If you follow red carpet fashion, you might remember the time Emily Blunt turned up to the 2024 Oscars sporting a dress with floating shoulders. Her ensemble was definitely on display for everyone to see as, later that very night, Oppenheimer won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. It’s been over a year since Blunt’s dress went viral and, now, fellow British actress Hayley Atwell is picking up the trend while promoting one the biggest 2025 movie releases, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.
Ahead of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning‘s release at the end of this month, Hayley Atwell and the cast of the movie have been globe-trotting to promote Ethan Hunt’s latest (and possibly final) mission. As part of that press tour, the team stopped in Seoul, South Korea for a premiere. While there, Hayley Atwell absolutely stunned in her dress, which you can see below:
Atwell wore a dress from Sabina Bilenko, which features the floating shoulders look some fans may remember Emily Blunt popularizing all too well. It’s a form-fitting black gown with a low-cut neck and a gorgeous silver halter top to complete it. While many (including myself) were bewildered by the floating shoulders last year, this is an honestly really sexy take on the style, and I’m totally here for it. I guess Emily Blunt better watch out, especially if she felt any personal ownership over the trend.
When Blunt stepped out in her floating shoulders dress, the comments that came out were things like “I’m so distracted by the shoulders” or “why is it levitating off her shoulders?” or “why won’t her straps sit on her shoulders?” But, in the case of Atwell’s glamorous appearance in Seoul, commenters didn’t spend any time criticizing her fit. When Atwell shared the dress on Instagram, she was met with comments like the ones below:
- “This needs to be hanging in a gallery asap! 🔥” – @joshsmithhosts
- “Boom!!!! Absolutely breathtaking. 😍” – @sophiamylesofficial
- “🔥🔥 OBSESSED🔥🔥” – @kennethsohmakeup
- “The dress is so beautifull !!” – @sylviasupremacy._
Obviously, there’s room for both Emily Blunt and Hayley Atwell’s fashion sensibilities on all the red carpet functions, and I’d never choose between them. However, it’s rather interesting how the same trend is seemingly being lauded a lot more after Atwell debuted her version. Honestly, I think it’s because Atwell’s dress is just better. Nevertheless, if Blunt didn’t make the bold choice to rock the floating shoulders trend in the first place, would we even be gazing upon this dress from the latest Mission: Impossible premiere?
At the end of the day, fashion is all about expression, and I love seeing these big celebrities popularize something new on red carpets. Florence Pugh, who wore the floating shoulders trend at last year’s Oscars as well, also rocked some padded straps recently that totally reminded us of this trend, too.
Before Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning hits theaters on May 30, Hayley Atwell and the cast will head to the Cannes Film Festival to premiere the film next week. With that, it’s likely that fashionistas will be looking out for what the actress wears then.