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From the runway to the red carpet, a dress with a hood is just about the coolest thing you can wear — just look to Margot Robbie for proof.
Date December 19, 2022
Margot Robbie has been owning the red carpet lately. While out and about promoting her latest projects, the Australian actor is looking positively effervescent. There was the moss green Bottega Veneta cut-out dress she wore to the Governor’s Awards in November, a flirty buttercup Gucci mini-dress chosen for the The Hollywood Reporter’s Women In Entertainment Gala on December 7, and most recently, a moody black hooded, halter-neck gown from Alaïa’s spring/summer 2023 collection selected for the Los Angeles premiere of her upcoming film Babylon.
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The star of the forthcoming Barbie movie complemented her hooded dress with natural makeup, a couple face-framing tendrils of hair, a silver cuff bracelet and a pair of black sheer pantyhose from Calzedonia (that, incidentally, cost about as much as a fancy latte).
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While it takes a certain confidence level and style prowess to pull off a a fashion-forward touch like a hooded gown, the avant-garde style is by no means new. In fact, Grace Jones famously wore a shimmery magenta hooded gown to walk in Alaïa’s 1986 spring-summer haute couture show in Paris. Worn with dramatic tonal makeup, including a bold dark lip, and no accessories, styling cues that feel fresh today. The hood itself is a statement, so one doesn’t need to overdo it in the beauty and accessories departments, and Robbie’s own ensemble reflects this “less is more” approach.
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The resurgence of hooded dresses has been seen in recent months on both the red carpets and the runways. Versace’s spring/summer 2023 show featured a black hooded gown with a side cut-out, paired with exaggerated cat-eye makeup and vertiginous platform heels. Saint Laurent’s spring/summer 2023 collection (pictured above) included several slinky hooded dresses in rich jewel tones, worn with black sunnies and oversized, bold-shoulder toppers. The look here is clear: glamorous, cool, and a little dramatic.
And celebrities like Ashley Graham, above wearing a crystal-embellished mesh gown by Interior to the TIME Person of the Year reception earlier this month, have understood the assignment.
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Bridgerton star Simone Ashley opted for a fresh, glittery blue take on the hooded dress trend for the Governor’s Awards in November, wearing the high-neck 16Arlington gown with wet look hair and mega-sparkly Chopard jewels.
TikTok creator Addison Rae turned heads, and cemented herself as a rising style star, in early November when she wore a futuristic grey hooded gown from the Lily et Cie vintage archives to the CFDA Awards in NYC.
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And months before sparking a brand-new debate about the return of Y2K’s much-maligned dress-over-pants trend, Katie Holmes cut an edgy figure in a formfitting black hooded gown worn to attend Tom Ford’s spring 2023 ready-to-wear show in September.
Wouldn’t a hooded mini-dress be so fun for a New Year’s Eve bash? (Worn with glitter foundation and little else, of course.) If it’s too late to track one down, let 2023 be the year we wear hooded gowns and heck, anything else that might have once felt risqué or hard to pull off. And that includes dresses over pants.