For Wunmi Mosaku, the 2026 Oscars Capped the First Awards Season She’s Felt Embraced by Fashion

This is The Close-Up, where the biggest names in entertainment explain the story behind their latest personal style statement.

What should you expect from a best-dressed Oscar nominee when she's expecting at the Academy Awards? For Sinners star and Best Supporting Actress nominee Wunmi Mosaku, her approach to the 98th Annual Oscars red carpet wasn't all that different from her strategy throughout trophy season—even, and especially, while pregnant.

I'm embracing the bump but not dressing just purely for the bump," she tells Marie Claire on Oscar morning, hours before she'll change into a Louis Vuitton dress she describes as "mermaid-y meets Old Hollywood."

All the maternity stuff is always so disheartening, and I feel like it's really hard to feel like yourself when you're pregnant," she says. "So feeling like myself is the most important thing. I did not want to feel like I was trying to hide or like pretend. I wanted to embrace my growing body and celebrate it.

With pulls from stylist Shameelah Hicks, Mosaku has graced red carpets from the BAFTAS (where she won Best Supporting Actress) to the Actor Awards in gowns that didn't compromise her love of an elegant, vibrant look. Bright colors make her happiest, so she's sampled every shade from Ahluwalia's cobalt blue to Matthew Reisman's sunshine yellow.

She's also viewed her red-carpet style as a place to champion the cultures and creatives who support her. In addition to styling the likes of her Oscars Louis Vuitton, "I really wanted to make sure that we're celebrating Black designers too, from everywhere in the diaspora," she says. "I really want to make sure that we keep celebrating and showcasing Black designers because it's a tough industry."

For Oscars night, Mosaku ultimately landed on a deep, emerald green that shimmered in tandem with her David Yurman jewelry. "I want the fabric to just speak for itself and be a talking point in itself," she says. Louis Vuitton's gown was hand-embroidered, coating her one-shoulder, long-sleeve gown with hundreds of tiny luminescent beads.

Her all-over sparkle met the Oscars' demand for high-glamour dressing without making things harder for Mosaku in the final stretch of her pregnancy.

Other Old Hollywood codes, she explains, would have been tough to navigate with a bump. "I love a train, I love a cape, but also those things hinder you when you're moving around—and I didn't know how big I was going to be by [the Oscars]," she says. "I wasn't even sure if I was going to make it to today! So I just went for a design that felt really graceful with ease."

Hair and makeup were the places for Mosaku to bring her Nigerian heritage into the red-carpet mix. "I always want to feel like my texture is being celebrated and my heritage is being celebrated," she explains. Her sculptural up-do by Araxi Lindsey blended "a hairstyle that's kind of traditional in the diaspora with Hollywood, classic shapes."

Mosaku didn't ultimately take home the statuette for Best Supporting Actress. (Amy Madigan, of Weapons, was the winner.) She's walking away from awards season with another accomplishment alongside Sinners' many accolades, anyway: a newfound appreciation for her style, no matter the phase of life she's in.

"I've always felt quite excluded from the fashion industry, and I feel like this is the first time I've felt really embraced by it," she says. While navigating premieres has previously been challenging as "not a sample size," celebrating her critically acclaimed role and her pregnancy at once has opened new doors. "Everyone was really embracing my growing curves and loving it and trying to figure it out together. It's been quite a joyful experience."

Photographer Ashley Randall | Stylist Shameelah Hicks | Hair Stylist Araxi Lindsey | Makeup Artist Uzo | Location Beverly Hills Hotel