Jennifer Lawrence’s 2024 Oscars gown was the result of 1,500 hours of painstaking work in the Dior atelier, but her dazzling appearance on the red carpet at the Vanity Fair party after the ceremony was 28 years in the making. The star’s ethereal white dress is Givenchy Haute Couture fall 1996–John Galliano’s final couture collection for the house before he was appointed as creative director of Dior.
Supermodel Kate Moss originally wore the sheer look on Galliano’s runway, in a show that—like the designer’s now legendary 1984 graduation collection–nodded to Les Incroyables, the hedonistic young set that scandalized society in late 18th-century Paris. Lawrence neglected to add the towering powdered wig Moss was styled in back in 1996 for the after-party, but the empire waist and négligée frills were pure Joséphine Bonaparte.
It comes as Galliano is back at the forefront of the fashion conversation following his rapturously received spring 2024 Margiela Artisanal collection, unveiled at the close of the couture shows back in January. (Kendall Jenner was at the same party wearing look two from the show.) The designer’s rise, much-documented fall, and gradual return to the fold is also the subject of a new documentary by the Oscar-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald.
Such a significant piece was an interesting (and welcome) choice from Lawrence, a longtime Dior ambassador who is more closely associated with fresh-from-the-runway gowns than she is rare vintage. But the red carpet is increasingly a game of archive fashion one-upmanship, and it seems Lawrence—and her stylist, Jamie Mizrahi–wants to play. If this was a first serve, J.Law should consider it a smash.