The Looks Worth Talking About at the 2025 Emmys
Fashion

The Looks Worth Talking About at the 2025 Emmys

It's the 2025 Emmys, which means fall is actually dead and buried and none of us are ever going to sleep again until Christmas, if we're lucky.

The carpet this year was a quizzical affair, with looks ranging from outright protest in support of Palestine to befuddling lampshade gowns and showstoppers from the world's most famous pop star. That's pop star in the singular, because there's nobody quite like Lisa these days (for better or worse.)

Trends include monochromatic beading, super-short hairstyles and dramatic menswear silhouettes, which are mostly always on-trend except for those few years at Valentino where we were drowning in tulle. Pins were emblazoned on lapels and Meg Stalter wore jeans and a white t-shirt. Sydney Sweeney inflamed her critics in crimson red while Kristen Kish forgot her shirt — to my great pleasure — and Jenna Ortega re-asserted her dominance as the queen of spooky glamor.

Instead of giving it all away up top, however, let's just dive right in. Shall we?

Lisa

I mean, is there really anything to say about Lisa's look that isn't absolute and deafening praise? Everything here is exquisite, right down to the details and individual layers of fabric. Even the nails have been carefully considered, as have the ring stacks, placed to face camera, which likewise match her "Serpentina" choker from Bulgari and these delicate yet bold earrings.

Really though, it's the dress from Lever Couture that's the standout of the night, feminine yet deeply powerful, layered like an insect-like and alien breastplate. I'm absolutely in love, and that's a feeling that's been fleeting on this season's carpets!

Jenna Ortega

Much has been said of Sarah Burton's Givenchy debut, and in this house, it's more effusive praise from the world's hardest to please and often hypocritical red carpet fashion critic. Ortega's been on a roll throughout the Wednesday season two press cycle, often veering into utter gimmick. But this works, especially when paired with the more delicate and soft looks of the night. In a world of Lisa's and Parker Posey's, Jenna Ortega isn't afraight of being a bit sharp around the edges.

Meg Stalter and Javier Bardem

Here we have contrasting protest looks, courtesy Meg Stalter and Javier Bardem. While we saw those pins elsewhere, these were the most explicit of the Palestine mentions on the carpet fashion front. While Bardem's keffiyah is admirable and touching, it's Stalter that really pulls off the "protest" in protest look. Rather than try and elevate herself through the mention of Palestine sartorially, she has bucked the entire thing and worn jeans and a white t-shirt to the Emmys. It's something I have never seen before in the seven years I've been covering red carpet fashion, least of all for a cause like Palestine. While the efficacy of these messages is rightly debated by advocates and Palestinians themselves, she chose her beliefs over the sanctity of the event. That, in and of itself, speaks to richness of her spirit and character.

Parker Posey

I genuinely have tried, over the course of the last hour, to find something to say about this dress that doesn't read like a sneer or put down. I mean, I'm writing this column while looking at my framed photograph of Parker Posey that hangs in my office, right next to the framed poster for Party Girl, my all time favorite flick. I wish it weren't so dowdy, because Posey is anything but. I actually love the shawl with the feather trim, like I love the lace bust and slight train of the gown. I just wish it didn't read like a lampshade at an estate sale!

Kristen Kish

I find it delightful when women wear tuxedos with no shirt on underneath. I find it even more delightful when those tuxedos come with a collar and tie and still no shirt. It's like they're offering us a window into the heart and soul of the look, and themselves. It's also hot, really, like Kish here. When these mercurial elements are combined on a reality TV host at the Emmys... well, that's just catnip for me. Kudos!

Sydney Sweeney

It's a bit on the nose for Sweeney to wear red to the Emmys, what with the allegations and all that trail her around like mosquitoes over the swamps of Mar-a-Lago. It's even more on the nose for the dress to be bad, what with the allegations and all that swamp her Google search results like the pools and lagoons of Palm Beach McMansions after a particularly bad hurricane.

Tramell Tillman

I just love a white suit, and I love this particular white suit on Tramell Tillman. It's too bad the stylist couldn't have opted for custom suiting from literally any other house than Dolce & Gabbana, but since we're here, what a suit! It fits him perfectly, and I love the broach and bowtie combination, and just the hint of sleeve with these wide lapels. Extremely well done to everyone but Dolce & Gabbana, who I've already forgotten about.

Jeff Hiller, Bridget Everett and Murray Hill 

My two fathers and my unruly aunt gathered at the Emmys for a sendoff to television's best half-hour comedy of late, Somebody, Somewhere. I cried at the sight of them, because I am going to miss them, and also because I will miss what they bring to the red carpet. Everett's glam is radiant, while Hiller's glamazon brocade suit is my favorite menswear look of the night.

Likewise, I hope that Hill keeps on keeping on in this suit until I'm long gone, so that I never have to say goodbye to it.

Zuri Hall

I love when TV presenters come prepared to the red carpet, like Hall here. It's a real showstopper, especially for a TV host surrounded by actresses and models and the influencers they hire to keep these things relevant. I simply cannot stop staring at it!

Hunter Schafer

Hunter, do you mind if I call you bitch, because this bitch did it again, everyone! While I previously leaned in heavy on Sweeney's deployment of a red gown on the carpet, I find hilarious and beautiful when worn by Schafer just down the way. There's a symbolic resistance in the image of them juxtaposed together that I quite like. Kudos, Dara Allen, and kudos Miss Bitch (sorry, Hunter Schafer.)

Aliyah Mastin

One of the true delights of the Emmys is the moment when an actress I was not familiar with comes out swinging in a dress I adore. This is one of those moments. We've seen numerous plays at this cut of gown on the carpet, but never anything quite like this detailing down the front. The dress comes courtesy of Jonathan Cohen, who I've clocked on all the actresses we've loved of late. Bravo to everyone, including stylist Cat Pope!

Also, note the short hair we've seen across the carpet this year before our next set of images.

Sarah Paulson and Jenny Slate

I think these two are a perfect example of the many highs and lows of high school football — that's what we call hair length in the fashion police who work at PAPER. Where Paulson's styling highlights her features and pulls out the very best in them, the way Slate's been styled hides those very same features. Features I want to see and celebrate, just to be clear! It likewise helps that Paulson's dress is divine while Slate's dress is a much tougher sell. It has all the elements of a thing I love with none of the binding agents, if we're going to keep mixing metaphors.

John Gries

Holy hell, this Jacquemus suit! It's just so silly and playful, from the lack of lapels to the wide pant and the glasses to the embellishment on the sleeve. I even like the way it's been tucked haphazardly into the loafer, and how it's fit evokes both the classic menswear staple and a simple cardigan. The color is also fantastic, especially on a night of dramatic white and black tailoring.

Charlotte Le Bon

I've seen this on a few best dressed lists, which makes sense, although it's certainly not on mine. Thankfully, it has made the list for the looks worth talking about, which is an accomplishment all its own. She looks beautiful, even if my eyes go immediately to the nude sock boot and odd length of the sleeve. It's a look I'd expect for shock value in 2019, when these costume-y metallics were forming a proper trend cycle. Here, it's just reads too close to a thing I'd ironically pan at the VMAs for my liking. Still, I appreciate a big swing, especially one this excessively big.

Harvey Guillen and Colman Domingo

I've come to rely on Harvey Guillen and Colman Domingo in the realm of menswear. In their own ways they have carved out a storied lane for themselves: Domingo with his textures and layering, Guillen with the silhouettes and draping. The cuts of these suits are incredible in contrasting ways. Where Guillen's look is severe and striking, Domingo's is soft and luxurious. I could keep going, but I won't, because they more than speak for themselves!

Hannah Einbinder and Chris Perfetti

Speaking of pins, we saw them pop up on PAPER's favorite person Hannah Einbinder and Abbot Elementary star Chris Perfetti. I've already made my opinions on them quite well known, but it was still nice to see Einbinder make a much more vocal statement on Palestine when handed a proper mic.

Still, I include them both because they look fabulous and also because if one will wear a pin for Palestine on the red carpet, wear it on something like these textured, monochromic looks. It helps make the pin pop.

Phaedra Parks

Sometimes, a reality television star will wander onto the carpet and remind the world of the oftentimes impenetrable wall that separates Hollywood from the rest of us. It's just too bad that Parks here had to run headlong into it and give herself a fashion concussion.

Shabana Azeez

I do not watch The Pitt and so Azeez is a new friend to me, but wow, what an auspicious first encounter! While there's wrinkles to be ironed out for the next time we cross paths — literally and figuratively — I love this dress anyway. It's dramatic, it's silly and she looks absolutely beautiful.

There's also something to be said for the strong showing of side parts on the carpet this season, which signals to me that the era of the center part might finally be waning. While I don't think it will ever die in my vanity at least, it's nice to see actresses opt out of the parting comb factory lineup.

Lauren Ashley-Beck

I wasn't shocked to see a Survivor contestant at the Emmys, but I was shocked to see them in something this fabulous! While it's a play at Cher we've seen many, many times, it's a good play at Cher regardless. It's also in line with my showgirl sensibilities and love for camp costuming. That she's a Survivor contestant and struck this pose in the process? Guess I have to watch Survivor now, which I'm sure PAPER writer Tobias Hess will love.

Natasha Rothwell

I've seen this dress before, and was prepared to say so until she stuck that leg out. Now, I've decided I will follow Natasha Rothwell into the grave where I will continue to serve her well into the afterlife and beyond, when all has turned to dust and none now live who remember anything about the discourse surrounding season three of The White Lotus.

Elizabeth Banks

It's a dress! It's a jumpsuit! It's the streamers they put up at that gay circuit party Sheila at H0L0 every month in Brooklyn! Just kidding, it's actually just Elizabeth Banks in the funniest possible outfit Elizabeth Banks could ever show up anywhere in, complete with fifteen pounds of extra hair for good measure.

Images via Getty

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