It’s a treat every year when awards season rolls around in Hollywood; beautiful dresses, makeup looks, and entertaining celebrity interviews become everyday fodder for fans as blockbuster movies and indie dramas compete for accolades.
Iconic red carpet looks and styles are the bread and butter of these celebrity events — but sometimes, outfits actually become famous for their similarity to those of Disney princesses! We’ve rounded up the most famous “Disney princess” dresses from previous awards seasons for a Disney princess red carpet collection, with a look back at what made those Disney princess styles go viral among Disney fans.
Honorary Mention: Jennifer Lawrence 2013 Academy Awards
When Jennifer Lawrence won the Academy Award for Silver Linings Playbook in 2013, she was at the peak of her popularity due to both the Hunger Games franchise and her reputation for being goofy and relatable — but this was also the year that Jennifer Lawrence fell down the stairs while accepting her Oscar award, and memes comparing her to woe-betide Disney princesses swept across the Internet! Check out some of them below!
This meme’s caption says “Proof Jen is a Disney princess”!
The caption for the meme below is “hahahaha guess you have to do the weeping scene to become a real princess/actress 😉 go Jennifer Lawrence <3”!
Classic Disney princesses are famous for falling down and weeping on the nearest horizontal surface whenever they meet an obstacle, and since Jennifer Lawrence’s charm and beauty had already garnered Disney princess comparisons from fans, memes like the ones shown above were just one small step (or fall) away.
Lupita Nyong’o 2014 Academy Awards
The 12 Years a Slave actress Lupita Nyong’o is famous for her ability to wear virtually any bright color or unexpected color combination and still look stunning, but she particularly wowed viewers with her “Nairobi blue” Oscars dress in 2014 (when she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress).
Lupita wore a gauzy georgette soleil silk Prada confection and a demure beaded headband that not only created a striking combination on the red carpet, but also created multiple Cinderella comparisons! The fact that she treated photographers to a twirl in the dress, showing off its thin chiffon layers and tiny champagne-inspired crystals, only solidified the comparison.
Jennifer Lawrence 2014 Golden Globe Awards
Jennifer Lawrence received Disney princess comparisons again at these Golden Globe awards, but not necessarily for positive reasons. Even though the Oscar-winning actress was wearing a dress by Dior, the white mermaid dress with black straps instantly elicited comments from fans for its bizarre similarity to the makeshift beach dress worn by Ariel in the 1989 Disney movie The Little Mermaid.
The fact that the dress was a ‘mermaid’ style certainly didn’t help, either, and images of the two dresses went viral!
Alicia Vikander, 2016 Academy Awards
Just like Jennifer Lawrence, Swedish actress Alicia Vikander was at the peak of her popularity when she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in The Danish Girl. The Ex Machina actress wore a yellow ballgown and half-updo (with a bun) to this particular event that instantly brought Belle from Beauty and the Beast to mind, and everyone from Disney fans to Vogue noticed!
Alicia Vikander’s beauty and grace had already given her some Disney princess qualities, and wearing a feminine yellow ballgown combined with a hairstyle similar to Belle’s ballroom look was definitely enough to make the Tomb Raider actress’s red carpet style go viral.
Elle Fanning: 2014 and 2019 Maleficent press tours
Although Jennifer Lawrence has received more than one Disney princess comparison, Maleficent actress Elle Fanning definitely takes the cake. Elle Fanning (the sister of fellow actress Dakota Fanning) has been praised for her red carpet style and fashion choices by both fans and magazines for years, and the record-breaking actress pulled out all the stops when she literally played a Disney princess in 2014.
Take a look at some of the Sleeping Beauty actress’s red carpet dresses from the Maleficent and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil press tours to see why; Elle wore dozens of feminine Disney princess gowns after playing Princess Aurora, which she always paired with perfect Disney princess makeup!
Lily James: 2015 Cinderella press tour
When English actress Lily James played Cinderella in 2015, she wore some absolutely breathtaking gowns — but the actress didn’t stop there! Lily James wore dozens of beautiful gowns while promoting the Disney film, with the biggest highlight being her Cinderella premiere dress by Elie Saab.
The ‘glass slippers’ and clock purse accompanying the gown fit the Disney theme perfectly, and fans combined that particular outfit with Lily’s kind personality to make claims that she was a real Disney princess. Lily’s famous chemistry with her Prince Charming, Richard Madden, also solidified rumors that the pair were a real couple during the press tour!
Emma Watson: 2017 Beauty and the Beast press tour
The English actress best known for playing Harry Potter character Hermione may not have received stellar reviews from fans for her role as Belle in the live-action Beauty and the Beast from 2017, but Emma Watson did impress viewers while representing the princess on the movie’s red carpets! Watson created a sustainable fashion movement called “The Press Tour” in the process, wearing only eco-friendly, ethically sourced clothing, makeup, and hair products for the entire press tour.
You can still see the behind-the-scenes work that went into those outfits on the Press Tour Instagram! Emma’s blue Emilia Wickstead dress and yellow Dior dress (and cape) were particularly popular Disney princess outfits from the press junkets, since Emma stuck with the Beauty and the Beast blue and yellow color scheme.
We’ll be keeping an eye out for Disney princess red carpet outfits from this year’s awards season, particularly the upcoming Academy Awards! Which look from our Disney princess red carpet collection is your favorite?