Oscars 2025 Red Carpet: What Viewers Really Debated About the Fabric
Oscar night is a ceremony watched around the world, and it's also a great time for many of the biggest stars to showcase their achievements.
If you're also browsing the hottest threads on the web on Oscar night, you'll notice that not only are people concerned about how each star looks, but also about the fabrics they wear in their couture outfits from a variety of labels.
A popular Reddit thread on “Oscars 2025” attracted more than 17,000 comments, with people enthusiastically discussing the materials used in gowns, sequined suits, satin, and see-through fabrics.
Leading magazines such as Vogue and E! have rounded up the glamorous looks, making it easier for users to discuss them.
Sparkle vs. Too Loud
The versions people praised most kept the “fireworks” in one place: a bodice, sleeve, or hem - so seams stayed visible and the silhouette didn’t vanish on TV.
It’s the same reason Ariana’s performance looks felt alive: thousands of tiny, moving points of light read as sparkle in motion; a single giant reflective plane often blows out in wide shots.
Demi Moore, Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, and other superstars have adorned their looks with sparkling gems and crystals, pairing them with gorgeous jewelry for an eye-catching effect.
Sequins, crystals and high-shine beadwork can make a person look vibrant on TV, and that's exactly the point. However, some fans believe that too much density can look ostentatious and cumbersome.
Therefore, designers, stylists and celebrities themselves go to great lengths to find the right amount of sparkle and avoid a “too loud” look.
First the Fabric, Then the Results
Ariana Grande's red carpet look opted for a pink gown by Schiaparelli with a satin bodice in the softest shade of Glinda pink on top and a nude silk tulle skirt.
Underneath was a nude silk tulle skirt embellished with 190,000+ sparkling crystals, sequins and other embellishments. The tulle brought softness to the stiff satin of the top so she didn't look bulky while wearing it, and the hemline shimmered like a galaxy, with crystals and sequins flashing and jumping as she moved.
Read purely as fabric, the pink look used duchess satin for clean, sculpted highlights, while the ruby gown traded mirror-like sheen for a star-field of 150k+ beads and crystals that glitter only when she moves - two different routes to “screen bright.”
Selena Gomez wore a custom-made Ralph Lauren gown on the red carpet, adorned with 16,000+ handmade glass droplets with Rosemont crystals on the skirt, which was sprayed with a pink gradient.
Unlike flat sequins, the three-dimensional droplets break up the light into “layers” so that the distance is not harshly exposed and the close-ups have a shimmering effect. The party changed into a more flattering dark color dress, the ambient light is softer, visually more comfortable and softer.
High-Density Glitter/Crystals
High-density beading is very eye-catching under the various flashes of light in the showroom, but once the whole body is glittered, the perfect cut of the garment will be easily “eaten up”, and it will look a bit cumbersome when you walk around in it.
This year, many sets of hot modelling have verified a simple rule: concentrate the most sparkling bright surface in one area (such as the upper body or hemline), and leave the rest of the white, this treatment will make the modelling more clean and sharper.
But that doesn't mean that highlight concentration is a failure. Demi Moore’s custom Giorgio Armani Privé placed crystal embroidery where the camera lingers: torso and neckline, then let the skirt carry the line. That’s why dense sparkle felt controlled instead of chaotic. The loudest surface lived on the upper body, not everywhere at once.
This was also seen in menswear, where Timothée Chalamet's butterscotch Givenchy leather suit paired with a matching silk shirt used color and finishes that stood out amongst the black tuxedo, giving the entire look an abundance of shine and flair.
Also displaying a gorgeous sheen was Colman Domingo's Valentino rose-red silk suit, a textured sheen that looked understated and sophisticated on camera.
The Bottom Line
In real life, most of us also have many chances to attend events in front of the camera to show their own opportunities.
How do you choose the most appropriate fabrics and collocation to let you shine in front of the camera? The same rules you just saw on the Oscars carpet apply: keep the sparkle in one place so the seams stay readable, let the silhouette do the talking, press satin properly, and give sheer panels real support.
A quick test beats guesswork: record ten seconds of video under a bright lamp at a 45° angle; if the fabric throws big white patches, treat the shine as an accent or switch to a lower-gloss base like crepe, and if you see a field of tiny points, it will read as lively rather than loud.
If you’re unsure how to tell satin from crepe from tulle at a glance, a plain-English fabric wholesale is an easy cheat sheet; just how each cloth looks and moves on camera.
When you’re dressing a group, such as bridesmaids, a dance team, or multiple sizes of the same design, consistency matters more than any single swatch.
Order from the same dye lot, keep nap and grain aligned across pieces, and line high-friction areas so sparkle doesn’t snag. A short bulk fabric checklist helps you keep shade lots and finishes matched from garment to garment.
Do those three things and you’ll get the same on-camera payoff that viewers kept cheering for all night: bright without being blinding, elegant without stiffness.