23 Celebs Who Told Designers, "Thanks, But I'll Get My Red Carpet Outfit At The Mall Instead"
Most of the time, celebs walk down the red carpet in head-to-toe designer clothes. Sometimes, however, they decide to forgo the hefty price tags in favor of more affordable brands.
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Here are 23 red carpet looks that came from "regular people" stores:
1.For her very first red carpet — the 2001 premiere of The Others — Eva Mendes wore a $6 dress from Goodwill.
She also did her own hair and makeup for the event.
2.In the early 2000s, Blake Lively often wore Forever 21 on red carpets, but she lied and told people it was vintage.
"I wore Forever 21 much longer than I admitted. I just started saying it was vintage because I was so shamed for it," she told InStyle.
3.The day before the 1996 Oscars, a delivery driver accidentally dropped Sharon Stone's Vera Wang dress then ran over it, so she paired a Gap shirt with a few designer pieces from her closet instead.
During an appearance on No Filter with Naomi, she said that she enlisted the help of costume designer Ellen Mirojnick.
She said, "[Mirojnick] just kept sitting there looking at [the clothes from my closet] like it was a science problem. ... She eventually started putting things together, so we ended up putting together this Gap shirt and a ready-to-wear Valentino skirt, then I had this Armani tuxedo dress that I wore as a jacket and I picked a Gardenia out of the garden and that was it.”
4.For the 2009 Cannes Film Festival — her first major red carpet event — Gabourey Sidibe purchased her own dress from Torrid because designers refused to dress her.
She told Teen Vogue, "Even though we are moving towards more visibility for plus-size people, there is a lot [of] pushback. So it’s important to keep fighting [and] to keep being visible until the conversation changes and [it] is no longer about our bodies because I'm not my body. I'm a whole person."
5.She again wore a Torrid outfit to SXSW in 2017.
6.For her very first red carpet appearance in 2010, 14-year-old Zendaya put together an outfit using clothes she already had from Target.
She told InStyle, "I thought I was fly. I felt cool. ... To this day, I think that's really all that matters. Then you know you're doing the right thing."
7.Even though she already had another dress picked out, Lana Del Rey decided to buy her 2020 Grammys gown at the mall while she was shopping with her boyfriend.
She had the dress tailored around the waist, but no other alterations were made.
8.At the 2021 Variety Hitmakers event, she wore an affordable dress that fans quickly identified as either a $38 purchase from Girl Fairy or an $18 copy from Shein.
9.Natalie Portman donned a $65 maternity dress from Topshop at the Oscars Nominees Luncheon in 2017.
10.Bryce Dallas Howard sported a $240 dress from Topshop to the 22nd Critics' Choice Awards in 2016.
She prefers to buy her red carpet outfits from department stores because she likes "having lots of options for a size 6, as opposed to maybe one option."
11.Selena Gomez wore a Forever 21 dress to the Disney Fulfillment Gala in 2011.
12.In 2010, Drew Barrymore spent $25 on a vintage Janine dress from a thrift store in Texas and wore it to the Nylon + Express August Denim Issue Party.
13.Pharrell Williams attended the 2015 Grammys dressed fully in Adidas athleisure.
14.At the 2018 Emmys, Jenifer Lewis sported a Nike outfit in support of Colin Kaepernick, who appeared in the brand's campaign at the time.
In a red carpet interview, she said, "I am wearing Nike to applaud them for supporting Colin Kaepernick and his protest against racial injustice and police brutality."
15.Connie Britton wore a $71 ASOS dress to the 2013 premiere of All Is Lost.
16.At the 2013 Academy Awards, Helen Hunt donned a gown designed by H&M.
17.Jennifer Lopez put on $25 pants from Forever 21 for a photocall for the Mawazine International Music Festival in 2015.
18.Nicole Richie wore a $40 turtleneck dress from H&M to the Baby2Baby Gala in 2014.
19.At a 2017 screening of King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Aisha Tyler walked the red carpet in a $129 dress from Zara.
20.At the 2011 A&E Upfronts, Demi Moore arrived in red H&M pants.
21.Kerry Washington styled a J.Crew sweater for Sundance in 2020.
22.Miranda Kerr wore an $85 H&M dress at a promotional event for Wonderbra in 2017.
23.And finally, at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards, Kristen Stewart paired Converse shoes with her designer dress so that she could comfortably sign more autographs for fans.
She told Vogue, "I just so wholeheartedly disagree with people who don't like what I wear."
