Everyone on Oscars night was half-naked

To be naked, or not to be? That seemed to be the question plaguing several of Hollywood’s finest tonight. The naked dress has long been a red-carpet mainstay—sheer gowns that leave little to the imagination. But at the Oscars and the Vanity Fair after-party, A-listers seemed less interested in baring it all than in playing a sly game of hide and seek. Enter the quasi-naked dress: not quite sheer, not quite covered, but strategically missing key real estate.

On the Oscars red carpet, Gwyneth Paltrow’s custom Armani Privé gown looked like an impeccably cut but simple column gown from the front. Then, she turned sideways and—boom!—the entire side was missing. From rib to hip to ankle, nothing but skin, save for what appeared to be ultra-sheer pants encasing her legs. Masterful engineering from the Armani atelier.

Presenter Zendaya, meanwhile, embraced a variation of the semi-naked formula. From the front, her custom chocolate-brown off-shoulder Louis Vuitton looked relatively restrained. From the side? Ribcage, side boob, the works.

The same idea prevailed at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, where cutouts, sheer bodices, and high slits ruled the grey carpet. Naomi Watts wore a Balenciaga fall 2026 dress by Pierpaolo Piccioli that operated on a similar principle as Zendaya’s look: one-shoulder, one side missing. Suki Waterhouse—Robert Pattinson’s date for the night—wore a Tamara Ralph spring 2026 couture look whose bodice looked more like a necklace than a top.

Anya Taylor-Joy arrived in a jacket and promptly took it off on the red carpet, revealing a black John Galliano lingerie-like romper that revealed the bottom of her bottom. She even wore a hat like the one worn on the autumn/winter 1994 runway, committing to the look. Danielle Brooks brought the drama in a lilac Gaurav Gupta gown with a sheer bodice and a leg slit that climbed alarmingly high.

Amelia Gray’s outfit has already made headlines for being the night’s most “daring” and “body-baring”: a truly nasty (complimentary) barely-there but-definitely-there look from Revolve. Yes, Revolve (even I’m baffled).

And the half-naked business wasn’t limited to the women. Troye Sivan went shirtless in a Tom Ford look by Haider Ackermann, with trousers featuring a deliciously sexy slit on the hip. Heated Rivalry stars—and half the population’s honorary husbands—Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams had a twin moment in tops so sheer they might as well have been shirtless. Even Williams’s real-life girlfriend, tattoo artist Katelyn Larson, seemingly got the memo, arriving at the shindig in an ab-baring lace dress with black knickers on display (obviously).

But the best look of the lot belonged to Devon Lee Carlson, who arrived at the after-party flashing an entire butt cheek. Her bias-cut gown featured a leg slit so high it revealed the full moon. No need to imagine it! The cheek was out.

Clearly, everyone was clued into the evening’s unofficial dress code: coverage optional.