Sydney Sweeney’s Chainmail Dress at Variety’s Power of Women
Sydney Sweeney’s silver chainmail dress was the most discussed look at Variety’s 2025 Power of Women event, held on October 29, 2025, at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles. Sweeney, one of the evening’s honorees, arrived in a completely sheer metal-mesh gown by Christian Cowan, and the reaction online was immediate and divided.
The dress
The gown came from Christian Cowan’s Spring 2026 collection. Marie Claire identified it as Look 31 from the runway, a piece the brand called the “Twisted Crystal Mesh Tee” and developed with Elias Matso. The name fits: the top half is cut like an oversized T-shirt, with sleeves and a wide scoop neckline that had been deliberately stretched open, all in a see-through silver mesh.
What turns the tee into an evening gown is the shaping through the middle. A ruched, corset-like section cinches the waist, and a lace-up detail runs down the center of the back. Below that the mesh falls straight to the floor with no train. Because the metal is completely transparent, the dress hides very little, and Sweeney wore it without a bra. That, more than the material itself, is why so many outlets filed it under the “naked dress” trend and called it one of her most polarizing looks.
How it was styled
Stylist Molly Dickson kept everything else simple so the dress could do the work. Sweeney wore diamond drop earrings and diamond cocktail rings, with high Jimmy Choo sandals underneath. She had recently cut her hair into a bob, which was styled in soft, glamorous waves. The makeup was more defined than the jewelry: black cat-eye liner, bronzed cheeks and a brown lip.
That restraint is the right call with a garment like this. Chainmail already reflects every flash on a red carpet. A necklace would have fought with the neckline, and a heavier makeup look would have made the whole thing feel like a costume.
Why it landed when it did
The timing was not accidental. Sweeney was in the middle of promoting Christy, the boxing biopic that opened in US theaters on November 7, 2025. Her hair team told Us Weekly that she wanted a big hair moment on the red carpet to support the film. A sheer metal gown guaranteed coverage in a busy awards-season week.
It also broke from how she usually dresses for major events. Sweeney’s red carpet wardrobe tends toward fitted, often corseted gowns with a vintage, bombshell feel, and fashion writers pointed out that she had not done a truly sheer “naked dress” in some time. The corset shaping in the Cowan piece fits that history. Putting it in transparent metal was the new part.
Chainmail on the red carpet
Metal mesh has a long fashion history. Paco Rabanne built dresses from linked metal discs and plates in the 1960s, and in the early 1980s Gianni Versace developed Oroton, a fluid metal mesh that draped almost like fabric and became a signature of the house. Designers have returned to it again and again because it moves like liquid and catches light in a way sequins cannot.
The difficulty is fit. Mesh is heavy, it does not stretch like jersey and it shows every seam, so the construction has to be precise. Cowan’s use of lacing and ruching to shape the waist is a practical answer to that problem, not only a decorative one.
Borrowing the idea
A fully sheer gown is not something most people will wear. The more wearable elements of the look are easy to borrow:
- A metal-mesh or chain top worn over a slip or bodysuit, so the shine is there without the exposure.
- One strong texture with quiet jewelry. If the garment already sparkles, a pair of drop earrings is enough.
- A defined waist on a loose, reflective piece, which stops it from looking shapeless.
Love it or not, the dress did what a red carpet look for a film campaign is meant to do. It was specific, it was photographed everywhere, and it put Sweeney’s name in the headlines the week before Christy opened.
