In the lead-up to the 2026 Oscars, Elle Fanning thought a lot about her younger self. “I think she would feel overwhelmed and overjoyed,” Fanning tells Vogue ahead of the Academy Awards. “She had hoped for this, but only in her wildest dreams.”
Fanning, who earned her first Oscar nomination for best supporting actress in Sentimental Value, is honoring her roots—specifically her childhood home—with her Oscars look. “Growing up, my childhood home had a wisteria trellis that bloomed in the spring. I remember thinking it was the most beautiful thing when the petals would fall and create a lilac cloud on the ground,” she says. (The poignancy also ties directly into her film; the family home is a key motif in Sentimental Value.)
The actor and her longtime stylist, Samantha McMillen, knew exactly who to turn to for this special moment: “Sarah Burton is a dear friend and has made many important dresses for me over the years, so Samantha and I knew she was the one to design for this monumental Sunday,” Fanning explains. Last year, she became the first person to wear Burton’s Givenchy—it was also Fanning’s first time ever attending the Academy Awards. Now she returns as a nominee, with Burton helping her meet the moment once again.
Fanning had some basic stipulations for her Oscar dress. “I immediately looked through books of famous Oscar dresses from the past and my favorites all had one thing in common: They felt true to who was wearing them and have never gone out of style,” she says. “I knew I wanted to steer clear of trends and keep the look timeless and feminine.”
After exchanging mood boards, Burton and the Givenchy team proposed embroidering wisteria onto the gown, which they later decided to appliqué directly onto the underlayer. “Sarah and her team proceeded to hand-embroider each wisteria petal with silk threads of varying colors. There are blues, pinks, silvers, and lilacs—each sewn with love,” Fanning says. “It is the prettiest dress I have ever seen. Sarah and her team made my dreams come true on a day of dreams realized.”
The wisteria through-line felt all the more like kismet when Cartier came in. “Cartier had pulled a couple of pieces from their vault for me to look at and, lo and behold, they had a necklace from 1903 that was wisteria!” she exclaims. The necklace—replete with round old-cut diamonds in a millegrain setting—was originally two brooches that could also be worn as a tiara. Later, they were reset as a necklace or corsage ornament. “The magical thing about it all was that I had picked out that necklace before Sarah had come up with the wisteria idea on her own,” Fanning adds. “If that’s not meant to be, I don’t know what is.”
Here, Elle Fanning brings Vogue along as she gets ready for the 2026 Oscars.
See Every Look From the 2026 Oscars Red Carpet:
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