Jenna Ortega's Best Red Carpet Fashion of 2025 Never "Tried to Shock the Masses"
Still, her looks made quite an impression. Here, stylist Enrique Melendez reflects on the moments that sent his client to the best-dressed list.
Jenna Ortega first teamed up with stylist Enrique Melendez when she was breaking out in roles on the CW and Disney Channel, at just 14 years old. By 2025, they were nearing their 10-year anniversary as a styling duo—and cementing their status as a pair to watch on every red carpet.
Ortega and Melendez know how to balance unconventional silhouettes and head-turning fabrics with pieces of true fashion history. (See: a newsprint Dior dress Ortega wore for Hurry Up Tomorrow's premiere.) From the steps of the Met Gala to starry debuts for Ortega's various TV shows and films, each of their standout looks is a "collaborative" moment.
"She's not a doll," Melendez tells Marie Claire. "I don't just show up and say, 'You're going to wear this today.' It's very much a conversation."
Melendez and Ortega never entered a fitting with the goal of "shocking the masses." Still, their selects managed to make a major impression. "If we were really excited about something, I think that naturally showed," he says, a mindset the pair is carrying into 2026.
Films like The Gallerist, Klara and the Sun, and J.J. Abrams's Ghostwriter will bring Ortega back to cinemas in the new year. They're not overthinking potential press tour looks in advance, or how onlookers might respond. "If people love it, great. If they don't love it, that's OK, too," Melendez says. "What's important is that we feel good about it."
Before another 365 days where Jenna Ortega's red carpet fashion is sure to impress, Melendez exclusively shared the backstories behind some of her most memorable looks of 2025.
The 2025 'Vanity Fair' Oscars Party
Jenna Ortega floated onto the Vanity Fair red carpet.
Ortega's year began with an invitation to her first Vanity Fair Oscars Party—and one of Melendez's first major vintage pulls of 2025. A few weeks before the Academy Awards, he received an all-access pass to Donna Karan's 39-year archive. A delicately-draped Resort 2004 gown ultimately made the cut.
He "had a very strong feeling" about the gown's airy ruffles and sheer train. On the 2004 runway, a model initially wore both tulle straps over each shoulder. For a 2025 take, Melendez let one drape off Ortega's shoulder to "open the neckline up." "We wanted to make it a little more youthful," he explains.
The 2025 Met Gala
Jenna stole the show at the 2025 Met Gala, thanks to her custom Balmain creation.
Once Melendez heard the 2025 Met Gala's theme—"Superfine: Tailoring Black Style"— he knew exactly which house should dress Ortega: Balmain. "This feels like an Olivier [Rousteing] moment. We haven't had that yet," Melendez told her. With about a month and a half until the event, Melendez says the former Balmain creative director was "over the moon about collaborating."
Ortega's final gown manipulated metal rulers into a sculpted strapless bodice and figure-hugging skirt. "It was truly made to measure," just like the "Tailored for You" dress code instructed. "Jenna was a little on the fence about the rulers, because she felt it might've been too on the nose," Melendez says.
Feast your eyes on the gown's literal rulers.
Initially, Melendez was surprised to see "she didn't make it into a lot of the [best-dressed] roundups of the evening." He felt "people were confused why she wore a metal dress to this particular theme."
Fashion fans eventually realized the rectangular panels were indeed rulers, a more literal interpretation of the dress code. Melendez wasn't offended by any initial misunderstanding. "I think art is meant to be [inspected] from afar and then also appreciated in detail later on," he says.
The 'Hurry Up Tomorrow' Premiere
Jenna channeled Carrie Bradshaw in Sarah Jessica Parker's actual Dior midi.
Some stars rest and recoup the week following the Met Gala. Not Ortega. On May 13, Melendez secured his client a piece of Manhattan history for Hurry Up Tomorrow's New York City premiere. "I was walking up Madison Avenue, racking my brain, and then I'm like, 'What is more New York than anything in fashion?'" Sex and the City protagonist Carrie Bradshaw, and her Dior by John Galliano's newspaper dress, was the answer.
Given its legacy, this Fall 2000 dress isn't loaned to just anyone. The powers that be even turned Melendez down initially. But his mother taught him, "If you don't ask, you don't get," he says.
HBO and Lionsgate (the owner of Hurry Up Tomorrow's theatrical rights) ultimately persuaded Dior to share it for one day. But Melendez couldn't alter it: "If we damaged it, we had to pay $250,000," he says.
The backless midi "landed" in his hands "just moments" before the carpet. "I was almost in tears, because it fit like a glove," he says. "Jenna understands the culture behind Sex and the City, but she also knew how much I loved it. So she said, 'I'll definitely wear this, no problem.'"
The 'Wednesday' Press Tour
With the bulk of red carpet season out of the way, Ortega and Melendez were ready for their dedicated spotlight on the Wednesday Season 2 press tour. The first season's promo looks spotlighted black lace gowns in every silhouette and shape: an on-the-nose homage to Ortega's gothic character, Wednesday Addams. History wasn't going to repeat itself for the second tour. "Been there, done that," Melendez says. "I wanted to show up with something that felt a bit more curated for Jenna."
Ahead of an initial three-hour fitting, where the pair experimented with promo looks aplenty, Ortega told Melendez she was inspired by '90s style. So, he cross-referenced noughties looks from Winona Ryder, Cristina Ricci, and Kate Moss with recent runway shows, to see "what spoke the same language."
The result? Ashi Studio's finale gown from the Couture Fall 2025 collection, which kickstarted the Wednesday circuit. Since Melendez couldn't predict Ortega's opinion, he decided to "ease into it" during the fitting. The snake-scaled skirt set caught her eye while trying on Dior designs for a different project. "What is that?" Ortega asked Melendez. "Oh, it's crazy, right?" he replied. Even on a hanger, she said there was "something really cool" about the corseted naked number. Fashion outlets like this one agreed.
Jenna was hauntingly beautiful in Ashi Studio couture.
A month after her Wednesday red carpet debut, Ortega bid adieu to Season 2 in custom GapStudio. For a special Netflix and Spotify event, Melendez and creative director Zac Posen crafted a "grunge, rocker tee" with the same intensity as her Ashi Studio couture select.
If only Gap sold lookalikes in store.
Charcoal gray cotton jersey—a signature Wednesday shade—stretched from the sleeveless, halter neckline beyond the distressed train. The piece also featured an in-house tumble-wash treatment from Gap. Production finished with just 24 hours to spare.
"We were still working on it until the night of the premiere," Melendez says. Even the actress got involving with last-minute customizations: During hair and makeup, "Jenna took part in slashing some of the slits." Sometimes, even while wearing the T-shirt dress.
Not just any star could pull off its striking back.
The 2025 Emmy Awards
Just like Kaia Gerber, Jenna pulled off the Givenchy top with ease.
The Wednesday run set a high bar for Melendez and Ortega's final awards show of the year: the 2025 Emmys. He set his sights on that bejeweled bodice from Givenchy's Fall 2025 line the minute it debuted in March.
Look 47's illusion top—bezeled with mismatched red, yellow, green, and amber gemstones—was currently being worn by Kaia Gerber in the campaign. Luckily, the pearly, fabric-free creation earned an evening off. It arrived in a coffin-like box with a strict no-alteration stipulation. Much like the vintage Dior dress, it fit Ortega perfectly.
It was Ortega's idea to trade the original low-rise trousers for a skirt, which made it "a little more elegant for the Emmys," she told her stylist. The maxi's thigh-high slit was another last-minute decision on Melendez's part.
The 2025 Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Gala
For one of her last 2025 red carpet walks, Jenna kept the statement top theme going.
A single month separated the Emmys and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Gala on Oct. 18. In between, Ortega attended runway shows from Givenchy, Ann Demeulemeester, Christian Louboutin, and Jonathan Anderson's Dior debut. From all the runways, Ortega and Melendez ultimately selected a futuristic look from Grace Ling's Spring 2026 New York Fashion Week runway—one the stylist says almost didn't happen.
"Even up to the night of the event, we worried it was too similar to the Emmys look, because it was a hardware top and column skirt," he explains. But instead of asymmetrical gems, the single-shoulder chrome top shielded her bust like an oversize leaf. "I was losing sleep over it, because I didn't want her to feel like she's wearing [the same thing] back to back," he adds. But once red carpet photos made their way online, Melendez knew "we made the right decision."
