Grammys 2024: The Best Looks From The Red Carpet

In a sea of costumes and cosplay, several artists paid homage to themselves.

As if to explain the current state of the music industry, today’s celebration of art and commerce at the 66th annual Grammy Awards was held at a location in downtown Los Angeles called the Crypto.com Stadium.

Unlike most of the film, TV and theatre awards ceremonies taking place this time of year, music awards like the Grammys have often been used as a chance for more extreme forms of self-expression where musicians push the boat out when it comes to going beyond the formalities of a traditional dress code.

Seen as the awards red carpet that provides an antidote to basic gowns and safe tuxedos, we’ve witnessed everything from Dolly Parton dressed in full Texan Barbie (1977), to pioneers of the avant-garde like Grace Jones wearing a Samurai-inspired outfit designed by Giorgio Armani (1983).

Was it the best Grammy red carpet ever? No. But a few standouts soldiered on below, selected purely based on the fact they delivered looks that felt true to their personalities and actual style.

Kylie Minogue and Lana Del Ray, in particular, displayed the type of fashion that has helped shape their style over the years; Kylie in a corseted Dolce & Gabbana and Lana in a mid-century prom dress. Newer names like Caroline Polachek and Montaigne also stayed true to their aesthetic in a range of looks that celebrated vintage fashion and emerging designers.

Caroline Polachek

Caroline’s experimental pop and artful approach to music extends to her unique fashion choices. Showing how to wear vintage well, this autumn/winter 1998 Oliver Theysekns gown, with its menacing embroidery work, cuts a dramatic figure on the red carpet.

Boy Genius

Like a modern-day/alty take on The Supremes, we’re here for this matching trifecta of white moire taffeta Thom Browne suits. Up for six awards on the night, Boygenius is one of the leading nominees for this year’s awards, winning Best Rock Performance for Not Strong Enough and Best Alternative Music Album early in the evening. What’s so great about a Thom Browne suit is the play on proportion, and a cropped, fitted blazer with the brand’s cropped trousers leaves plenty of room to have fun with complementary accessories, like a stomping pair of boots that nods to the costumes from A Clockwork Orange, a pink carnation, and the most important accessory of the night — a pin that represents artists for ceasefire.

Montaigne

Among the Grammy nominees was Montaigne, Australia’s Eurovision 2020 and 2021 representative, who was nominated in the Best Score Soundtrack For Video Games and Other Interactive Media category for their work on Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical. It’s the first category of its kind for the awards. What stood out in terms of what Montaigne — real name Jessica Alyssa Cerro — was wearing, was their commitment to an artful look made up of layers, and a mix of sub-cultures and references styled by Sydney-based stylist Elle Hioe. They wear a collar by Ōtautahi-based label Depth of Scye, a shirt by Ethan Bergersen, bloomers by Jess Grindell, hosiery from Tyt and boots from Roc Boots.

Lana Del Rey

In 2020 Lana wore a dress to the Grammys she bought from the mall. This year she wore an equally low-maintenance dress with a nod to those mid-century shapes that have defined her style over the years. While some detractors on the internet might say she isn’t ‘mothering’ and is ‘allergic to slaying’ in this look (please refer to Urban Dictionary here, or TikTok), I think it says a lot about how Lana is at a point in her career when she doesn’t always need to be the fashion ‘girlie’. She’s staying true to her personal style and, in a parade of outfits worn as costumes on the night, this one felt right. When you’re the reason why trends like coquette aesthetic have made a cultural impact, you can wear whatever you like.

You can count on Miley to at least embrace a sense of outrageousness that is in keeping with the peacocks that came before her at the Grammys (Grace Jones, Cher, we’re looking at you). And as always, there is a method to the madness. While the likes of other outré fits on the night failed to make a real impact — Dawn Richard wearing Khosrov couture and Laverne Cox wearing vintage Comme des Garçons — the point of avant-garde fashion is to embrace the strangeness of it and to consider acknowledging its reference points without sacrificing personal style. An over-the-top homage to Jane Fonda in Barbarella, this is the first we’ve seen of custom Margiela on the red carpet this season, a brand that’s already become a viral sensation off the back of its mesmerising closing show at Paris Couture Week last month. According to fashion critic Alexander Fury, the look is a throwback to John Galliano’s 1997 autumn/winter collection Suzy Sphinx show. Described at the time as a spoof on ancient Egypt as seen through the eyes of Hollywood, this is an example of fashion and storytelling on the red carpet that we haven’t seen for some time.

Kylie Minogue

The last time the Australian singer won a Grammy Award was in 2004 for Best Dance Recording for Come Into My World, so to mark her second Grammy win for Best Pop Dance Recording for last year’s summer release Padam Padam, Kylie chose this red Dolce & Gabbana corseted number as a nod to her costumes from her Fever era, as well as the caped red outfit worn for the song’s music video.

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