EDITOR’S NOTE: Delving into the archives of popular culture historical past, “Remember When?” is a NCS Style collection providing a nostalgic take a look at the celeb outfits that outlined their eras.
Can a single crimson carpet look flip you into a fashion icon? If it’s a Giorgio Armani suit and also you’re Julia Roberts, sure, it may.
In 1990 Roberts, then simply 22, wore a charcoal grey Armani suit from the designer’s menswear assortment to attend the forty seventh Golden Globes, the place she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her efficiency in 1989’s “Steel Magnolias,” a class she went on to win. The Georgia-born actor had simply begun to break by means of in Hollywood. “Mystic Pizza,” launched two years earlier, had launched her to audiences, however she wasn’t but tremendous well-known, or particularly identified for her style.
The suit – sharp, outsized, unapologetically masculine – modified all that. More than three many years on, it nonetheless stands as one in every of the most quietly radical crimson carpet moments in Hollywood historical past.
Roberts had the suit tailor-made at the Beverly Hills retailer the place she purchased it, refining the minimize with out blunting its menswear edge. She paired it with a crisp white shirt, a purple floral tie and flat brown brogues, delivering what might simply be described as a masterclass in androgynous dressing. To soften the ensemble, she wore her signature curls free and pure, offset by contemporary, understated make-up and a smooth crimson lip. The end result was an easy mixture of glamour and ease, and, as Roberts later advised British Vogue in a video interview, one in every of her “all-time favorite” appears to be like.
“I did my hair, my girlfriend did my makeup,” she stated. “I don’t even know that people wore really fancy gowns to the Golden Globes then the way they do now, but I thought that I was very extra in this outfit. I could not have known that it was going to become this, like, statement outfit. I just thought I looked fabulous, and I still have that suit.”
Yet a assertion it grew to become. While the Golden Globes of that period, as Roberts herself has famous, weren’t but the high-octane, couture-heavy spectacle they’re at present – earlier than model partnerships and punctiliously orchestrated styling got here to dominate the crimson carpet – her daring sartorial selection nonetheless minimize in opposition to the grain. In a sea of attire and standard silhouettes, the Armani suit learn as deliberate and trendy, strikingly totally different from the relaxation.
In the years that adopted, girls in tailoring would turn out to be a recurring, and more and more highly effective, presence on main awards phases. Think of Gwyneth Paltrow in a ruby crimson velvet Gucci suit at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards; Rihanna in a Dolce & Gabbana tuxedo at the 2009 Met Gala; Angelina Jolie in impeccable Saint Laurent tailoring at the 2014 BAFTAs; Ayo Edebiri in a slouchy Loewe suit at the 2025 Golden Globes (a very overt tribute to Roberts) or, much more not too long ago, Keri Russell and Sarah Snook at the 2026 Critics Choice Awards, in a Tom Ford tux and Akris suit respectively. If Roberts’ selection didn’t single-handedly rewrite the guidelines, it undeniably helped open a door that others later walked by means of.
It additionally set the tone for her personal private strategy to public dressing. Over the many years, the actor has repeatedly turned to fits and suit-inspired tailoring for her largest appearances, from tuxedo-inspired jumpsuits at the twenty first annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2015 and the 2022 Cannes Film Festival to sharp shorts and blazers at movie premieres like “Mother’s Day” in 2016 and “Gaslit” in 2022.
Even off the crimson carpet, her affinity for tailor-made suiting endures. In March 2025, Roberts wore a grey tailor-made suit to obtain the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres at the French Ministry of Culture in Paris, a look that felt like the closest homage but to her 1990 Golden Globes suit.
She revisited the reference once more final October, when she appeared on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” to promote her new movie “After the Hunt,” for which she is as soon as once more nominated at the Golden Globes (this time for Best Female Actor – Motion Picture Drama). For the event, Roberts selected a fitted cobalt-gray suit with a blue tie that echoed the authentic – up to date this time with slimmer proportions and up to date tailoring. The jacket was shorter and extra exact, the trousers high-waisted and clean-lined. She completed the look with a gentle grey shirt and a tie accented with a cluster of brooches, playful particulars that underscored how her relationship with suiting has advanced from quiet disruption to a assured fashion signature.
Where she takes it subsequent stays to be seen, however the suit, clearly, isn’t going anyplace.