Key events
Chloe Mac Donnell
We’re still early on the red carpet but there’s already a trend – with attendees wearing political pins. Hamnet costume designer Malgosia Turzanska wore an ICE Out pin on a safety pin dress, while producer Elizabeth Woodward and actor Saja Kilani both had “Artists4Ceasefire”.
This isn’t the first time Hollywood has worn pins to draw attention to issues – with HIV/Aids ribbons, anti-war badges and women’s rights appearing on the red carpet over the years.
2026 follows on from last year – when Billie Eilish and Mark Ruffalo wore red pins calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. At this year’s Golden Globes and Grammy awards, “ICE Out” and “Be Good” pins were widely worn as part of the condemnation of actions of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Is it drawing attention to these issues in a way that broadcasts them to the world, or virtue signalling? You decide.
Lauren Cochrane
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 15: Rose Byrne attends the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images) Photograph: Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Old Hollywood is such a hackneyed reference – but Rose Byrne in a dress by JW Anderson’s Dior manages to make it look, well, pretty exquisite really. The key to updating the classic to 2026? Bright red, slightly clashing, lipstick.
Lauren Cochrane
Who doesn’t want to go to the Oscars in leather dungarees and a polka dot shirt? Blues singer Buddy Guy – who performs at the end of Sinners – is giving us outfit inspo. Let’s hope the rest of the red carpet brings more attendees having this much fun with their outfits.
Lauren Cochrane
Amelia Dimoldenberg’s brand of comedy is often described as awkward – so it makes sense her red carpet pose has a little of that quality. Otherwise, a black strapless Ralph Lauren gown with peplum and a string of sparkles is pure blue chip elegance.
Morwenna Ferrier
Felcity Jones has arrived in lemon-coloured Prada proving old Hollywood – sleeveless, a sprinkle of crystals, a little tulle train, hair in a soft side wave – is bomb-proof if you stick to the formula
Stuart Heritage
One of the most miraculous aspects of the night is that Conan O’Brien will once again host. His turn last year saved what had the potential to be a very dull evening, and it is very exciting to think about what he’ll do this year, with films that people have actually heard of. And, for that matter, what he’ll do about Train Dreams; a film so lacking in comedic potential that O’Brien tore into it during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel last week.
What makes this even more miraculous is that it’s been reported that O’Brien will earn $15,000 for tonight’s duties, a figure that simultaneously seems quite high and extremely low. This isn’t just a one-night deal for O’Brien; he’s been writing jokes for the show with his staff since the end of last year, and has been on an exhausting weeks-long press tour for the ceremony. And, to put it into perspective, in 2010 – when he became host of the Tonight Show, then lost the Tonight Show, then received a settlement from NBC – it’s estimated that he made close to $40 million.
In other words, O’Brien is making tonight what he literally made in three hours of sleeping 16 years ago. He must really enjoy hosting.
Morwenna Ferrier
Virality seems to be the end goal for Alice Carvalho, the brilliant lead of the brilliant The Secret Agent who appears to be wearing a hessian dress with hip cut outs and some sort of molten brooch. We don’t know the designer – though I’ve been informed that the cast are skewing towards Brazilian names.
Funnily enough, what really stands out here is the bag. No one brings a bag to the Oscars.
Morwenna Ferrier
Photograph: David Fisher/Shutterstock
Here’s Maggie O’Farrell, author of Hamnet, looking like a modern Venus de Milo in a shocking pink gown, and what I think are lace sleeves. You have to respect people who treat red carpets as vehicles of unfettered self-expression
Stuart Heritage
One person who is crushing the red carpet this year is our very own Oscars emissary Peter Bradshaw. If his Instagram is any indication, Peter is already blowing through the ceremony in a flurry of suave selfies. He is demonstrating a refreshing lack of self-consciousness, and my prediction is that he will have had his photo taken with every notable figure by the end of the evening.
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Morwenna Ferrier
Ever the wallflower, Arden Cho of KPop Demon Hunters is wearing a dramatic fishtail gown by Miss Sohee with an olive green sleeve-train.
This feels like a good segue into this year’s rug which is … red. For something nudging 50,000 sq ft, you’d think there would be some consistency on the colour. For the most part, it’s been red since 1961. It’s even named after it, Academy Red, though it’s closer in fact to burgundy. Then came 2023’s champagne-coloured carpet, which felt a bit on the nose (and got very dirty very quickly). It was actually prompted by the weather – they had to erect a tent over the carpet, which turned out to be orange, and that would have been a bit of a clash.
Vis a vis the gowns, none of this matters, says Melanie Wilkinson, our Guardian styling editor. “The red carpet dresses are so hard to get right. I think whether the dress goes well with the carpet or not is probably the last consideration.”
She did, however, suggest people avoid green.
(In case you were wondering, once the ceremony is over the carpet, the carpet is destroyed in an undisclosed manner.)
Stuart Heritage
Perhaps slightly better is the Associated Press video, which is trained on attendees posing for the cameras. Obviously it’s worth pointing out that currently it’s a video of attendees who are willing to arrive at a ceremony two full hours before it actually begins, so maybe don’t brace yourself for too many A-listers just yet, but it’s better than nothing.
Stuart Heritage
A quick word for UK readers. British television coverage of the run-up to the ceremony is a bit meagre and austere this year, so you won’t find much in the way of red carpet footage. However, there are live YouTube videos for us to monitor. There is this one, for example, which for the time being seems to solely consist of bored-looking reporters sullenly looking at their phones. But it will probably pick up in time.
Morwenna Ferrier
Hello from the Guardian’s fashion desk! Lauren and I will be tracking the gowns and jackets and shoes (and pins?) on the Oscars red carpet tonight.
The greatest honour tonight is, of course, taking home an award. But given that stylists have arguably replaced editors as the most powerful brokers of taste, it would be a shame (and dull) to ignore the clothes, which are an extraordinarily well choreographed culmination of months of plotting and liaising and strategising. There will be a lot of Chanel because there is a new designer, Matthieu Blazy, and everyone wants to be part of his cabal. Ditto Dior. And Prada, which is the go-to brand if you fancy yourself as a bit of a kook.
It’s worth pointing out what they wear is not really about personal expression. The stylist-to-celebrity pipeline is a highly engineered marketing machine where celebrities borrow gowns, brands pay people to wear their stuff and fashion houses battle for visibility.
Try not to let that put you off though – and enjoy the frocks!
And the Oscar goes to … you! And us!
Stuart Heritage
Hello world, and welcome to the Guardian’s liveblog of the 2026 Oscars. This is the biggest night of the year for the film industry, and maybe like the 70th biggest night of the year for everyone else.
Actually that might not be true. In an unprecedented move, this year’s ceremony will centre around a clutch of films that people have actually seen, led by the triptych of One Battle After Another, Marty Supreme and Sinners. Combined, these films have grossed over three quarters of a billion dollars. That might not seem much – they basically add up to 8/10ths of the Lilo & Stitch remake – but compare that to last year, when everything was won by Anora (one 18th of a Lilo & Stitch remake) and you can see how populist things are this time around.
A quick word on how things will go this evening, using UK times to avoid confusion. As we speak, the least famous of this year’s attendees are starting to drift towards the Dolby theater, which means that we’ll be bringing you all the red carpet looks as they trickle in. Some hours later, at 11pm UK time, the ceremony will begin, and we will liveblog every moment until it finally wraps up at some point in the early morning. And then after that we’ll still be liveblogging reactions and news until long after the sun comes up.
So strap in, get caffeinated and let’s all get through this together. Thanks for being here.