The Wildest Oscars Look Came Courtesy of Dune’s Make-Up Artist

March 28, 2022

Eva von Bahr attends the 2022 Academy Awards.

If there was one major takeaway from the fashion at last night’s Oscars, it’s that in 2022, we should expect the unexpected, with the evening’s most unconventional looks proving to be the most thrilling. And nowhere did that hold true quite like one of the earliest red carpet arrivals: an initially mysterious figure wearing a flamboyant ballgown and toting a very unconventional purse.

This playful dresser was none other than Eva von Bahr, the Oscar-nominated make-up artist behind Dune. Taking her cues from—where else?—the Italian Renaissance, Bahr’s shiny silk Stefan Wåhlberg dress featured a skirt as voluminous as Brunelleschi’s dome, adorned with a print lifted from Raphael’s Madonna del Prato featuring the virgin Mary, Jesus, and John the Baptist. The finishing touch? A bag that was crafted to resemble a classical bust inspired by Michelangelo’s famous statue of David.

Of course, when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense that one of the night’s most strikingly stylish looks would come courtesy of a creative partly responsible for the aesthetic of Dune, which took home a handful of below-the-line awards for its breathtaking visuals. (Even if, sadly, the Dune make-up team missed out to The Eyes of Tammy Faye.)

So too was it a delight to see some of the nominees in the categories the Academy relegated this year to an untelevised, pre-ceremony awards show pull out all the stops on the red carpet as a reminder of how essential a craft like make-up is to the essence of moviemaking. On a night filled with the world’s most theatrical fashions, von Bahr’s dress wasn’t just a work of art—it was a masterpiece.