There are wardrobe malfunctions, and then there are wardrobe malfunctions when you’re announced as the winner of the best actress category at the Oscars 2024. Emma Stone, who snagged her second career Academy Award in the category, experienced the latter on Sunday.
Stone, who later told reporters in the press room that she was “deeply shocked” by the win, was visibly stunned when she made her way up to the stage to accept her award, one of the night’s tightest races between herself and Killers of the Flower Moon’s Lily Gladstone. She repeatedly reached back and touched the back zipper of her mint green custom Louis Vuitton peplum gown near her waist, where it had split open. She appeared to say something about her dress breaking as she walked the stairs, briefly seemed to ask presenter Jessica Lange for help, then made peace with her fate: It was time to accept both the award and her busted zipper.
John Shearer
“Oh boy, my dress is broken,” she said when she reached the mic. “I think it happened during ‘I’m Just Ken.’ I’m pretty sure.”
Honestly, it’s understandable as Stone was seen enjoying Ryan Gosling’s rollicking performance of the best original song nominee (toppled by fellow Barbie track “What Was I Made For?” Billie Eilish’s emotional ballad), a highlight of the telecast that saw Stone leaning forward to sing into the mic for her bedazzled, hot pink-clad La La Land co-star (the role she won her first best actress statue for back in 2017).
Stone told the assembled journalists in the press room that the dress was quickly repaired.
“When I came back, they sewed me back in, which was wonderful,” sewing up the brief sartorial drama. “I genuinely do think I did it during ‘I’m Just Ken.’ I just was so amazed by Ryan and what he was doing, and that number just blew my mind and I was right there and I just was going for it and things happen.”
Stone received the award for her performance in Poor Things, playing Bella Baxter, an adult woman with the brain of a child who discovers the many delights and downfalls of the adult world throughout the film. She closed her speech onstage by thanking her own daughter, who she said will turn three years old in three days, with a nod to another close friend: Taylor Swift.
“I love you bigger than the whole sky, my girl,” she said of her daughter, quoting lyrics of Swift’s song of the same name. “So thank you so much.”
