If you’ve noticed that celebrities seem to be wearing less and less jewelry on the red carpet these days, you’re not alone. Eschewing diamonds and jewels in favor of letting the outfit speak for itself has become one of the most dominant (if not the most subtle) trends to take over red carpets and traditionally glitzy events. While the dearth of spectacular jewelry has occasionally drawn the ire of some armchair critics on social media, Salma Hayek just proved that, sometimes, less is more.
The Frida star ventured out in New York City last night to accept WSJ Magazine’s Innovator Award for Entertainment & Altruism. For the special occasion, she joined fellow A-listers like Penélope Cruz and Ariana Grande on the red carpet in a look that put the primary focus on her clothes and not her accoutrements.
Hayek tapped Balenciaga for an elegant strapless column dress made of a blazing red fabric, a custom piece based off of a look from the house's Winter 2024 collection. The dress made her look powerful and compelling, with padded pointed hips and a floor-grazing hemline that lengthened her five-foot-two-inch height.
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While Hayek did wear some jewelry—including a diamond cocktail ring and a pair of waterfall earrings—she opted out of wearing a statement-making necklace, instead leaving her chest bare. She completed the look with black satin platform stilettos.
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WSJ. has selected Hayek for this year’s Innovator Award in recognition of her charity work, namely through the Kering Foundation, which she helped her husband, Kering CEO François-Henri Pinault, establish. The organization’s tentpole event, the annual Caring for Women dinner and charity auction, helps raise money for nonprofits working on solutions to end gender-based violence.
