Why the mysterious hooded dress is coming back: Dune’s Zendaya, Gracie Abrams, and A Complete Unknown’s Monica Barbaro all show off the look courtesy of Chanel, Dior and more

Florence Pugh and Anya Taylor-Joy wore hooded dresses for Dune: Part Two red carpets, recalling Grace Jones’ Alaïa wardrobe in the Bond classic A View to a Kill The Grammy Awards are not particularly known for good taste. Quite the opposite – the event is arguably celebrated for its outlandish and controversial moments. Then Gracie Abrams arrived.

The singer – who has been linked to Irish actor and “internet boyfriend” Paul Mescal since the summer of 2024 – was a vision in Chanel on the red carpet this February. Advertisement Most striking about her off-the-shoulder ethereal cloud of cream silk tulle with contrasting black belt was not the rosette detail, but its soft, sheer hood. {"@context":"https://schema.

org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"Monica Barbaro at January’s London premiere of A Complete Unknown. Photo: AP","url":"https://img.i-scmp.

com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2025/04/02/e2a401ac-ea4d-417b-9cb0-119416bd6e7e_ed18453d.jpg"} Monica Barbaro at January’s London premiere of A Complete Unknown. Photo: AP Abrams is far from the only celebrity to embrace the haute hood on the red carpet.

Earlier this year, Monica Barbaro arrived to the London premiere of A Complete Unknown in a liquid black Schiaparelli version, while Zendaya, Florence Pugh and Anya Taylor-Joy all wore hooded dresses for the Dune: Part Two press tour, with Valentino, Dior and Alaïa on high rotation. In recent years, the hooded dress has become a style signature for Rihanna, and been worn by everyone from Margot Robbie to Janelle Monáe and Bella Hadid – the latter having worn both vintage Alaïa and off-the-runway Schiaparelli. Kate Moss wore an Anthony Vaccarello for Saint Laurent piece: one of the designer’s reinterpretations of Yves Saint Laurent’s famous hooded capuche designs that he first debuted in 1969.

The designer would return to the silhouette over and again, including in the 80s and in his final haute couture show in 2002, with showstopping molten gold versions that draped around the body. They’ve become part of pop culture too. Miley Cyrus wore one in the music video for 2023’s “Flowers”, though surely nobody did it better than pop icon Kylie Minogue in the video for her 2001 hit “Can’t Get You Out of My Head”.

{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"Kelly Rowland attends the annual Fifteen Percent Pledge Gala in LA, in February. Photo: AFP","url":"https://img.

i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2025/04/02/1a76fa1f-d46a-47b4-9cc3-5e2ff85b3c91_017ecb23.jpg"} Kelly Rowland attends the annual Fifteen Percent Pledge Gala in LA, in February.

Photo: AFP The return of the hood fits with a move towards avant-garde fashion on the red carpet, and rare and unusual vintage finds as the ultimate fashion flex. Knowing your references counts. As Sophia Fischbein, associate buyer of designer evening wear at Moda Operandi says, “Hooded styles also bring a distinctly unique approach to red carpet dressing, combining architectural silhouettes with a nod to casual wear.

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