Most Thoughtfully Dressed at the 2024 Emmys

The award for best question goes to Laverne Cox.

Red carpet coverage of awards shows has, in the last decade or so, ebbed and flowed in terms of fashion questions. “Who are you wearing?” was a standard query until it was not (who remembers 2015’s #AskHerMore campaign?). While I understand the desire to be seen as more than what one is wearing, I do not think we can (nor should) discount the role of style entirely. A lot goes into dressing a celebrity for a red carpet — and for good reason. A standout look can offer a real boost to an actor, drawing attention to the project at hand or teeing up potential work. Surely there can be a place for both fashion discourse and other discussion, no?

Enter Laverne Cox, who has brought a much-needed reframe as a red carpet host on E!. In a brilliant turn of phrase, the actor and activist asks those who step up to her mic to share “the story” behind the look. “The question for me is just an invitation to think differently about what we put on our backs,” Cox told the New York Times in a profile last year.

At Sunday’s Emmys, Cox elicited an array of interesting responses, prompting some really thoughtful reflections. It was further proof we are in the age of intentional dressing, with clothing that speaks volumes.  

I combed through the red carpet coverage from Cox and others to compile a list of the most thoughtfully dressed of the night. Because yes, a lot of folks looked great on Sunday — but these 10 style standouts put in a bit of extra effort to say something with their choices. Who was your favorite? Click below to share in the comments.

And shout out to Cox, who told her own story with a gown from Alexander McQueen’s 2017 collection.  “Glamour, Glory and Gold,” she wrote on Instagram. In a separate post, she said she needed a wide-shot for E!’s #glambot video, which showed her arms extended, dramatically swooshing her long shawl. “Keep spreading your wings, too,” she wrote.

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Emmys 2024 • Most Thoughtfully Dressed  

Ayo Edebiri

Nominated for The Bear

Wearing: Bottega Veneta, styled by Danielle Goldberg

“It was perfect as soon as I saw the sketches,” Ayo Edebiri told Cox on E!. “Danielle Goldberg, my stylist, said it was really reminiscent to her of Gaetano Pesce, this amazing Italian artist who just passed away.” Edebiri added that for her the dress gave “Nollywood vibes, so we have a big earring.” My favorite bit from this exchange was what Edebiri said when asked about her role as a favorite to dress among fashion houses. “I started off doing stand-up comedy! My uniform was big pant, big shirt,” she said. “It definitely was a costume still, but things have certainly changed so it’s nice getting to play in this space.”

Jonathan Bailey

Nominated for Fellow Travelers 

Wearing: Giorgio Armani, styled by Emma Jade Morrison

Again, Laverne Cox FTW — her question on the story behind Jonathan Bailey’s look prompted the actor to pull a bit of lavender from his jacket pocket, which he said represented the Lavender Scare. 

“President Eisenhower issued an [executive order] in ‘53, which started a witch hunt, which flushed gay people out of government,” Bailey explained, describing a real-life event that was depicted in the mini-series for which he was nominated. “So many people lost their own lives and took their own lives. They were fired, their families turned their back on them. It was like a really dark moment in queer history and something that, you know, obviously is a cautionary tale of what could happen going forward.”

Kali Reis

Nominated for True Detective: Night Country

Wearing: Jovana Louis, jewelry by a collective of Indigenous artists, styled by Mickey Freeman

Kali Reis became the first Native American woman, along with Lily Gladstone for Under the Bridge, to be nominated for an acting Emmy this year. She chose a custom Jovana Louis skirt suit to represent both her heritage and her personal style, eschewing the expected gown and heels. “Purple is a color near and dear to my heart. It means royalty and it comes from the color of Wampum,” Reis told WWD. Her hair, styled by Kim Kimble, offered a similar intermingling, combining her signature braid with a 1920s finger wave. She finished off the look with a pair of feathers, which were a gift “from an elder back home,” Reis shared with the Associated Press. “I’m really proud to be able to represent our people.”

Dan Levy

Host

Wearing: Multiple looks (Loewe above), styled by Harry Lambert

Hosting alongside his father, Eugene, Emmys host Dan Levy turned up in not one but five looks. “The bar was high,” he told Vogue. “At the end of the day, I didn’t want to do anything too crazy, and yet, you want to subvert expectations and play around with what black tie could look like.” He told the magazine he was looking for “a cohesive narrative,” which was giving slideshow dressing in the best way. Levy chose traditional silhouettes with exaggerated details. His red carpet choice was a standout, a Loewe suit with a scarf top that looked as if a gust of wind had just hit it. Levy said it was the “editorial risk moment,” meaning the fashion-forward attention-grabbing look one would find in a magazine spread.

Nava Mau

Nominated for Baby Reindeer 

Wearing: Gigi Goode

In 2014, Cox became the first openly transgender person to be nominated for an acting Emmy for her role on Netflix’s Orange is the New Black. A decade later, she teared up when greeting Nava Mau, the first trans woman to be nominated for best supporting actress in a limited or anthology series. Mau was just as moved, thanking Cox for her role in the 2020 documentary Disclosure, about trans representation. “I got to see you walk in all of your grace and all of your power,” said Mau, who worked as a production fellow on the project. “I saw that I could dream bigger for myself than what I had dreamt for myself before that, and it changed me forever.” 

Making the moment even sweeter: Mau wore a red dress designed by Gigi Goode, the runner-up of the 12th season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Since that show wrapped, Goode has said she is a trans woman and launched her own fashion line. “The story that came together with this look feels to me like past, present and future,” Mau told WWD. “There’s something futuristic about the dress, the jewelry and shoes call on classic Hollywood glamour, and we kept the hair and makeup very modern — simple and chic.” 

Brie Larson

Nominated for Lessons in Chemistry

Wearing: Chanel, styled by ​​Samantha McMillen

Larson’s custom look was based on archival pieces from the famed French fashion house’s collections in the 1950s and 1960s. That’s the same time period in which the television show, Lessons in Chemistry (based on the best-selling book of the same name) is set. “I wanted to do a final nod to Miss Elizabeth Zott,” Larson said on E!, naming her character, a chemist turned television show cooking host. The ribbon at the top of her head played an important part, too. “Since this is the last moment, it’s like wrapping it up with a bow,” she said. “It’s time to say, ‘Thank you and goodnight.’”

D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai

Nominated for Reservation Dogs

Wearing: Giorgio Armani, jewelry by Lionel Thundercloud, styled by Avo Yermagyan

One of the most dramatic statements on the red carpet was the red handprint painted across D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai’s mouth, a symbol for missing and murdered Indigenous women. “I did this for those who ain’t here, not 4 me, not 4 y’all,” wrote the actor, who is Canadian and of Oji-Cree First Nations descent, on Instagram Stories. Groomer Martha Phelan handpainted it on Woon-A-Tai, according to Vogue, using products from the Indigenous brand Cheekbone Beauty.

In an interview with Variety earlier this year, Woon-A-Tai reflected on his role in Reservation Dogs, which follows four Indigenous teenagers living on a reservation in Oklahoma. The FX mini-series “taught me how important it is that we are the ones to tell our stories for us,” he said. “Nobody should tell our stories on our behalf. That’s been going on for too long. We’ve had too much misrepresentation because of it. Moving forward, I am very much going to stick with telling Native stories through the Native lens.”

Alan Cumming

Winner, Outstanding Host for Reality / Reality Competition Program for The Traitors

Wearing: Teddy Vonranson, styled by Sam Spector

In his acceptance speech, Alan Cumming thanked his native Scotland, where the reality competition series The Traitors is filmed. “I owe it everything,” the actor said of the country. “It’s such a beautiful co-star.” The actor’s outfit paid tribute to it, too. “It’s a sort of homage to The Traitors,” he said on E!. “I’ve got a kilt, I’ve got a sash, I’ve got a little trans-power going on there with my medal. It’s like three outfits in one - why have one outfit when you can have three?”

Elizabeth Debicki

Winner for The Crown

Wearing: Dior, styled by Elizabeth Saltzman

Did anyone else see Elizabeth Debicki and think of Diana? Because I sure did. The actor, who stepped into the late princess’s shoes for the final two seasons of the Crown, turned up at the Emmys in a square-neck, black velvet gown with a full ball gown skirt. “I don’t mean this to sound like too on the nose, but it’s quite…regal,” she told Marie Claire (Click through for some unbelievable BTS shots). “It feels like a very, for me, princessy dress, really. It’s a sort of silhouette that when I was really young, I would have just thought, Oh, my gosh. That’s the most beautiful dress I’ve ever seen.” Rendered in black — a color Debiciki wore quite often throughout her Crown press — the gown felt particularly poignant. 

Maya Rudolph

Presenter

Wearing: Chloe, styled by Rebecca Grice

In one of the funniest moments of the evening, Maya Rudolph took to the Emmys stage alongside three other Saturday Night Live stars to roast the show’s boss, Lorne Michaels. Rudolph is set to return to the celebrated sketch comedy show this fall, stepping back into the role of Vice President Kamala Harris. So…was it a coincidence that she wore Chloe — the French fashion brand that the presidential candidate has favored for her high-profile campaign appearances?

The styling introduced a clever tension. The softness of Rudolph’s flowy rose cape and dress, lined with ruffles, was in stark contrast to the Bulgari Serpenti necklace and bracelet she wore, too. “The serpent is a figure loaded with meaning: rebirth, transformation, immortality, renewal,” wrote Town & Country’s Editor-in-Chief Stellene Volandes. “It connects the wearer to the past but is filled with the promise of a future.”

(Photos by Getty Images)

Who was your favorite of the 2024 Emmys? Let me know in the comments. ✨