This is Ariana Grande’s first Oscars season, but the dress she wore last night to the Academy Awards Nominees Dinner may have been here before. The Wicked star stepped out last night in a showstopping dress from Yves Saint Laurent’s fall 1991 collection. If it looked familiar, it’s because Catherine Deneuve, one of Saint Laurent’s greatest muses, wore the same design to the Oscars back in 1993.
The actor’s dress was first worn by the legendary model Yasmeen Ghauri on the runway, but Deneuve wore it on the red carpet when she was nominated for Best Actress for the film Indochine. It’s unclear if Grande’s version is the same exact dress, but Deneuve auctioned off her version in 2019. Deneuve and Saint Laurent’s relationship is amongst the most legendary between a designer and a film star in fashion history. The pair first met in 1965 and remained close throughout their lives. Denueve almost always sat front row at Saint Laurent’s shows in custom couture.
Of course, this isn’t the first time Grande and her stylist Mimi Cuttrell have gone the vintage route this awards season. At the Golden Globes in January, Grande picked out a butter yellow from Hubert de Givenchy’s spring 1966 couture collection. According to Lily et Cie, the vintage dealer Grande sourced her dress from, the actor was the first person to ever wear the dress. She also slipped into a Yves Saint Laurent-era Dior dress and even a Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel number. Erivo, who is nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars, also abided by a vintage dress at last night’s dinner.
The British actor again opted for a Givenchy couture look designed by Alexander McQueen. She wore an embroidered top coat and matching dress from McQueen’s spring 1998 “Japanese Garden” collection. At Sunday’s SAG Awards, Erivo opted for a Tin Man-esque metallic dress by McQueen for Givenchy dated to the fall 1997 season.
Vintage looks rarely pop up on the Oscars red carpet as stars (especially those nominated in major categories like Grande and Erivo) and their stylists prefer to go the custom route or pull from the recent runways. As for what the Wicked actors might wear come Sunday evening? Maybe something sculptural by Louis Vuitton or some sort of fantastical creation from Loewe designer Jonathan Anderson. Or, Grande and Erivo could completely flout Oscars tradition and go for looks straight from the archive like they did last night.
