The best red-carpet dresses of 2022 can also serve as a time capsule for the year. After being put on pause due to the pandemic, the Oscars were back, the Met Gala delivered its strongest red-carpet game in years, and then there were the Cannes and the Venice film festivals. And no, we’re not forgetting all the looks the Grammys, the Emmys, and more awards shows gave us. It was a year of fashion moment after fashion moment.
And then there were the breakout red-carpet stars themselves. Where do we even begin with Julia Fox? Say what you will about her style, but no one can take more credit for ushering in the season of “undressing” than she can. Kesha’s sheer black dress broke the internet back in August. Jodie Turner-Smith had red-carpet hit after red-carpet hit. Zendaya was once again a major presence. Rihanna took maternity style to new heights. Anne Hathaway and Florence Pugh both killed it on their respective red carpets as well.
As you can imagine, narrowing down Glamour editors’ picks for the red-carpet dresses that defined 2022—for better and for worse—was as fun as it was tough. Here are the looks that made the cut.
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ANGELA WEISS/Getty Images1/10Kim Kardashian’s Marilyn Moment at the Met Gala
Kim Kardashian knows how to break the internet—she’s been doing it for more than a decade. And she did it once again at this year’s Met Gala, where she turned up wearing Marilyn Monroe’s iconic “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” dress—originally designed by Jean Louis—with dyed-blonde Marilyn-inspired hair to match.
Technically the most expensive gown in the world (it was sold to Ripley’s Believe It or Not in 2016 for nearly $5 million, and is normally kept in its museum in Orlando), Kardashian was widely criticized for her dramatic weight-loss plan to fit into it. The stunt was “outdated and alarming,” as one Glamour writer put it. With so much controversy around it, there’s no denying that the dress itself became the most talked-about red-carpet moment of the year.
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Bryan Steffy2/10Doja Cat’s Red-Carpet Edge
Doja Cat commanded every red carpet she walked on this year, but this Schiparelli look was a favorite among the Glamour team. The earrings, the nipple pasties, the sheer elements, the sculptural top, the gold shoes shaped like feet…surreal perfection.
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Jacopo Raule/Getty Images3/10Florence Pugh’s Barbiecore Era
The Olivia Wilde–Harry Styles—Don’t Worry Darling drama could have overshadowed Florence Pugh’s year. But she came back with a series of epic red-carpet looks (was she channeling Taylor Swift’s “Vigilante Shit”?) that made sure the attention was squarely on her. (Her knockout acting performances in both Don’t Worry Darling and The Wonder also helped, of course.) This magenta pink Valentino dress in particular was the perfect hit of Barbiecore in a year defined by the trend.
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Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Getty Images4/10Rihanna’s Master Class in Maternity
Was this a nightgown or a dress? Who cares. Either way, when Rihanna arrived at the Dior show in Paris in the look of the season (i.e., sheer), she reinvented maternity dressing. The number of women liberated to put their bumps on display post-Rihanna proved that she didn’t do a service to only the red carpet but also womankind.
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Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images5/10Amal Clooney’s 1920s Perfection
No one does classic red-carpet glamour better than Amal Clooney. She wore this viral hit of a Versace gown to the Albie awards, which she hosted with husband George, and set social media alight.
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Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Getty Images6/10Urvashi Rautela Went Old-School at Cannes
Sometimes what you need is old-school red-carpet wow, and Urvashi Rautela’s Tony Ward couture in Cannes brought just that. Memorable. Dramatic. And proof that glamour is back.
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John Shearer/Getty Images7/10Lizzo Made Music at the Met Gala
Glamour editors loved everything about Lizzo’s Met Gala look, from the custom Thom Browne and the choker to her nails and of course her flute. The definition of red-carpet icon. See also: her VMAs red-carpet dress.
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Arturo Holmes8/10Julia Fox Had Us Talking
No one has given us more looks to talk about on and off the red carpet this year than Julia Fox. And ironically, for someone who has made undressing the dress code of the year, the look that perhaps best defines her style was this covered-up black gown that Fox wore to the Vanity Fair Oscar party.
Featuring a clawed hand around her neck and a purse made of “real human hair,” Fox credited her look to Balenciaga and someone whose “last name is German and I can’t pronounce,” later confirmed to be from Danish fashion label Han Kjobenhavn’s spring 2022 collection.
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Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images9/10Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell
Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell deserve a joint entry for this epic combo of his backless Haider Ackermann halter neck and her long-at-the-front, short-at-the-back Balenciaga couture at Venice Film Festival. We suggest googling every look from their Bones and All press tour, because it will be worth your time.
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Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Getty Images10/10Anne Hathaway’s Mega Style Week
Anne Hathaway channeled Mia Thermopolis at the Cannes Film Festival, and the internet lost its mind. Glamour editors loved this floor-length sequined Armani Privé gown, accessorized with a one-of-a-kind Bulgari Mediterranean Reverie necklace featuring a mammoth 107.15-carat cushion-cut sapphire. Fit for a queen. But every outfit she wore from her week in the South of France went just as deservedly viral.
