Louis Vuitton and Oscar de la Renta define Gotham TV Awards glamour

The Gotham TV Awards red carpet looked built for legacy houses that know how to make restraint feel expensive. At Cipriani Wall Street in Manhattan, Louis Vuitton and Oscar de la Renta supplied the evening’s sharpest fashion signals, leaning into polished silhouettes, luxe fabrics, and the kind of finish that reads as authority before it reads as trend.

That old-money gloss made sense for a ceremony the Gotham Film & Media Institute positioned as the first awards show of the new television season, a preview of the September Emmys and a high-visibility stage for stars who want to be seen without looking desperate to be seen. The 2026 Gotham Television Awards were the third annual edition, with 12 competitive categories in play and a field that included Big Mistakes, Death by Lightning, I Love LA, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Alien: Earth, Pluribus, Beef and DTF St. Louis. Netflix entered with 22 nominations, while HBO Max left with the most trophies, five.

Kerry Washington embodied the night’s most distilled version of heritage glamour in gold Oscar de la Renta. Her floor-length halter gown came from the label’s pre-spring 2026 collection, and the styling by Rob Zangardi and Mariel Haenn kept the effect disciplined rather than ornate. The look shimmered, but it never slipped into excess. That is exactly why Oscar de la Renta still matters on a red carpet like this: the house can deliver elegance that feels socially legible, with enough structure to signal taste and enough light to avoid looking severe.

Chase Infiniti offered a different but equally revealing reading of the same luxury language in a custom Louis Vuitton gown. Styled by Wayman Bannerman and Micah McDonald, and also a Louis Vuitton ambassador, Infiniti helped anchor the brand’s presence on a night when familiar designer names carried more weight than novelty for novelty’s sake. In a field increasingly crowded with louder eveningwear and experimental dressing, the Vuitton look stood out because it understood the assignment: presence, not spectacle.

That balance defined the best of the Gotham carpet. WWD linked the evening to coquette-inspired glamour and a curl-aissance, but the deeper story was simpler and more telling. Heritage-house polish still commands the room, yet it is beginning to feel most convincing when it looks intentional rather than automatic. At Gotham, Louis Vuitton and Oscar de la Renta showed that classic luxury can still lead, but only when it feels edited, precise, and just a little bit sharpened against the season ahead.