1992 Academy Awards definitely had a few people confused. Where do we begin?! The satin bustier came across as tacky rather than sophisticated, and that's probably because it was paired with OTT pearls and a skirt of ruffles that looked half-finished. The black detail on the skirt's train was also confusing. The thick black straps made it seem like more of a costume than a dress, and the black stockings didn't help on that front either. And because there wasn't enough to catch your eye here, Geena wore heavy shoes with black bows. We do love Geena, but this was just a nightmare. We're going to go right ahead and say that glossy white bustiers and Cinderella gloves should just be prohibited from the Oscars altogether. Nobody can pull it off!
9 Kate Hudson
It's nice to know that even total hotties like Kate Hudson can have a bad fashion day every now and then! Kate wore this grey fringed dress to the Academy Awards in 2001, which was her first red carpet event, so we should cut her some slack! We're not judging her; we're judging the dress. Kate knew her dress wasn't well-received, but she didn't let it get to her! “Stella McCartney dressed me for my first red carpet event in 2001 for the Academy Awards. Up until the last minute Stella was working away, hand-sewing the hem. I woke up the next morning in my bed… turned on the television to find out I was on every Worst Dressed list possible,” she said. “So I called Stella and we just laughed our a$$es off and she said to me, 'Look babe, it was the hair wasn't it?'” Yes. The hair and the fringe.
8 Zoe Saldana
With a body like Zoe Saldana's, you'd think that not a single dress could possibly be unflattering. And then she arrived at the red carpet of the Golden Globes in 2017 in this pink frock. This dress actually made it to many best dressed lists, so that just goes to show how subjective the whole fashion game is! But for us, this was way too many ruffles and one too many bows. The pale pink and scarlet red colors worked with her skin tone, but this Gucci gown was just too much. Not even the sleek pony and Bulgari hair could save it! In our humble opinion, the asymmetrical tiered frills didn't work, and the blush color of the bow didn't do much to break up the color clash. All we could think of when we saw this was a frilly chiffon prom dress mixed with the kind of outfit Rose would have worn in Titanic. Yikes!
7 Sarah Jessica Parker
It almost feels like blasphemy to place Sarah Jessica Parker on a worst dressed list. Her fashion status goes deeper than her Sex and the City character -- SJP is just as much of an icon as Carrie Bradshaw, and we love almost everything she comes up with. Well, ALMOST everything. She showed up to the Met Gala in 2015 wearing this Philip Treacy custom headpiece, which resembled a Lady Gaga costume. The theme of the evening was China: Through the Looking Glass, and we can kind of see the Chinese elements to the headpiece and dress, but we're not feeling it. It seems a lot of other people weren't feeling it either-we can't tell you how many memes surfaced in response to this look! The Met is a time to experiment and wear a statement piece, so we have to admit that if she was going to wear a fiery headdress, this was the place!
6 Faith Hill
Country singer Faith Hill wore this dress which can only be described as rainbow to the Oscars in 2002. That night she performed "Somewhere over the Rainbow" on stage, so we see what she did there. But that doesn't make it okay! The Versace gown was basically a splattering of pastel colors that definitely made Faith stand out. We think that the worst part of this dress was the yellow which cut vertically into the pink body. It might have been at least a little better if the colors were layered in an orderly fashion. The lower part of the dress also resembled feathers, so she ended up kind of looking like a parrot. We know it was 2002 but the spaghetti straps just made everything worse. Faith has definitely done a lot better since! She sounded amazing when she was singing about rainbows, but she should never dress like a rainbow again.
5 Katy Perry
The thing about this look is that we don't totally hate it! As an outfit for the stage, for a music video or even for a Victoria's Secret show, we totally could have gotten around this dress! But Katy Perry wore this to the Grammy red carpet in 2011, and that's what spoiled it for us. We don't think wings will ever belong on the red carpet, so any awards show dress donning wings is an automatic no-no for us! The combination of white feathers, green eyeshadow, crystals, and the sheer white skirt just made the whole outfit seem really plastic and Halloween-ish, which is never how you want someone to describe your red carpet look. She still looked like a goddess because she's Katy Perry, but in a confused and out-of-place sort of way. Just remember to keep Halloween accessories off the red carpet, and you'll be good to go!
4 Cher
There's nothing Cher could do that would take away her status as legend and icon, but this dress made us scratch our heads. She can't even blame it on the fashion of the era because she wore this to Grammy Awards in 2008, not 1978. We don't mind Cher with lighter hair, but we barely got a chance to notice it when she wore this. The ruffled, faux leather skirt was perhaps the worst part of the ensemble, which was cut at a place that made her legs seem five times shorter and five times stubbier. Then the ripped and tattered top made it seem like Cher had battled the mole people to just get to the Grammys in one piece. It may also just have been the red-carpet lights, but the silver-and-green color scheme reminds us of Oscar the Grouch. Good on her for taking risks, but this one fell flat.
3 Uma Thurman
Wow. If we had long legs like Uma Thurman, we would be all about dresses with slits too. But this was another level of wrong! This dress, which she wore to the Academy Awards in 2004, was designed by Christian Lacroix, and left such a negative impression on the general public that it was given the nickname 'the Swiss Miss'. “I suppose one of my most embarrassing moments was when I was voted Worst Dressed,” said Uma. “It was the 2004 Oscars and I was wearing a Lacroix dress. I thought it was kinda cool, but apparently it wasn't. I think that a lot of times they give the worst dressed awards to people wearing designers who aren't advertising.” It might have been because he wasn't advertising, but it might also have been because the dress was a mixture of Greek goddess, Swiss yodeler, and little Bo Peep. But to each their own!
2 Whoopi Goldberg
Okay so we've had a long, hard look at this dress which Whoopi Goldberg wore to the 65th Academy awards, and we've decided that the worst part was the color of the satin. The fluorescent green and purple of the suit-dress just made it permanently stick into everybody's brain. Not even Whoopi's smooth presenting skills and hilarious banter could draw attention away from the ensemble, which ended up stealing the show. We actually think that the suit part of the dress was totally flattering, but the added skirt made it bad and the blazer made it worse. The color was the main culprit, but the stiffness and cut of the blazer and the heaviness of the skirt also helped her earn a place on this list. It's been said that Whoopi purchased the outfit at a Beverly Hills boutique. We want to know which boutique and if they're still in business!
1 Bjork
There will never be anything as memorable as Bjork's swan dress. The Icelandic star wore this Marjan Pejoski frock to the Academy Awards in 2001, and since she believed it would be her last time, she wanted to leave an impression. On that front, she was definitely successful! This dress, which featured a feathered swan wrapped around her neck, has gone on to make a comeback in the Valentino Spring 2014 Couture line, and has even appeared for comedic effect in the movie White Chicks. The dress might now be iconic and so ugly that it's cool, but for us, it is the worst red carpet look of all time. It's basically a body stocking with an oversized bird on it whose beak is resting on her boobs. Bjork later admitted she was obsessed with swans at the time, and even imitated the laying of an egg on the red carpet. Officially too strange for us!
