We’re in the full throes of awards season now and the famous have already found their tried-and-true red carpet rhythms: naked dresses, Old Hollywood glam, method dressing…and the rest. Hailey Bieber is testing out something a bit different from her usual looks on the step and repeat—dressing like the little statuettes we’re about to see handed out across plenty a podium.
Bieber stepped out on Friday night for the 2026 WWD Style Awards at the Regent Santa Monica Beach in Los Angeles, where she was being honored with the Style Trailblazer award. The Rhode founder wore a shimmering, silver metallic dress from the spring 2009 couture collection of Armani Privé. The calf-length gown featured a fishtail bottom with layers of chainmail like sparkles across the curved bustier, lightening up down the hourglass silhouette.
Styled by Andrew Mukamal, she also wore jewelry by Lorraine Schwartz: a pair of 30-carat Lorraine Schwartz Asscher-cut diamond earrings and several dazzling diamond rings. In contrast to the bleached brows and thick eyeliner, slicked back hair and leathery headband from the runway styling, the rest of Bieber’s styling was kept pared back and elegant, wearing black mules and a cool-toned mani, her long brunette bob in ever-so-soft waves.
It was a much more bold red carpet moment than we’ve come to expect from the once queen of quiet luxe Hailey Bieber. Bieber, who ended 2025 as one of Vogue’s Best Dressed listers, has long crafted an aesthetic with stylists Mukamal and Dani Michelle that’s luxuriated in elevated basics, Tom Ford-era Gucci gets, classic (and quite safe) red carpet silhouettes. But toward the end of 2025, Bieber was showing a more playful spirit on the step and repeat: for the Academy Museum Gala, she opted for a dramatic boned gown with spherical cups from Schiaparelli’s spring 2025 couture collection, and for the GQ Men of the Year Awards, she wore a sparkly black, sheer knit custom Gucci dress with exposed Gucci logo thong detail.
Other honorees across the evening included Demi Moore (who opted for her own showstopper sparkly black dress), Pamela Anderson ,and Kourtney Kardashian Barker. The awards also honored Giorgio Armani with the Red Carpet Visionary Award, which was accepted by George Clooney on behalf of the late designer who died in 2025.
With trends for 2026 already set to embrace brighter colors and textures, is this the year Hailey Bieber lets herself get loud?
