Julia Roberts won her first Golden Globe for her performance in Steel Magnolias back in 1990, marking the arrival of a bona fide superstar. Though, it might have been Roberts’s decision to bypass the traditional sparkling awards gown that better illustrates her singular pop culture legacy.
At just 22 years old, Roberts showed up to the Hollywood event in a too-big wool suit from Giorgio Armani. But this wasn’t menswear disguising itself as womenswear. Roberts had actually purchased the ensemble last-minute from the men’s department of Armani’s Rodeo Drive boutique.
The actor’s suit did, indeed, look tailored for a businessman. The jacket ended well past her waist, while the matching trousers sat away from her frame and pooled over simple flat-sole boots. Underneath, a floral purple tie and a collared shirt—choices as nonchalant as they were subversive. Roberts completed the look with barely-there makeup and her natural curly hair left mostly un-fussed with.
Yes, it was a familiar Armani silhouette (the late Diane Keaton wore a double-breasted suit to the 1978 Oscars when she won for Annie Hall), but still rather out of the ordinary for women on the red carpet at the time. (Armani, of course, made it a point to tone down the red carpet glitz in the ’90s, regularly dressing celebrities like Roberts in wool suiting and elegant silk dresses).
When thinking of the iconic awards looks, it’s easy to jump to the showy ones. There’s J.Lo’s plunging Versace dress that lead to the creation of Google Images. Cher in Bob Mackie at the 1986 Oscars. Angelina Jolie wearing a LBD with a red lip and a daringly high leg split. Nicole Kidman’s ethereal chartreuse Dior gown designed by John Galliano.
But for the most ardent fashion fans, Roberts’s Globes outfit, despite its simplicity, falls into that camp. Really, the suit’s simplicity is its strength. It captured the androgyny that would define so much of ’90s fashion, a revolution that still echoes today. But it also presented the idea that awards night style doesn’t have to be all glitz and glam. A little naiveté and quiet confidence can be just as revolutionary.
In the decades since, the outfit formula has become a Roberts staple. The actor regularly hits the red carpet in riffs on that Armani suit, whether it be in double-breasted form or livened up with a print. It’s even become a reference point for the rest of Hollywood, including Roberts’s After the Hunt co-star Ayo Edebiri. She wore a Roberts-inspired Loewe suit to the 2025 Golden Globes, updating the look with draping and a gilded feather “tie.”
To this day, Roberts still calls the suit one of her “all-time favorite outfits.” (Which is saying something, considering the sheer amount of show-stopping looks she’s worn on the red carpet). She still has it somewhere in her closet and even lent it to her teenage son, Henry Moder.
If Roberts is looking to really pay homage, though, might we suggest taking it out of storage for her next appearance. Perhaps at the Globes one of these years?
