Jennifer Lawrence Is Back to Wow the Red Carpet

Jennifer Lawrence has been famous for over a decade, is one of the highest-paid actresses on the planet, and her image at one point became so common online that everyone thought they’d figured her out and grew sick of her. A few years ago, her style moments no longer seemed to please, her quippy interviews felt grating and her onscreen performances felt labored, so, according to recent interviews, she disappeared, got married and had a kid. Now, she’s back.

Lawrence has finally begun starring in and producing movies again after her hiatus, and in her first official and off-duty appearances back in the world, it’s clear there’s been a stylistic shift.

Jennifer Lawrence Wears Summer So Well—Jelly Shoes IncludedSLAY-LAW

Helen Holmes, Tim Teeman

Over the summer, she went traipsing around the city wearing easy summer dresses and jelly sandals, but now that fall is upon us, she’s getting serious: for her first red carpet appearance since becoming a mom, Lawrence wore a sheer, black off-the-shoulder Dior gown to the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of her new movie Causeway, radiating poise and self-confidence.

There’s something just as self-actualized about the outfit Lawrence wore on a walk in Manhattan during NYFW: black wrap dress, gold bag, green slides, Matrix-y sunglasses. Perfectly fitting dress, perfectly eclectic accessories. Boom. Done. She’s busy.

“What I really like about Jennifer’s style—and what other people seem to gravitate towards, as well—is how understated it is, especially right now,” Aaron Royce, Assistant Digital Editor at Footwear News, told The Daily Beast. “She dresses in a very chic and elevated way that a lot of people can aspire and relate to.”

Throughout the course of her meteoric ascent, Lawrence’s red carpet moments were never particularly out-there or daring, but the outfits did cycle through a couple of different phases, as though her team (or the actress herself) was trying to figure out what suited her best. At a Beverly Hills premiere of 2008’s The Burning Plain, Lawrence was the consummate Young Hollywood Siren: her lips are deep red, and her silver, form-fitting dress evokes a bygone time. But she’s too full of humor for this classic look—it doesn’t suit her.

By 2011, Lawrence was dressed like a Real Housewife (one of her favorite franchises) in sequin ombré cocktail dresses and sweeping updos. The interesting thing about the actress’s style evolution is that she’s never really looked bad or off—even when the looks skew a little old for her or don’t quite fit her personality, they pretty much work, because the person wearing the clothes is so arresting.

One huge win was the Dior Haute Couture she wore to the 2013 Oscars: a pale pink, cake-like confection that she tripped over on her way up the stairs, cementing the dress and herself in Academy Awards history.

Jen’s flop era, as it were, consisted of dramatic eye makeup, metallic dresses with cutouts and lingerie-inspired looks that tried too hard, but it’s clear, now that she’s settled into a new phase of domestic life, she’s thoroughly evolved.

“I think Jennifer Lawrence has always felt comfortable with herself, and I don’t think she’s shy,” Amanda Sanders, a celebrity stylist who’s worked with Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle, among others, told The Daily Beast. “She doesn’t have a lot of misses. I don’t think she wears things that are too short, too young or too tight: her personality speaks for itself, and she does have a great personality, so she doesn’t have to rely on crazy cutouts or colors.”