If you’re still here, congratulations. Please enjoy this rundown of key takeaways from the night.
And here we have the quotes of the night. Please read and enjoy and do not fact check them against what I wrote in this liveblog.
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The reactions are now coming in thick and fast. We’ve a piece about the (surprisingly large amount of) snubs to be found within this year’s jumbo-sized In Memoriam.
Plus some analysis from Owen Myers about the political undercurrent of the show this year.
And, simply because it’s been the best one for a while, here’s a video of Conan O’Brien’s monologue
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Of course, if we’re looking for viral moments from the Oscars, Instagram has just delivered this. Peter Bradshaw, we don’t deserve you.
Viral moments of the ceremony. I have to confess I missed some of these in the murk of the liveblogging mines. Jack O’Connell’s teeth in particular show tremendous dedication to the bit.
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Poor Diane Warren. Her loss in the best song category was actually her 17th, making her officially the person with the most nominations without a win.
What must be especially galling is that this year she was nominated for a song from a film about her own life. This is much more prestigious than the last few films she wrote songs for, which included 2023’s effort, for a biopic about the man who invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Honestly, waiting to see which film Warren has written a song for is the most exciting part of Oscar season. Long may it continue.
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Although politics remained a peripheral subject during this year’s ceremony, backstage it’s a slightly different story. Deadline is reporting that David Borenstein, director of best documentary winner Mr Nobody Against Putin, said the following about Donald Trump after his win:
“One interesting thing about working with a team of Russians throughout this process has been my desire as an American to constantly compare the situation in America to Russia. But a lot of my Russian colleagues and friends always said, ‘No, no, it’s not the same situation. It’s actually happening quicker in America than it’s been happening in Russia.’ Trump is moving a lot quicker than Putin in his early years.”
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If you’re just joining us, then boy does your timing suck. Nevertheless, here’s a roundup of all this year’s winners.
But just because the Oscars have ended, please don’t think that I won’t spend the next few hours hanging around here like a creep. Stick around and I’ll bring you all the reaction from the awards as they come in, although not at this manic frequency.
And on the weirdly disturbing sight of Conan O’Brien’s corpse being incinerated, thus ends the 98th Academy Awards. As far as the awards themselves go, it’s hard to fault them. One Battle After Another convincingly won a big brace, but Sinners still found room for a handful of important victories. KPop Demon Hunters won. Weapons won. All films that people actually saw, which is going to count for a lot if the Oscars want to continue to be a going concern. Not a bad night all round really. And, since I tend to end these things by sobbing with exhaustion, this is the highest praise I can give.
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We close with a short film where Conan O’Brien is told that he’s been made Oscars host for life. He’s shown to his office and, oh wait, this is the end of One Battle After Another, isn’t it? I get the reference. Well done me. I am the real winner tonight.
WINNER! ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER, BEST PICTURE
Sara Murphy and Paul Thomas Anderson accept. This is the sixth Oscar won by One Battle After Another tonight, and it is richly deserved. While the cast and crew explode with joy behind her, Murphy gets to thanking people. Anderson then lists the best film nominees from 1975. “Let’s have a martini,” he says, and that’s the end of that.
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And she’s played off to an instrumental version of Up Where We Belong, because the final award is being presented by Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman, from Moulin Rouge and, oh, I’m as lost as everyone else. Either way, the pair of them seem absolutely hammered.
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WINNER! JESSIE BUCKLEY, BEST ACTRESS
Hamnet’s sole Oscar is the one everyone knew it would win. Buckley looks shellshocked as she walks to the stage, then starts laughing with disbelief as she starts to talk. It’s a normal speech, full of thanks, but its being delivered with such explosive intensity that you can’t help but be swept up by it.
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“We’re almost there,” whispers Conan O’Brien to himself, possibly without realising that the camera was on him. Honestly, at this time of night I know exactly how he feels. Anyway, just two awards left now.
WINNER! MICHAEL B JORDAN, BEST ACTOR
Tremendous. This whole race has been pitched between Chalamet and DiCaprio, and it looked as if Jordan’s incredible work in Sinners – playing every conceivable emotion in two different ways – was going to be overlooked. And yet now he’s on stage holding an Oscar. He thanks his parents, and Ryan Coogler, and the cast, and the Black actors who came before him. It seems inconceivable that this will be the last Oscar he wins, too. What a talent.
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WINNER! PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON, BEST DIRECTING
We’re down to the last four big awards of the night now, and possibly the moment where One Battle After Another breaks into a spring. Really, this award has been a long time coming, and PTA acknowledges this early on. He also mentions his late creative partner Adam Sumner, as he has throughout awards season. He’s audibly nervous, but talks of his love of working with a crew. Well deserved.
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WINNER! GOLDEN, BEST ORIGINAL SONG
A win for KPop Demon Hunters! Ejae, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo and Teddy Park accept, an array of winners that really makes me wish I was paid by the word. And they’re played off.
Oh wow, they’re properly played off as well. As soon as one of the writers started talking, the microphone was retracted, the lights went off and no amount of protesting could bring them back. That’s the first time this has happened tonight, and it has to sting.
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Ohhhh, it’s because Lionel Richie is the next presenter. “I’m back, I’m back, I’m back,” says Richie, to a global audience largely unaware that he had been away.
WINNER! SENTIMENTAL VALUE, BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE
Joachim Trier accepts. It’s a highly popular win for a film that, despite all its nominations, looked set to disappear without trace tonight. Trier speaks warmly and easily to his family, shouts out his fellow nominees and then paraphrases James Baldwin. And then he’s played off to an instrumental version of Say You, Say Me by Lionel Richie.
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Here’s Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Javier Bardem to present best international feature. I was going to say that the YouTube commenter will finally be happy, but Bardem began by shouting “free Palestine”, so that’s probably a bit more newsworthy.
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Oh, it’s over. That felt extremely truncated. Go to bed kids. You’ve got school in six hours.
And now, for any British kids who are inexplicably still awake at 2am, here’s the much-anticipated KPop Demon Hunters performance. It begins with a lot of traditional Korean dance, and then HUNTR/X turn up and sing Golden, which remains as much of a banger as it did the day the film came out.
And now I know what the maraca was. Everyone in the audience has one, and they’re lighting up in time with the music. Somewhere in the room you’re looking at, at this precise moment in time, venerable Guardian film reviewer Peter Bradshaw is going absolutely bonkers on a maraca.
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While Autumn Durald Arkapaw makes her speech, Ryan Coogler runs to the back of the auditorium and grabs (I think) her son. She makes all the other women in the audience stand up. In a wide shot, we see that one of the women is holding a giant maraca.
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WINNER! SINNERS, BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Another small moment of Oscars history, since Autumn Durald Arkapaw becomes the first woman to ever win a cinematography award.
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And now here’s Demi Moore, dressed as some seaweed, to present best cinematography.
WINNER! ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER, BEST EDITING
Andy Jurgensen accepts on what is rapidly becoming One Battle After Another’s night. Jurgensen tells his friends to binge drink, before sincerely thanking everyone from his colleagues to his parents, to his aunt who worked at the Academy. Very lovely.
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Bill and Lewis Pullman (the Pullmen, if you will) are here to announce the editing awards. It very quickly turns into a psychodrama about father-son expectations. Weirdly, it’s so stilted that I’m now left believing that the Pullmen have never actually met each other before this evening.
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And now for the boring part where someone from the Academy comes forward and tells everyone how brilliant the Academy is. She’s talking about awards and museums and the fact that she has met Tom Cruise. And I mean you probably would brag about that, wouldn’t you?
WINNER! F1, BEST SOUND
Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A Rizzo and Juan Peralta accept. It would be very surprising if F1 won another Oscar after this, but you have to admit it’s deserved. The appeal of the film is almost entirely auditory. Plus I think one of the winners just muttered the F-word, so that’s something.
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WINNER! SINNERS, BEST SCORE
Ludwig Göransson accepts. He talks about the power of the blues, fittingly, and how a guitar started him on the journey towards winning his Oscar. It is brief, which at this point in the ceremony is a mercy.
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Now there is a Bridesmaids reunion. The cast read notes delivered to them by members of the audience. Stellan Skarsgård flirts. Leonardo DiCaprio flirts. Skarsgård compliments their plastic surgery. Benicio Del Toro tells them that the bit is going on too long and the kid from Hamnet complains about the lack of pizza.
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WINNER! MR NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN, BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
David Borenstein, Pavel Talankin, Helle Faber and Alžběta Karásková accept. This film also won a Bafta recently, although the speech was cut all the way down to almost nothing, so it’s nice that they get their time in the sun. Especially since the speech is about how democracies die under media control. The audience understands the point, and cheers accordingly. Then they are played off by an instrumental version of Kiss from a Rose by Seal for some reason.
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WINNER! ALL THE EMPTY ROOMS, BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM
Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones accept. The film is about children who were killed in school shootings, and they have brought the mother of one of them to speak. It’s just about as powerful as an acceptance speech gets.
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Former Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel is here now, pretending to host because “Conan stepped outside and the sunlight incinerated his face”. He will be presenting the documentary categories, and also making barbed comments about the loss of free speech in the US.
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WINNER! AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
A nice moment here, since Sigourney Weaver got to present an award to the film she was in. She’s so surprised and moved that she can barely get the words out. Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett accept the award on behalf of the 2,200 visual artists who worked on the film. They sort of managed to cut themselves off as well, with one winner sort of giving up and walking off after a single word.
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WINNER! FRANKENSTEIN, BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau accept. Frankenstein is really doing well in the technical categories here and, vitally, nobody said the word “shit” this time.
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Sigourney Weaver and Pedro Pascal are presenting. They throw to Grogu – baby Yoda – being fondled by Kate Hudson in the audience. Weaver calls her a bitch. I’m so confused.
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Now that we’ve all had a chance to emotionally readjust, here’s Conan O’Brien trying to attract younger viewers by saying a lot of gen Z stuff for no discernible reason.
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And now Streisand is singing. Like I said, punishing.
We’re still going. Now Barbra Streisand is here eulogising Robert Redford. Deserved, of course – and it goes to show the extent of talent that we’ve lost this last year – but this is punishing.
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Now here’s Rachel McAdams to introduce some more of the people we lost, including Catherine O’Hara and Diane Keaton, who gets a long tribute. I’ve never seen an In Memoriam quite like this. It’s very touching, but perhaps not a format that should be repeated year on year.
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This then moves on to a more traditional In Memoriam, which are always weird to liveblog, but suffice to say this is very tasteful and moving.
The In Memoriam section now. It’s been a long, brutal year with some genuinely tragic deaths. To reflect this, Billy Crystal has appeared on stage to talk about his friend Rob Reiner. Crystal starts by doing little more than just list Reiner’s films, which is still jawdropping: a run of films, flitting between genres, that managed to define each of those genres.
He moves on to a more personal biography, bringing in Michele Singer Reiner and talking about the role they both played in introducing marriage equality in the US. He’s joined by Reiner’s friends and collaborators, all of whom are fighting back tears to some degree.
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WINNER! SINNERS, BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The most nominated film of the night finally wins something. It would be a shame if this was it, especially because Ryan Coogler gets such an ecstatic ovation. He’s so worried about being played off that he’s getting his speech out in double time. Time-wise, that was a very short speech, but I’d be surprised if any other winner used quite as many words. Let’s hope another win is on the horizon.
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WINNER! ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER, BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Well, this is starting to look like it’ll be a clean sweep. Paul Thomas Anderson gets an early standing ovation, and possibly not his last today. He thanks Thomas Pynchon, and mentions that he wrote the film as an apology to his children and their generation, and seems wildly overcome with emotion.
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Robert Downey Jr and Chris Evans are presenting, playing out a tortuous bit about The Avengers being 14 years old that lands with a silent thud. One of the first true groaners of the night.
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The writing categories are coming up now. But first, Conan O’Brien is taking another dig at streaming, and Matt Damon’s recent assertion that studios want films to repeat information because viewers are on their phones. As such, he and Sterling K Brown are reenacting a scene from Casablanca. “World war two, that’s the Hitler one, right?” goes the new version.
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WINNER! SEAN PENN, BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
For One Battle After Another. But Sean Penn isn’t around to collect the award (all the other nominees were), so it’s collected on his behalf by presenter Kieran Culkin. Another win for One Battle After Another, which is casually stretching into a comfortable lead here. Plus no acceptance speech means that my bedtime gets three minutes earlier. Everyone’s a winner.
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WINNER! TWO PEOPLE EXCHANGING SALIVA, (ALSO) BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Nanjiani points out how ironic it is that the short film category is going to take twice as long as all the others. The winners are rewarded by having their microphones cut off temporarily. They’re turned back on, but maybe this was a mistake, because they’re going on and on and on, mentioning ballet and opera (and possibly getting booed for it). Still, it’s over now.
WINNER! THE SINGERS, BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Well hello there. This is actually a tied award, so The Singers isn’t the only winner. Nanjiani pleads for calm, because usually when this sort of thing happens it’s actually a terrible mistake. Such is the surprise that I’ve completely missed this entire acceptance speech. Sorry The Singers!
Conan O’Brien walks on stage with a leaf blower and doesn’t make any reference to it at all. A bit of back and forth with announcer Matt Berry, apparently announcing live from London, and then here comes Kumail Nanjiani to present best live action short film.
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WINNER! CASSANDRA KULUKUNDIS, BEST CASTING
The first casting Oscar ever, and the first award of the night for One Battle After Another. Kulukundis is explaining her job a little, and also teasing Paul Thomas Anderson for winning an award before he did.
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And now, a small piece of Oscars history. This is the first year that recognises casting, and it has been given a special presentation – actors who were cast by each of the nominated casting directors are giving small tributes to each nominee. It’s a smart move, cleverly explaining what casting directors do to an audience that might not be familiar. Very nicely done, but let’s have stunts as well next year.
WINNER! FRANKENSTEIN, BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel and Cliona Furey accept. And this isn’t a surprise either, since the key selling point of Frankenstein was the sheer length of time that Jacob Elordi had to spend being made up every day. More interestingly, the first word of the acceptance speech is also “shit”. Hopefully this will continue throughout the night, eventually progressing to a screamed C-word for best picture.
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WINNER! FRANKENSTEIN, BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Kate Hawley accepts. This isn’t exactly a surprise, since these categories are where Frankenstein shined the most. More interestingly, I think Hawley just said the word “shit”.
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Anne Hathaway and Anna Wintour present the next award. Hathaway pleads for Wintour’s approval. Wintour puts on some sunglasses and moves on. Classic Oscars bit.
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Now for some smaller, but still important, awards, starting with best costume design. But first, a man in the orchestra plays the “bum drum” with some ping pong bats, and a small film shows how awful it is to watch films on your phone vertically.
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Another standout line from the monologue: O’Brien pointed out that no British performers were nominated in the lead acting awards. “In response a British spokesperson said: ‘Well, at least we arrest our paedophiles.’”
Immediate standing ovation as soon as it ends. It’s bizarre to enjoy the Oscars this much. Surely it has to get interminable soon, right?
And now the much anticipated Sinners musical number. It’s an extremely audacious performance, mimicking the standout sequence from the film where the juke joint gets overwhelmed by the entire past and present of Black music. Even the cinematography is similar, sweeping and winding around the stage. There is so much happening here that it’s almost overwhelming. One for the ages.
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WINNER! THE GIRL WHO CRIED PEARLS, BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski accept. Perhaps spooked by what happened to KPop Demon Hunters, they are brief.
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WINNER! KPOP DEMON HUNTERS, BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Well well, two awards and two genuinely popular winners. This isn’t how the Oscars usually go, is it? Obviously it helps that both winners so far are completely deserving. Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans and Michelle LM Wong tearfully accept on behalf of all Koreans, and then get played off. A sad “oh” as they’re cut off while thanking Netflix. But they soldier on and beat the play-off music, setting a dangerous precedent for later in the evening. Everyone now has permission to go as long as they like, and none of us are getting to bed any time soon.
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Conan is teasing how the Oscars will look when they switch to YouTube in 2029, which means he’s constantly interrupted by adverts for torches starring Jane Lynch.
The ITV hosts didn’t enjoy the monologue. I am permanently out of step with popular opinion.
WINNER! AMY MADIGAN, BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
For Weapons. This is a hell of a turn-up. Madigan has been an outsider all season, but might well be the popular winner. And it’s a very good early start, because she’s just as visibly surprised as everyone else, cackling and blabbering in shock. What a fantastic result.
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The first award is for best supporting actress, as presented by Zoe Saldaña reading the blandest possible introduction.
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And now a dream sequence in which O’Brien imagines that he wins an Oscar and is immediately crowned and blessed by the pope. And then Josh Groban sings a song about how amazing Conan O’Brien is. And then an eagle called Cicero delivers the award to him.
The monologue is over. It might have been the best one I’ve seen in all these years of doing this. And now I actually have to cover the awards themselves, which will be an anticlimax.
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A small moment of seriousness, as O’Brien lauds the international community who made the nominated films. There’s a chance that this is a way to head off any overtly political speeches, but let’s see if that works.
He’s even making jokes about the best documentary short category, and getting a roaring ovation for it. Amazon didn’t get any nominations, to which he screams “WHY CAN’T THE WEBSITE I BUY TOILET PAPER FROM WIN AWARDS?” The joke got vanishing few laughs, but I liked it.
Arguably the best joke of the night, about Ryan Coogler refusing to become a voting member of the Academy because he doesn’t like judging his colleagues. “But the rest of you pricks don’t seem to mind it.”
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O’Brien is doing a great job so far. The monologue is a lot more pointed than last year’s – he basically just yelled at Ted Sarandos for killing the theatrical experience, and wrote off last year’s Oscar winners as being minor – and he seems a lot more relaxed, too. Am I … enjoying the Oscars? This is unprecedented.
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The children chase him on to the stage, and the ceremony begins proper. He is, he says, the last human host of the Oscars. And his first big joke is about opera and ballet, so well done me.
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We begin with a short film of Conan dressed up as the woman from Weapons, or “Bettie Davies with lupus” as he puts it.
He’s being chased by lots of children, through all the main films of the year. He runs around an F1 track. He plays a bit of ping pong. He travels back to Elizabethan England and then jumps out of a car. He turns up, animated, in KPop Demon Hunters and speaks Norwegian to Stellan Skarsgard. And Sinners.
This is spectacular. I kind of want to just watch this for four hours.
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That’s a wrap from the fashion desk. A lot of brown. A lot of feathers. A lot of Chanel.
Over to the ceremony!
The ceremony begins
And here we are. The red carpet is done and the awards are here. Strap in, everyone.
Michael B Jordan is chic personified in a black suit with Nehru collar, and waist chain. Understated, but with something a bit interesting, who needs more?
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Paul Mescal has arrived at the eleventh hour in a black cardigan by Celine and it looks like he’s borrowed Ethan Hawke’s bolo tie. Gentle reminder: the cardigan is cashmere and it’s 27C
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It’s all white on the night for Timothée Chalamet. The suit – made by Sarah Burton at Givenchy – feels a little sci-fi, and not at all the world of Marty Supreme, which is set in the 40s, and has had a signature colour of orange. If the actor infamously leaned into that, with him and his partner Kylie Jenner wearing the colour for the film’s premiere, he’s gone for a blank canvas here. Add the shades and shoes that look like they could easily stand up to 10k steps a day and he could be a futuristic overlord. Maybe that’s his next role?
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Finally some vintage! Here’s the Marty Supreme costume designer, Miyako Bellizzi, in archival Dior by John Galliano
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The suit of a winner! It’s Ryan Coogler, in Louis Vuitton, and what has now become a foregone conclusion: A Visible Watch. There seems to be some anxiety around over-dressing at the moment, particularly among the men. Still, the white tie on white shirt helps temper any stuffiness
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Ten minutes to go until the ceremony starts. Or – if things go the same way as they did when I went a couple of years ago, and there’s a logjam of famous people who all wanted to pull a power move and be last to arrive – about 25 minutes.
Bradshaw update: Peter has made his way to the auditorium, and is currently discovering the joys of the mezzanine.
Teyana Taylor won a Golden Globe as best supporting actress wearing a Schiaparelli dress, which she said made her “feel and look like her own statue”. For the Oscars, she’s gone for Chanel, a brand that is currently winning fashion thanks to its new designer Matthieu Blazy – and a dress that is less statue and more show stopper. Who knows if that will translate to Taylor winning her again?
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I was hoping Ethan Hawke would continue to dress like a cowboy in his bolo ties on the red carpet, but tonight he’s gone for a Prada three-piece tux with a longline jacket in what looks like velvet. I am, however, enjoying the memorable shirts everyone is wearing with their black tie. Death to the white shirt!
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Chloé Zhao has some good previous with red carpet outfits – she wore trainers, pigtails and a plain Hermes dress to the Oscars in 2021, when she won best director. She’s gone in a different direction this time around,channelling all the best goth elements in one: shiny black layers, big sleeves and a veil. Can’t wait to see what she goes for next.
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Half an hour to go until the ceremony begins. So, if you want to know where to watch, here’s a recap.
UK: ITV, 11pm to 3amish
US: ABC / Hulu, 4pm PT/7pm ET to 8pmish PT/ 11pmish ET
Australia: Channel 7, 10amish to 2pmish
Congratulations Australia – you live in the most civilised timezone to watch the Oscars.
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Here’s Bugonia’s Emma Stone going full Regency in silver Louis Vuitton with little cap shoulders. It’s a little a la statuette to really stand out but maybe that’s the aim.
A word on the makeup though, which is the reason why every female nominee under 40 looks more or less the same. You can tell makeup artist Nina Park’s work from the lips. There’s no discernible lip liner, just a natural glossy tint which is smudged slightly above the cupid’s bow. But that’s more or less how Nina Park became – at least within some circles – a household name. The New York-based make up artist is known for working with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including Emma Stone and Jessie Buckley. A bit dewy, a bit glowy, with this slightly fat lip, she’s weaponised no-makeup-makeup.
A textbook Oscar dress might have a full skirt and strapless bodice, with lots of sparkle. Elle Fanning’s dress – designed by Sarah Burton at Givenchy – fits the bill. Combined with an up-do and diamonds, the best supporting actress nominee is nothing if not classic glamour.
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Also, for those not in the UK, here’s a guide to where to watch the Oscars
ITV has actually pulled off a very minor coup by booking Samson Kayo as one of its pundits. Kayo is a star of F1, which is (bewilderingly) nominated for best picture. This is almost exactly the same as if it had booked Leonardo DiCaprio in the year that Titanic won. Best of all, Kayo doesn’t look furious at all about spending the night sitting next to some bloke from TikTok in a windowless studio rather than actually being in LA.
In an industry first, Gap – yes, Gap – has found its way on to the Oscars red carpet. To clarify it’s now called GapStudio and is designed by Zac Posen who you may remember from the 90s for being as famous as the people he dressed. Until he dressed Michelle Obama. This looks like a corset-and-gown, though if I never see this electric blue again it’ll be too soon!
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Oscars dressing for women is so often about The Gown – so massive props to Odessa A’zion for mixing it up. This Valentino outfit – apparently combined with 55 carats of diamonds – is both lounge-y and louche, adjectives that we’d love to apply to more red carpet outfits.
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If any other Brits have been driven to a state of horrified catatonia by the unending photocalls of the AP livestream, good news is on the horizon. Actual, real-life television coverage is about to begin on ITV. Obviously the next 45 minutes aren’t going to qualify as quality telly – traditionally, it has consisted of whoever can be dragged to the studio in the middle of the night listlessly filling space with directionless waffle – but right now it’s all we’ve got.
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Maleficent chic comes to the red carpet! Demi Moore’s dress is pure evil queen, complete with feathered bustier and a feathered skirt with the kind of sheen found on birds of paradise or – twitchers might note – a great-tailed grackle. Expect the birds – apparently found in south-eastern America and Mexico – to be on more moodboards soon.
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It’s been a relatively sober night for menswear but this Amiri suit and tie (so many ties!) on Sinners star Miles Caton is chic and contemporary and different without clamouring for too much attention. My favourite menswear look so far
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Finally some fashion derived from the event itself! Jessie Buckley has gone full throttle in a bespoke Chanel off-shoulder gown which looks somehow both old and new at the same time. She suits red, so it’s rather clever to create something face-framing which will sing when she’s standing in front of the lectern on the podium.
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Wunmi Mosaku has done award season red carpets while pregnant with her second child – and worn jewel colours throughout. This emerald green dress, by Louis Vuitton, brings the sparkles needed for biggest award ceremony of all. Maybe it’s a sign that at the end of the night she’ll be named best supporting actress.
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Begone the penguin suit of old. Enter the main character suit, here on Wagner Moura in Valentino. Styled by Ilaria Urbnati, who has transformed Donald Glover, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Barry Keoghan into red carpet pin ups, I’m told by Urbanati that the brooches are by a Brazilan designer.
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As the costume designer behind Sinners, Ruth E Carter knows clothes – and knows black and white is always a winner, especially when it comes with a train. The addition of a clutch bag and sparkly platforms bring an endearing dash of “real person on a night out”. Actors never carry stuff or need to think about comfortable shoes, after all.
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I wasn’t around much last week, and so the story of Jessie Buckley pulling a Chalamet by publicly disregarding cats is new to me, and has me in stitches. It’s interesting that Chalemet was mean about ballet and dominated the news cycle for days, but Buckley trashed an entire species of animal and seems to have got away with it. One can only conclude that the consensus sides with her, and cats are terrible animals.
Here’s Hudson Williams of Heated Rivalry fame wearing a Balenciaga suit and tie, Bulgari watch and handheld fan. To be fair it is 27C and they’re mostly in black tie
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Can anyone outflank Sissy Spacek for low-key swagger? The veteran actor is in a chic Loewe suit with a popped collar and some chic sunglasses.
Truly a sparkling display that subverted old stereotypes about who should wear what and how and when
While we pass away the 90 remaining minutes before the Oscars actually starts, here’s a list of some of this year’s choice Oscars coverage from the super soaraway Guardian:
Peter Bradshaw’s Oscars 2026 predictions: who will win, who should win, who should’ve been in the running?
Academy wars: how did this season’s Oscars discourse get so toxic?
Oscars 2026 class photo: can you spot the tallest nominee – and a camouflaged Diane Warren?
Spike Lee can always be relied on for a bit of a look – and he’s got one here. right down to the bag covered in gold cassette tapes. But really he’s outshone by his wife Tonya Lewis Lee. Her gold dress is like an Oscar statuette – with extra cut-out detail. Both apt and also elegant.
Here’s Joel Edgerton in Louis Vuitton, tinted shades and a natty brooch.
A jazzy tie used to be a go-to for men who didn’t want to go full peacock on the red carpet but did want to show a bit more personality. Now it’s being trumped by a jazzy brooch. Forget Connell’s chain or the slutty little earring, tonight it is all about the bouji brooch.
Brown is a big colour in menswear atm – but it doesn’t usually make it to the red carpet. Kieran Culkin’s brown jacket is a refreshing change from all the black tuxedos, and is perhaps a bit more relatable to non-red carpet men, who might wear a Carhartt Michigan jacket, for example. Looks like this might become a trend – Domhnall Gleeson has also been spotted in a brown shirt.
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Contemporary twists on ye olde tux continue to hold fort with Kumail Nanjiani looking dapper.
By the way, have you ever wondered: why all the watches? Well wonder no more. We’ve spoken to Ilaria Urbinati, one of the biggest menswear stylists in the biz and this year, a stylist in residence at pre-owned watch specialist, Watchfinder & Co.
“I think it’s simply the best accessory a man has. My clients have also become much more knowledgable about watches, a lot of them have a genuine interest in watches and have brands they’re passionate about. I’ve [also] seen more of a ‘watch nerd’ culture now, that maybe didn’t exist in the same way before. Many of the men I dress already own watches or have their own collections that they’re proud of. For me, it’s the accessory that really seals the outfit.”
So there you have it.
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Texture is truly coursing through the red carpet tonight! Here’s Sinners star Jayme Lawson in a dress by Loewe which appears to be made of electric blue straws.
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If fashion made textbooks, this picture of Vicky Krieps in Bottega Veneta might be used as an example of how black dresses look great on the red carpet.
It’s still probably the most common colour that Oscar-goers wear – from men’s tuxedos to women’s LBDs, black has been more than the default at points. See women wearing black to stand for #MeToo in 2018, or Billy Porter’s gender non-conforming black gown a year later. It also means something when they are a default. For the first Baftas post-Covid in 2021, stars stuck to black as a symbol of safety while last year, the ceremony saw a different kind of black: one that brought out celebrities’ goth side.
Judging by stars like Krieps and Amelia Dimoldenberg, so far the colour this year is giving classic with something a bit interesting. Let’s see how it develops as more attendees hit the red carpet.
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Meanwhile, Peter Bradshaw’s red carpet whirlwind continues apace. It pleases me no end to announce that he has located Ken Jeong from The Masked Singer. “I can sort of go home now,” he writes on Instagram. Nice try, Peter, but if we’ve got to cover the whole ceremony then you have, too.
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I don’t know if you’re following the AP red carpet feed but, if you are, you’re missing some of the most frenzied commenting I have ever seen. I have become particularly enamoured with the YouTube user who has spent the last 25 minutes typing “WHERE IS JAVIER BARDEM?” into the chatbox every few seconds. I truly pray that Javier Bardem turns up at some point, otherwise this poor fool is going to have an aneurism.
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One thing that Conan O’Brien will almost certainly address in his monologue later is the slightly berserk furore that Timothée Chalamet blundered into when he told Matthew McConaughey that people don’t care about ballet and opera. The din caused by the ballet and opera communities getting their knickers in a twist has been so colossal that this weekend even Steven Spielberg waded in.
Speaking about his new movie Disclosure Day, Spielberg said that he still made films with the collective audience in mind. “We are all united with a whole bunch of feelings that we walk into the daylight with, or into the night-time with,” he said. “And there’s nothing like that. It happens in movies, and in concerts, and it happens in ballet and opera, by the way.”
Which is a relatively sick burn, and it probably means that Chalamet probably shouldn’t get his hopes up about landing a role in the next Jaws movie. But it also speaks to how happily Chalamet has allowed himself to become the villain of this year’s awards season. If he wins best actor later, there is a non-zero percent chance that he’ll even be booed. And opera singers can really boo from the diaphragm.
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A rare sighting of pastels on the red carpet. This Louis Vuitton gown, with layers and layers of parma violet frills, is equal parts sweet and scene stealer. Much like Chase Infiniti, the woman who wears it.
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Sentimental Value’s Renate Reinsve has been dialling up the glamour since she started the campaign trail. Here she is in a structually rigid strapless Louis Vuitton dress with what is technically known as a mega-slit. I worry about that train on the podium should she win but she still looks glorious.
It’s worth pointing out here that her stylist is Danielle Goldberg.
As my colleague Chloe Mac Donnell writes: “You might not know her name but you will know her work. She’s the stylist who has put Greta Lee in that Dior bow dress, Ayo Edibiri in Chanel’s turn-up jeans before they’d even appeared on the catwalk and Saoirse Ronan in a teeny, tiny electric blue JW Anderson shift dress.
Goldberg has the power to shape a celebrity’s style so that it transcends the red carpet. Her clients go on to secure lucrative brand deals, become fixtures on best dressed lists and influence the high street.
Goldberg’s minimalism is the antidote to method dressing. She lets her clients carve out and develop a quieter more personal style. It’s polished but not try-hard. It sounds easy but it’s no mean feat in Hollywood to ensure an A-lister doesn’t look like the clothes are wearing them.”
Expect to see more Goldberg girlies on the red carpet shortly …
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We’re still early on the red carpet but there’s already a trend – with attendees wearing political pins. Hamnet costume designer Malgosia Turzanska wore an ICE Out pin on a safety pin dress, while producer Elizabeth Woodward and actor Saja Kilani both had “Artists4Ceasefire”.
This isn’t the first time Hollywood has worn pins to draw attention to issues – with HIV/Aids ribbons, anti-war badges and women’s rights appearing on the red carpet over the years.
2026 follows on from last year – when Billie Eilish and Mark Ruffalo wore red pins calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. At this year’s Golden Globes and Grammy awards, “ICE Out” and “Be Good” pins were widely worn as part of the condemnation of actions of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Is it drawing attention to these issues in a way that broadcasts them to the world, or virtue signalling? You decide.
Old Hollywood is such a hackneyed reference – but Rose Byrne in a dress by JW Anderson’s Dior manages to make it look, well, pretty exquisite really. The key to updating the classic to 2026? Bright red, slightly clashing, lipstick.
Who doesn’t want to go to the Oscars in leather dungarees and a polka dot shirt? Blues singer Buddy Guy – who performs at the end of Sinners – is giving us outfit inspo. Let’s hope the rest of the red carpet brings more attendees having this much fun with their outfits.
Amelia Dimoldenberg’s brand of comedy is often described as awkward – so it makes sense her red carpet pose has a little of that quality. Otherwise, a black strapless Ralph Lauren gown with peplum and a string of sparkles is pure blue chip elegance.
Felcity Jones has arrived in lemon-coloured Prada proving old Hollywood – sleeveless, a sprinkle of crystals, a little tulle train, hair in a soft side wave – is bomb-proof if you stick to the formula
One of the most miraculous aspects of the night is that Conan O’Brien will once again host. His turn last year saved what had the potential to be a very dull evening, and it is very exciting to think about what he’ll do this year, with films that people have actually heard of. And, for that matter, what he’ll do about Train Dreams, a film so lacking in comedic potential that O’Brien tore into it during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel last week.
What makes this even more miraculous is that it’s been reported that O’Brien will earn $15,000 for tonight’s duties, a figure that simultaneously seems quite high and extremely low. This isn’t just a one-night deal for O’Brien; he’s been writing jokes for the show with his staff since the end of last year, and has been on an exhausting weeks-long press tour for the ceremony. And, to put it into perspective, in 2010 – when he became host of the Tonight Show, then lost the Tonight Show, then received a settlement from NBC – it’s estimated that he made close to $40 million.
In other words, O’Brien is making tonight what he literally made in three hours of sleeping 16 years ago. He must really enjoy hosting.
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Virality seems to be the end goal for Alice Carvalho, the brilliant lead of the brilliant The Secret Agent, who appears to be wearing a hessian dress with hip cut outs and some sort of molten brooch. Most of the cast are wearing South American designers, and indeed Carvalho is wearing Normando, a sustainable Amazonian brand.
Funnily enough, what really stands out here is the bag. No one brings a bag to the Oscars.
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Here’s Maggie O’Farrell, author of Hamnet, looking like a modern Venus de Milo in a shocking pink gown, and what I think are lace sleeves. You have to respect people who treat red carpets as vehicles of unfettered self-expression
One person who is crushing the red carpet this year is our very own Oscars emissary Peter Bradshaw. If his Instagram is any indication, Peter is already blowing through the ceremony in a flurry of suave selfies. He is demonstrating a refreshing lack of self-consciousness, and my prediction is that he will have had his photo taken with every notable figure by the end of the evening.
Ever the wallflower, Arden Cho of KPop Demon Hunters is wearing a dramatic fishtail gown by Miss Sohee with an olive green sleeve-train.
This feels like a good segue into this year’s rug which is … red. For something nudging 50,000 sq ft, you’d think there would be some consistency on the colour. For the most part, it’s been red since 1961. It’s even named after it, Academy Red, though it’s closer in fact to burgundy. Then came 2023’s champagne-coloured carpet, which felt a bit on the nose (and got very dirty very quickly). It was actually prompted by the weather – they had to erect a tent over the carpet, which turned out to be orange, and that would have been a bit of a clash.
Vis a vis the gowns, none of this matters, says Melanie Wilkinson, our Guardian styling editor. “The red carpet dresses are so hard to get right. I think whether the dress goes well with the carpet or not is probably the last consideration.”
She did, however, suggest people avoid green.
(In case you were wondering, once the ceremony is over the carpet, the carpet is destroyed in an undisclosed manner.)
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Perhaps slightly better is the Associated Press video, which is trained on attendees posing for the cameras. Obviously it’s worth pointing out that currently it’s a video of attendees who are willing to arrive at a ceremony two full hours before it actually begins, so maybe don’t brace yourself for too many A-listers just yet, but it’s better than nothing.
A quick word for UK readers. British television coverage of the run-up to the ceremony is a bit meagre and austere this year, so you won’t find much in the way of red carpet footage. However, there are live YouTube videos for us to monitor. There is this one, for example, which for the time being seems to solely consist of bored-looking reporters sullenly looking at their phones. But it will probably pick up in time.
Hello from the Guardian’s fashion desk! Lauren and I will be tracking the gowns and jackets and shoes (and pins?) on the Oscars red carpet tonight.
The greatest honour tonight is, of course, taking home an award. But given that stylists have arguably replaced editors as the most powerful brokers of taste, it would be a shame (and dull) to ignore the clothes, which are an extraordinarily well choreographed culmination of months of plotting and liaising and strategising. There will be a lot of Chanel because there is a new designer, Matthieu Blazy, and everyone wants to be part of his cabal. Ditto Dior. And Prada, which is the go-to brand if you fancy yourself as a bit of a kook.
It’s worth pointing out what they wear is not really about personal expression. The stylist-to-celebrity pipeline is a highly engineered marketing machine where celebrities borrow gowns, brands pay people to wear their stuff and fashion houses battle for visibility.
Try not to let that put you off though – and enjoy the frocks!
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And the Oscar goes to … you! And us!
Hello world, and welcome to the Guardian’s liveblog of the 2026 Oscars. This is the biggest night of the year for the film industry, and maybe like the 70th biggest night of the year for everyone else.
Actually that might not be true. In an unprecedented move, this year’s ceremony will centre around a clutch of films that people have actually seen, led by the triptych of One Battle After Another, Marty Supreme and Sinners. Combined, these films have grossed over three quarters of a billion dollars. That might not seem much – they basically add up to 8/10ths of the Lilo & Stitch remake – but compare that to last year, when everything was won by Anora (one 18th of a Lilo & Stitch remake) and you can see how populist things are this time around.
A quick word on how things will go this evening, using UK times to avoid confusion. As we speak, the least famous of this year’s attendees are starting to drift towards the Dolby theater, which means that we’ll be bringing you all the red carpet looks as they trickle in. Some hours later, at 11pm UK time, the ceremony will begin, and we will liveblog every moment until it finally wraps up at some point in the early morning. And then after that we’ll still be liveblogging reactions and news until long after the sun comes up.
So strap in, get caffeinated and let’s all get through this together. Thanks for being here.
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