There's a certain level of finesse and fearlessness that's required to successfully deliver a bold red-carpet look. At the 65th Grammy Awards, Kim Petras did just that.
The international pop star, who scored a historic win at last Sunday's ceremony, brought the heat for her debut Grammys appearance in a voluminous cherry red minidress. The vintage Victor Costa piece looked like an elevated homage to the '80s prom dress with its dropped waist, poofy bows, and bubble skirt.
The look was "sourced by my incredible stylist, Shabs Mohammad, from Paumé, a vintage collection run by Yana Kamps—a fellow German trans girl," Petras tells BAZAAR.com. "I felt so proud to wear this dress and work with Yana and Shabs on this iconic moment."
If the dress was the centerpiece of Petras's Grammys look, then her accessories were just the cherries on top. Wearing a nearly floor-length scarlet veil, the singer floated down the red carpet like a crimson bride. She completed the dramatic monochrome outfit with a Victorian-esque pendant necklace featuring a fist-sized red gem, matching earrings, and bedazzled red pumps from Manolo Blahnik.
As for glam, Petras says she and her makeup artist, Gilbert Soliz, agreed on a look that wouldn't upstage the clothes. "We wanted to make sure it wasn't competing with the outfit, especially the veil," she explains. "I wanted to embody classic and elevated beauty."
Later that night, Petras would make history. She and Sam Smith won the award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for their hit single, "Unholy," making her the first openly transgender solo artist to win in that category (Smith, too, made history as the first openly nonbinary artist to win).
"Winning my first Grammy feels unreal," she says. "I remember dreaming of this moment as a kid from thousands of miles away, and I am just still in disbelief that it has happened."
The two had less than an hour between accepting their golden gramophones and again taking the stage to perform their now Grammy-winning song. The night's momentum kept them going.
"We celebrated quickly, with happy tears while changing between outfits," she says. "There was an energy to that performance that we hadn't seen at rehearsals."
For the performance, Petras changed into towering knee-high boots and another red-hot minidress. Designed by Seth Pratt, the sultry dress included bust cutouts and an ultra-pleated skirt. Meanwhile, Smith wore a sheer red button-down with matching latex pants and a body harness. He finished the look with a metallic top hat with horns sticking out from the sides.
"Sam and I discussed wanting to look like we were in hell for our performance," Petras says. "Seth did an incredible job of bringing that vision to light, especially with having to make sure the materials of the look kept me safe from that wall of fire!"
As an associate editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com, Chelsey keeps a finger on the pulse on all things celeb news. She also writes on social movements, connecting with activists leading the fight on workers' rights, climate justice, and more. Offline, she’s probably spending too much time on TikTok, rewatching Emma (the 2020 version, of course), or buying yet another corset.
