The Worst-Dressed Celebs At The 2025 Academy Museum Gala
Opening in 2021, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is a new addition to the museum scene of Los Angeles. Despite the venue's youth, its halls have already graced some of the biggest names in Hollywood and honored generational talents with its annual gala. The October 2025 Academy Museum Gala was its fifth annual event and was co-chaired by Jon M. Chu, Common, Viola Davis and Julius Tennon, Robert Downey Jr., Susan Downey, Jennifer Hudson, and Academy Museum Trustee Alejandro Ramírez Magañ. The event honoredthe incredible talents of Penélope Cruz, Bruce Springsteen, Bowen Yang and Walter Salles. To open the illustrious evening of celebration and exhibitions, the museum rolled out a blue carpet and invited the attendees to strut their best gowns and tuxes. As the carpet filled celebrity names, custom pieces and designer looks pulled fresh off the runway were caught in camera flashes and met with applause. But shuffled among these jaw-dropping outfits were looks that left many questioning some celebrities' stylists.
From head scratching details to mismatched elements, the museum's carpet saw its fair share of cringeworthy looks from some of Hollywood's favorite A-list celebrities. As these disastrous looks crossed the carpet, jaws dropped open and brows furrowed in confusion. How they could miss the mark this badly?
Olivia Rodrigo's frumpy black and white look aged her
Olivia Rodrigo joined the stars on the blue carpet of the Academy Museum Gala in a two-piece black and white frumpy look that featured an awkward bundle of black fabric meant to look like a rose. The highly structured top's design aged the young pop star despite its attempts at youthfulness and modernity with its dripping jewels affect.
The long black skirt lacked any definitive gripping quality, other than its small train, and as a result looked ill-paired with the textured, structured, and 3D top. As a whole, the outfit was a total fashion fail for the otherwise fashion forward singer.
Selena Gomez's strange take on masculine details felt like an afterthought
Selena Gomez's overly simple look failed to compete with the many other daring pieces that graced the carpet. Not only was the all-black look boring, but it's also something that we've seen time and time again from the Rare Beauty CEO without any notable inclusion of personality.
The added blazer suggested Gomez's husband, Benny Blanco, may have offered up his coat because of cool weather; there was a distinct lack any cohesion between it and the dress. This theory was squashed when Blanco appeared on the carpet with the singer in his own blazer, adding to the confusion of Gomez's shouldered jacket.
Elle Fanning's muppet fur skirt and t-shirt dress mash up missed the mark
From the top, Elle Fanning's dress looked like a pale pink t-shirt dress, perhaps too casual for the event, but clearly the bodice was saving the wow factor for the red fur skirt. The bottom half of the actor's dress seemed to exist in total separation of the top without any material, look, or style tying the top to the bottom of the dress.
The dress was completely ghastly, looking like a skinned Muppet had made the ultimate sacrifice for Fanning's fashion. The sneak peek of the pointed toe black heel that she paired with this look added another jarring factor to the outfit.
Laura Dern's all-white look had too much going on
Speaking of fuzzy sacrifices, the blisteringly white look that Laura Dern wore to the Academy Museum Gala had the bones of a gorgeous dress that suffered from too many add-ons. The halter neckline and keyhole cutout would have been a stunning look on the "Jurassic Park" actor, but Dern's dress was made more complicated with two additional cut outs and billowing white sleeves.
Similarly, the skirt looked like a feather boa had been hot glued on to add volume to the shape. The feathery look may have been more suited to Elle Fanning's dress, but it just made Dern's look gaudy.
Viola Davis baffled with her blue velvet furry frock
Fuzzy frocks might as well have been the unofficial theme of the gala's worst-dressed looks. Viola Davis turned up in a bizarre blue velvet dress with a fluffy feather trim. While yes, the sapphire hue definitely looked stunning on Davis, the trim had us wondering if she and Dern had shopped at the same boa clearance sale.
Much like Laura Dern's dress, the "Fences" actor's look had a strong core, but the burst of feathers along the hem and the neckline muddied the overall look. Davis hit the mark with the elegance of the fabric but failed in execution.
Kim Kardashian's masked look was a failed attempt at being interesting
Kim Kardashian tried to shock audiences with this tan draped dress with a matching face mask, but instead the reality TV star gave everyone a flashback to her days with self-proclaimed Nazi Kanye West. Despite the dramatics of the avant garde look, it's nothing we haven't already seen from Kardashian, who previously wore a face covering to the MET Gala in 2022.
Like Kardashian's Marilyn Monroe dress debacle, this face-covered look read as an unsuccessful attempt from the billionaire to be viewed as interesting. The dress was well made and even gorgeous with its dripping drape from arm to hem but was simply worn by the wrong celebrity.
Kristen Wiig's masculine twist was tried and terrible
Kristen Wiig often flirts with the line between masculine and feminine clothing with a juxtaposition of both styles in a singular look; however, this piece did both worlds of fashion wrong. The overly casual white polo-like top simply did not go with the playful tiered red skirt in either aesthetic or fit.
The length the top created on Wiig's torso cut the actor all wrong and brought the skirt down to an awkward length. To make the look worse, Wiig's skinny black belt and square toed kitten heels created an even stronger visual splinter between the top and bottom.
Jeremy Strong looked childish in his fire truck red tux
Props to "Succession" star Jeremy Strong for wanting to create excitement in the world of men's fashion, which — for events like this — is often overrun with tired black suits and tuxes. In the face of monotony, Strong stood as strong as his name in this fire truck red tux for the 2025 gala.
Unfortunately, the look was a weak one. The bright hue stood out, but instead of being fashion forward, it read as very childish with its bold coloring and matching sunglasses.
Logan Lerman looked sloppy in his unsteamed top
Like Jeremy Strong, Logan Lerman's will to be different from the stagnant trend in male red-carpet fashion landed him in an unfashionable look. Lerman, unlike Strong, was successful in choosing a rich color that shone against the softer blue coloring of the carpet's curtain.
His outfit fell apart with his satin top, though, which looked to be heavily wrinkled and puffed at his shoulders creating an unnatural shape. The consistency of the burgundy hues was broken by his black shoes that gave the impression of Lerman chickening out on truly completing the otherwise bold outfit.
Emma Chamberlain's boring carpet look was a total snoozefest
Emma Chamberlain, a bit of a style icon with her more fashion forward looks, completely missed the mark with a greenish tan sequin dress with a sheer overlay. This flop came as a bit of surprise given the YouTuber's ability to create drama with otherwise bland pieces. Unfortunately, the outfit doesn't come off as crafty or trendy, but rather quite dull.
From the jewel neckline to the sheath cut, the piece lacked depth even with the sheer layer. With her dramatic makeup look and stunning jewelry accessories, nothing could save this dress from being a snooze fest.