Oscars 2017: All the Details Behind Octavia Spencer’s Marchesa Oscar Dress
On Sunday night, all the best and brightest of Hollywood came out to celebrate another year of exceptional filmmaking, and to a lesser but no less fascinating extent, another season of spectacular couture. But while all the usual red carpet darlings were there in full force, there was another Oscar-nominated style star in attendance worthy of special recognition for her show-stopping dress and that’s Octavia Spencer. And to explain just what made the actress’s dress so unique, the designers behind the Hidden Figures star gown spoke to People exclusively to explain how her custom silver creation came to be.
Spencer’s Marchesa dress for the evening featured an off-the-shoulder boat neckline as well as a skirt covered in feather detailing, both of which were extremely popular trends of the evening. The ruched, form-fitting bodice ended in a waist-cinching cummerbund before cascading into a full ball-gown skirt, made even more extravagant with controlled waves of ostrich feathers and crystal embellishment throughout to give the dress that extra pop of sparkle.
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In an exclusive statement to People, the designers and co-founders behind the brand, Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig said, “Octavia Spencer holds a leading role on the red carpet with her timeless and impeccable style choices, and it’s such an honor that she chose to wear Marchesa at this year’s Academy Awards! She walks the red carpet with such elegance and ease. We worked very closely with Octavia and her stylist on the design of the gown, making sure that she felt like the bold, confident woman that she is.”
Spencer’s styling team, sisters Wendi and Nicole Ferreira, shared on social media that they “loved every minute” working on the process of designing the gown for their client with the Marchesa team.
Nicole told People that the dress took over 700 hours to make at the Marchesa Atelier and it was hand-tinted to find the perfect shade of silver.
“We drew inspiration from Elizabeth Taylor at the Oscars in 1970, Penelope Cruz at the Oscars in 2012, and Naomi Watts in Cannes in 2015,” she said. “As far as the color we were inspired by moonstones.”
And Spencer immediately fell in love with the design
“When she first put the dress on she said, ‘Is it OK if I say this is the one I want to wear right now?’ This is the first year Octavia had different options!”
What did you think of the star’s Marchesa moment? Was it one of your favorite looks of the night?
–reporting by Catherine Kast
