Kerry Washington’s Dolce & Gabbana Golden Globes Dress Isn’t Exactly a Red Carpet First

Celebrities often take their awards-show gowns straight from the runway to the red carpet, giving the rest of us a peek at the dreamy designer threads in action long before they come close to hitting retail. (Just take a look at the culled-from-the-catwalk gowns at last year’s Oscars, to start.) But last night, the ever fashion-forward Kerry Washington took it one step further, attending the Golden Globes in a one-of-a-kind dress from a designer line that the actress giddily thought had never before graced the iconic crimson carpet.

Washington — who was nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television category for her role as Anita Hill in the HBO film Confirmation — arrived at the Beverly Hilton wearing a magnificent golden lace, capped-sleeve dress embellished with an off-center black bow belt by Dolce & Gabbana. But the ankle-length dress, which Yahoo Style’s Joe Zee called “very demure” despite its peekaboo black undergarments, wasn’t your run-of-the-mill Dolce & Gabbana. (If the iconic fashion house can ever really be classified as “run-of-the-mill,” of course.) Rather, Washington pulled the elegantly structured number from Dolce & Gabbana’s Alta Moda line — the brand’s couture collection — and she thought she was the first actress to do so for a red-carpet event, ever.

“I’m so excited, it’s couture, nobody’s ever worn Dolce Alta Moda collection couture on the carpet before, so I’m really thrilled and honored and excited,” Washington gushed to reporters during a pre-show interview.

While we certainly understand that excitement, a little fact-checking revealed that Washington was not, in fact, the first to don Dolce & Gabbana’s couture line at an awards show. Kate Bosworth wore a strapless pink sequin custom Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda at the Golden Globes last year.

But Washington, who completed her Dolce & Gabbana look with strappy Sophia Webster heels, vampy midnight-plum-colored lips, and sleek, straight hair that hid peekaboo blond extensions in back, can easily be forgiven her misstatement, as the actress’s enthusiastic awe at being part of what she believed to be the line’s first red carpet appearance was clearly genuine — and not unprecedented; the actress is no stranger to making fashion reveals on the red carpet. In 2015, she wore a metallic silver Marc Jacobs dress to the Emmy Awards that had debuted on the runway a mere three days before.

First, second, or 25th, she’s clearly on top when it comes to rocking red carpet style.

We’ve reached out to Dolce & Gabbana to clarify and will update this story.

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