As the final year in the decade that has been the ’10s, 2019 has been a seminal year for fashion. It’s the year designers set their sights on sustainability, did away with gender binaries and facilitated some of our favourite Hollywood stars to forgo their usual silhouettes in favour of a style renaissance (come through, Laura Dern).
The year of red carpet dressing kicked off with the Golden Globe Awards in January, as celebrities took the chance to set the tone for what 2019 would look like when it came to their wardrobes. This was particularly true for music icon Lady Gaga, who started her year out in periwinkle blue Valentino at the Globes and Gemma Chan, who, off the back of her Crazy Rich Asians fame, seemed to slay every red carpet she stepped onto.
Yet a 2019 best dressed list would be incomplete without a royal mention of our two favourite duchesses. The Duchess of Sussex started the year by schooling us all in maternity dressing and finished the year by confirming the belt dress as one of her wardrobe tropes. Meanwhile, the Duchess of Cambridge decided there was cause for a mid-year style switch-up, not only dyeing her hair (almost) blonde but also getting adventurous with her on-duty looks.
In a post-#MeToo 2019, the movement’s grip on our wardrobes last year (its impact felt on the Golden Globes red carpet, which was transformed into black) softened. Our favourite female stars proved they’d risen up out of the darkness this year with triumphant turns of style, opting for colour, colour and (more) colour! Red carpets throughout the past 12 months were painted in shades of pink, blue, green and yellow–thanks in part to one man, Pierpaolo Piccioli, whose Valentino haute couture collections seemed to single-handedly dress Hollywood. Even The Queen herself turned to her most vibrant hues to date, with pink one of her go-to colours in 2019.
Then there was the Met Gala, which always provides us with a hint as to who will be the year’s best dressed. After all, if you manage to make best dressed lists on fashion’s night of nights, then you must have some serious sartorial sway. The 2019 Met Gala theme was Camp: Notes on Fashion, and Lady Gaga firmly won the night with her theatrical take on red carpet dressing.
As always, our best dressed list isn’t just about those show-stopping moments. It’s also a nod to the people serving us serious red carpet realness every day, and in every way. Zendaya quietly made our list (and in an Australian designer, no less), while Laura Dern earned herself an honorary mention for consistent red carpet gold, and Lily-Rose Depp proved you can never go wrong in Chanel. Scroll on to see Vogue Australia’s best dressed of 2019.
Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga was still on her A Star is Born tour when 2019 began and she continued her red carpet reign right into award season. Gaga wore a number of high-profile designers throughout her award season tour, including the likes of Valentino and Brandon Maxwell. Proving she deserved every bit of that Oscar she won in February, Gaga took to the Met Gala red carpet months later in May with a multi-look performance on the fêted steps.
Adut Akech
One might argue that it’s hard to look bad in Valentino, however South Sudanese-Australian model Adut Akech is still highly deserving of a place on our 2019 best dressed list. Not only did she prove she can do no wrong on the red carpet, Akech was also named Model of the Year at the 2019 British Fashion Awards (and looked every bit the part while picking up her accolade). Take a bow, Akech.
Gemma Chan
This year Gemma Chan convinced us she can never look anything less than perfect. The British actor was fresh off the back of her year in the spotlight for Crazy Rich Asians and was also promoting her role in Captain Marvel, which called for bright silky Valentino gowns and a daring Met Gala moment.
Meghan Markle
Meghan Markle continued to raise her fashion game throughout her pregnancy, culminating in the perfect Wales Bonner dress chosen for her postpartum moment on the world stage, when she introduced us all to baby Archie. The Duchess of Sussex pushed the envelope with her evening dressing this year, testing out everything from a vibrant red Valentino dress to a sheer black Jason Wu gown, and also proved she isn’t afraid to recycle her outfits.
Emilia Clarke
Game of Thrones might have come to an end this year but it seems Emilia Clarke’s red carpet game is only just commencing. The actor bookended her year with a strong start during award season in Valentino and strong conclusion while on her Last Christmas press tour. A serious feat by Clarke.
Lizzo
It ain’t her fault that she’s out here making best dressed lists. The American singer has been one to watch both in the charts and on the red carpet, thanks to her empowering sense of style which oozes as much confidence as her lyrics (maybe even more). She solidified her place on the list with that itty bitty Valentino bag.
Kate Middleton
Kate Middleton never has a hair out of place but the duchess made our best dressed list this year thanks to what we’re dubbing a Kate-naissance. Not only did the royal debut a new hairstyle, complete with sun-kissed locks, but she also upped her style game, playing around with glitter, sequins and prints. A special mention goes to the Duchess of Cambridge’s stylist, Natasha Archer, who returned to work from maternity leave in time to engineer Middleton’s post-summer glow up.
Laura Dern
2019 has been Dern’s year and she had the style stakes to match it. From Big Little Lies to Little Women, this year Dern has been working hard on her résumé and she wore the perfect designer gowns to prove it.
From left to right: Zoë Kravitz wears Saint Laurent, Saint Laurent and a Tiffany & Co. bralette with a Saint Laurent skirt.
Zoë Kravitz
We can track the exact moment Kravitz won her place on this best dressed list back to the 2019 Vanity Fair Oscars after party, when the actor wowed in a Tiffany & Co. bra made from actual gold, worth US$24,000. Who else could make such an attention-grabbing outfit look like an afterthought?
Queen Elizabeth II
2019 is said to be an annus horribilis for our beloved Queen Elizabeth II, the likes of which she hasn’t seen since 1992 (“…not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure,” she once famously said). Now, almost two decades later, Her Majesty has braced yet again for an unexpectedly challenging year. And, as always, she’s come out the other side with decorum and grace. Perhaps it’s the reason she reached for even more vibrant hues than ever before–with different hues of pink a go-to this year–as fashion never fails to improve one’s mood.
Zendaya
She stole our hearts in Australian label Christopher Esber at the People’s Choice Awards in November but that midriff-bearing look was only one of Zendaya’s red carpet highlights. The singer and actor evolved into a fashion icon this year and gave us all a lesson in Millennial red carpet dressing.
From left to right: Jennifer Lopez wears Ralph Lauren, Versace and Reem Acra.
Jennifer Lopez
We’re calling it: 2019 was Jennifer Lopez’s year. Not only did JLo turn 50 and star in Hustlers (which has earned her a 2020 SAG nomination), but she also proved her abs are the best red carpet accessory, even shimmying into the Versace dress she made famous back in the year 2000.
From left to right: Timothée Chalamet wears Louis Vuitton, Haider Ackermann and Louis Vuitton.
Timothée Chalamet
This year we crowned Timothée Chalamet king of the suit and now we salute the rest of his rule-breaking takes on red carpet looks. The King actor embraced high fashion this year, testing out the likes of Virgil Abloh for Louis Vuitton and confirming that you can, in fact, wear a hoodie on the red carpet–if it’s covered in sequins, that is.
Billy Porter
Billy Porter arriving at the Met Gala wearing The Blondes, sitting on a litter carried by six shirtless men, was a metaphor for the Pose star’s year in fashion: he was on top. It was also a prelude to all the amazing looks we’d see him commit to throughout the following months. With gender fluidity being at the forefront of the zeitgeist this year, he’s brought us all a comprehensive style guide in how to approach it.
Rihanna
It was the year she did the unthinkable and brokered a deal with LVMH to launch her own label, Fenty. In doing so, it became the first fashion label to be launched by the conglomerate since Christian Lacroix in 1987, and in the process, Rihanna herself became the first woman of colour to head up a brand there. Rihanna has always taken the rules and stomped all over them and the same goes for her year in red carpet dressing. We bow down.
From left to right: Lisa Bonet wears Fendi, Christian Dior and unknown; Jason Mamoa wears Fendi, Tom Ford with Valentino and Tom Ford.
Lisa Bonet and Jason Mamoa
The only couple to make our list in 2019, Lisa Bonet and Jason Mamoa had a glowing year in the style stakes. Since they’re often pictured together in complementary outfits, it felt right to welcome them to our best dressed list as a couple. While Mamoa pulled out suits in powdery pink silk and corduroy jackets, Bonet located weird and wonderful red carpet gowns that deserve some serious recognition.
From left to right: Lily-Rose Depp wears Chanel.
Lily-Rose Depp
Lily-Rose Depp is the youngest on our list but she’s also the one with the most Chanel in her cupboard. As a face of the brand, Depp has access to some of the French maison’s most incredible looks, but it’s the way she puts them together with head-turning nonchalance that has earned her the final place in the class of 2019.
