The Biggest Red Carpet Beauty Disruptors of Awards Season 2021

To say this awards season has been unconventional would be an understatement. But despite the challenges of rethinking the red carpet landscape, Hollywood's brightest stars not only rose to the occasion, but upped the ante on standout personal style. In fact, there were more individualistic—and in turn, disruptive—statements than ever before.

Above the neck, big night-worthy beauty ran the gamut from little-to-no makeup—see Nomadland director Chloé Zhao's glowing, seemingly bare complexion worn with her signature plaits—to vivid pops of pigment, like Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan's color-blocked fuchsia lids, Genius: Aretha actor Cynthia Erivo's graphic strokes of neon purple eyeliner, and Lovecraft Country's Jurnee Smollett's soft smoky eyes, which offset her sleek bob perfectly. Additionally on the hair front, Angela Bassett continued to inspire awe with a single serpentine braid that fell past her hips, while Yara Shahidi's towering top knot was woven with brilliant blue fabric to match her azure flicked gaze.

"Although this award season wasn't what we had expected, we still try to deliver the same amount of glam as we normally would," explains hairstylist Tony Medina, the pro behind the array of head-swiveling ringlet curl looks worn by Andra Day as she earned several nominations (including the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role) and wins for her work in The United States vs. Billie Holiday. "I love how creative and fun I can get with Andra. She really enjoys glamour and getting her hair done. She is an artist through and through and always has amazing ideas for me to execute." His favorite of their collaborations? The big, voluminous textured ponytail Day wore with her green Elie Saab gown.

Giving glamour a gothic twist, Phoebe Bridgers complemented her trademark skeleton dress with silver waves and a deep bordeaux pout at the Grammy Awards, where she was up for four nominations including Best New Artist and Best Alternative Album. In a similar spirit, The Crown's Emma Corrin really burst on the scene with her idiosyncratic, editorial-leaning style, her standout moment being the 17th-century Pierrot clown-inspired Miu Miu getup, no doubt. A natural born beauty risktaker, Corrin sported doe-eyed lashes with a shimmering teardrop below her right eye drawn on by makeup artist Florrie White, who was inspired by Twiggy’s interpretation of Pierrot in 1971 film The Boy Friend. "I loved the drama, romance and naivety of it and that fact the teardrop was added in so quickly with only 10 minutes left with the photographer Greg Williams," explains Wright. While she misses traveling for ceremonies tremendously, she found there to be a special intimacy around this awards season and relished having control over the final images. "There were less attendees so the internet wasn’t flooded with images of guests, only the nominees and winners so each look made more impact," she adds.

On the note of at-home photo shoots, Tracee Ellis Ross naturally served up high drama all season long. But most unforgettable of all was her duo of statuesque Schiaparelli looks enhanced with a thick, sooty cat eye for the NAACP Image Awards, where she was nominated for Best Actress in a Comedy Series for Black-Ish and Best Actress in a Motion Picture for The High Note. "It's hard to choose a favorite look with Tracee because we always do something different and unique, but her look for the NAACP awards was so much fun because it wasn’t just dressing for an awards show, it was more like creating living art in the name of fashion," says makeup artist Tracey Levy. As we brace for Hollywood's biggest night of all this weekend, here, a look back at this season's biggest beauty disruptors.