Nicole Kidman's Oscar Dress

Raise your hand if you love Nicole Kidman’s red carpet style and watching this moment live in 2003 was a watershed moment for how you appreciate fashion and personal style!

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Nicole Kidman, in my opinion, is one of the most exciting modern actresses, not just in terms of her filmography—though I will always make it an appointment to watch her oeuvre, she’s truly one of my favourites—but in terms of her fashion. She was taking risks long before it was stylish to do so.

In the early 2000s, Nicole was riding a career high. In a few short years, she’d put out Practical Magic, Eyes Wide Shut, The Others, Moulin Rouge! (a personal favourite), and The Hours. She was nominated back-to-back for Best Actress in 2001 and 2002, losing for Moulin Rouge! to Halle Berry, but the following year, she was the frontrunner.

And a frontrunner needs a memorable gown. Enter Jean Paul Gaultier, who lent her a black column gown with a sheer skirt and intricate rope-straps hanging over the shoulders.

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Officially, it’s called the Araignée du soir (or Evening Spider) gown, and it was a part of Gaultier’s 2003 spring-summer haute couture collection, Buttons. In 2014, Gaultier donated the iconic gown to the National Gallery of Victoria for an exhibition entitled ‘The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From Sidewalk to the Catwalk.’

Nicole, he said in an interview at the time, was his first haute couture client, and when she reached out to request a gown for the 2003 Oscars, he was honoured.

For her part, Nicole said about the gown, “I was so inspired by his talent and ability to shape the body with his designs, and by the mastery with which he transformed a simple piece of black fabric into something magical...”

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But beyond that one moment in Oscar history, Nicole has always been an exciting one to watch on the red carpet, and her resume on the Oscars red carpet is nothing to sneeze at.

She first made headlines at the Oscars in 1997 for a chartreuse Dior haute couture gown—which many credit as ushering in haute couture on the red carpet and Nicole called her favourite for many years—and has since worn stunning creations by Armani, Louis Vuitton, L’Wren Scott, Valentino, Balenciaga, and Chanel.