This is The Close-Up, where the biggest names in entertainment explain the story behind their latest personal style statement.
The 2025 Emmys red carpet marked a night of firsts for Nobody Wants This star Justine Lupe. It was the first time Lupe could RSVP "Yes," in celebration of the Netflix romantic comedy's three nominations. It was the first time she spent a Sunday getting into Emmys glam with stylist Rebecca Ramsey, makeup artist Tracey Levy, and hair stylist Barb Thompson, after a quiet morning grabbing coffee with her family. And it was the first time she tried a look as daring as her Carolina Herrera Fall 2025 gown.
Lupe had fallen in love with the dress—a column halter woven from strands of silver beads, scattered with even more silver pailettes—when it came down the runway last spring. It definitely counts as an entry into the Hollywood canon of nearly-naked dresses that reveal more than they conceal. "It's this beautiful, glamorous, glitzy bombshell situation—it's such a celebratory piece," she tells me a few hours before changing into it.
Lupe and her glam team had approached the Emmys with a popping-champagne mindset. Win or lose, the ceremony is a moment to toast. "My whole life, I've watched the Emmys and I remember as a little kid watching them," Lupe says. "It's kind of surreal to be in the moment now, where I'm going as part of this show. I'm gonna just try and actually let that sink in, in a way, and not get too nervous about anything else."
Lupe admits the bare-it-all nature of her dress heightened her nerves—but she was going to all-in. "I wanted to do something that felt like it was leaning into like the bombshell vibe that the dress presents, which is something that I usually don't do at all," she says. "It's something I've never done before, so it's kind of going out on a little bit of a limb. But I just figured, for the Emmys, why not?"
Letting go of her inhibitions is a way of embracing the dress's spirit and arriving at the Emmys. "When I think of a bombshell, I think of someone who's like, free and confident and leaning into the femininity of the dress," Lupe explains. "So we wanted to do something that felt both glamorous and relaxed."
She kept her hair simple, in a long blow-out with tendrils gently framing her face. A sprinkling of Antia Ko diamonds frosted her ears and fingers.
When I think of a bombshell, I think of someone who's like, free and confident and leaning into the femininity of the dress.
Lupe's Carolina Herrera moment comes on the heels of a busy red carpet season, where she's pushed her style limits in looks from Roland Mouret, Alberta Ferretti, and more. Through each gown, she says, she's ultimately trying to have fun.
Sometimes, that manifests in a big first like her Emmys look; other times, it comes from a smaller change in her beauty beat. "I wore my hair back for the first time, out of my face, the other day," she laughs. "I've never pulled my hair back!"
Her confidence in exploring different silhouettes comes from the trust she's built in her team. "Now we've worked together for a few years, so it feels like now I'm leaning into the vision that they put together," Lupe says. "And, just having fun with each of the different identities that the looks have."
I had to ask Lupe what her onscreen counterpart in Nobody Wants This would think of her spangled naked dress. While see-through dresses feel like a swerve for the actress, her scene-stealing counterpart Morgan seems like she'd have a closet full of them. Lupe agrees. "I think this is more of a Morgan moment than most of the times that I go on a red carpet," she laughs. "I think she'd be down."
Here's hoping Lupe takes another big risk when her next Emmys invitation inevitably arrives. This Carolina Herrera dress is the sort of first that everybody wants to see again.
Photographer Emily Knecht | Stylist Rebecca Ramsey | Makeup Artist Tracey Levy | Hair Stylist Barb Thompson
