The Moment
Dakota Johnson just floated into the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, looking like a very expensive ghost of lingerie past – and yes, the dress was sheer. Again.
The 36-year-old Materialists star hit the festival’s Women in Cinema event in a white lace Chloé gown that managed to be both revealing and oddly demure. The skirt had a big ruffled lace panel around the pelvic area for modesty, but the rest of the look? Plenty of leg and a whole lot of skin on the upper half.
She finished the outfit with white heels from Paris Texas and serious sparkle courtesy of Chopard jewelry. It’s the latest in a long line of “how sheer is too sheer?” red-carpet moments for Johnson. At this point, it’s less a trend and more a personality trait.
The Take
I’ll say it: Dakota Johnson is in her Full Transparency Era, and she’s not even pretending otherwise.
Every few months, she shows up somewhere in what is essentially couture underwear with a skirt attached, and the fashion world politely calls it a “gown.” This Red Sea look is just the latest chapter. It’s soft, romantic, a little bridal, and still completely see-through. It’s like someone said, “What if a Victorian nightgown and a 2025 Instagram thirst trap had a baby?”
And honestly, it works on her. The woman has built an entire red-carpet identity around being quietly chaotic: blunt bangs, deadpan humor, and dresses that look like they were designed in a fever dream after watching too many 1970s rock documentaries.
With longtime stylist Kate Young, she’s basically turned strategic nudity into a uniform. We’ve seen the custom blue sheer gown at the Zurich Film Festival. The entirely see-through black Gucci lace with visible bra and cheeky underwear at the Kering Foundation’s Caring for Women Dinner. The chainmail, barely-there Gucci dress at the Madame Web premiere in early 2024. Different events, same message: “I’m covered, technically. Don’t call HR.”
Is it empowering? Is it a stunt? Yes.
There’s no world where a woman in Hollywood repeatedly stepping out in near-naked looks isn’t aware of the headlines it will generate. But there’s also something very adult about the way Dakota does it. The styling is polished, the jewelry is old-school rich-girl, the hair and makeup are understated. It doesn’t scream “Look at my body!” so much as “I’m wearing the art, you can deal with the transparency.”
We’re also in a cultural moment where 30s and 40s women are very publicly refusing to “age out” of fun fashion. Johnson isn’t dressing like she’s chasing a TikTok trend; she’s dressing like a woman who knows her angles and her audience. The message feels less “Pick me” and more “I picked this – and I’m not apologizing.”
If red-carpet fashion is a language, Dakota’s current dialect is clear: lace, mesh, and zero interest in opaque lining.
Receipts
Confirmed:
Dakota Johnson wows in sheer white lace at Red Sea International Film Festival https://t.co/ib2HHf32u1 pic.twitter.com/Kr3T58hkwX
— Page Six (@PageSix) December 6, 2025
- Dakota Johnson attended the Red Sea International Film Festival’s Women in Cinema event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in early December 2025, wearing a sheer white lace Chlo�e9 gown with a ruffled lace skirt panel and visible skin on the upper half of her body, along with white Paris Texas heels and Chopard jewelry (documented in festival red-carpet coverage and event photos dated Dec. 5d6, 2025).
- Johnson has recently worn multiple sheer looks on major carpets: a custom blue sheer gown at the Zurich Film Festival, an entirely sheer black Gucci lace dress at the Kering Foundation’s Caring for Women Dinner, and a see-through chainmail Gucci dress at the Madame Web premiere in February 2024 (all documented via widely circulated event photography and fashion write-ups at the time).
- The Kering Foundation look featured visible black Fleur du Mal lingerie (a balconette bra and cheeky underwear) and jewelry by Jessica McCormack, while the Zurich gown was styled with jewelry by Roberto Coin, including diamond, emerald, sapphire, and tanzanite pieces (noted in contemporaneous fashion coverage and designer credits).
Unverified / Interpretation:
- Whether the ongoing sheer streak is primarily Johnson’s personal preference or a stylist-led strategy hasn’t been spelled out by Johnson or Kate Young in on-record quotes.
- Any deeper “statement” about feminism, freedom, or age in Hollywood is inferred from her choices and the broader cultural context, not something Johnson has explicitly framed in a recent public statement about these specific looks.
Sources: Red Sea International Film Festival red-carpet and Women in Cinema event photos and captions (Dec. 5, 2025); U.S. entertainment fashion column coverage of Dakota Johnson’s recent festival and gala looks, staff reporting (Dec. 2025).
Backstory (For Casual Readers)
If you know Dakota Johnson mostly as “the girl from Fifty Shades of Grey,” you’re not wrong, but you’re a little behind. The daughter of actors Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith, she’s quietly built a career in offbeat dramas, indie darlings, and now superhero territory with Madame Web, plus projects like the romantic comedy Materialists. Along the way, she and stylist Kate Young have carved out a very consistent red-carpet lane: vintage-leaning glamour with a rock-and-roll twist, heavy on Gucci, lace, and silhouettes that require fashion tape and nerves of steel.
She’s not the only one in the sheer game d everyone from Florence Pugh to Zoe Kravitz has had a see-through era d but Dakota’s take is less “club kid” and more “1970s movie star sneaking out the back door of Chateau Marmont.” That’s why this Red Sea lace moment matters; it doesn’t come out of nowhere. It’s part of an ongoing style story she’s been telling for years.
What s Next
Expect more of this. With film festivals, fashion commitments, and promo runs still very much part of her calendar, it would be shocking if the sheer streak suddenly stopped now. Brands clearly trust her to sell a fantasy on the carpet, and she’s become one of those rare celebrities people actually search pictures of the next morning just to see what she wore.
What I’ll be watching for is how the sheer evolves. Does she keep leaning into lace and romantic, almost bridal whites like this Chloe dress? Or does she pivot into sharper, metallic, armor-adjacent sheer like that Gucci chainmail moment? There’s a whole spectrum between “ethereal nightgown” and “disco ball,” and Dakota’s already proven she’s game to experiment.
Either way, she’s made one thing crystal clear: for now, lining is optional, but intent is not.
What do you think: is Dakota’s sheer streak a smart, self-aware style signature, or is Hollywood’s see-through obsession starting to feel tired?
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