Zoë Kravitz and Her Peek-a-Butt Dress Were Nowhere to Be Found at the 2026 Oscars After-Party

It was the peek-a-butt dress seen around the world. At last year’s Vanity Fair Oscars after-party, Zoë Kravitz wore a black Saint Laurent gown with a back mesh panel that started at her shoulder blades and ended at the bottom of her, er, bottom. Since then, red carpets have seen a slew of business-in-the-front, party-in-the-back looks, from Teyana Taylor’s “bijou thong” at the 2026 Golden Globes to Hailey Bieber’s cheeky panels at the recent Grammys. Kravitz’s after-party dress from last year was yet another piece of evidence for what’s come to be known as fashion fact: The It girl can set a trend like no other.

So, when the 2026 Oscars wrapped, and celebrities swapped their red carpet gowns for something more suited to the legacy publication’s celebration, every fashion editor covering the night had the same question: What would Kravitz wear to Vanity Fair’s 2026 Oscars after-party—and what soon-to-be-everywhere trend would come from it? Maybe lingerie and lace, another favorite look of hers? Something basic and black, but not basic in that sense? Or would she, somehow, up the cheeky precedent she set last year—and still make the best-dressed list?

The answer is nothing, because the Caught Stealing star skipped this year's Academy Awards after-party. She was last spotted in New York City on March 14, supporting her boyfriend, Harry Styles, for his Saturday Night Live hosting gig and musical performance. That's a few thousand miles from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where Vanity Fair had its celebrations the following night.

Though the 2026 Oscars after-party saw its fair share of spectacular looks—Kendall Jenner, for one, co-signed an underrated color trend in a custom Matthieu Blazy-designed Chanel dress—Kravitz's presence was missed.

For over two decades, the Blink Twice director has proved herself a key arbiter of cool. She carried The Row bags before they were the most coveted items in the industry. Back when Gen Z called ballet flats cringe and cheugy, Kravitz was strolling around downtown New York City and posing at photo calls in the simple slip-on shoe.

Most recently, on NYC walkabouts with Styles, Kravitz has embraced all-neutral items save for a single pop of color, sometimes in butter yellow, otherwise in royal purple. She's also consistently been topping off her understated, impossibly chic looks with low-key baseball hats, often embroidered with a blink-and-you-miss-it slogan or logo.

In other words, expect to see a spike in one-and-done color accents and baseball caps across the celebrity set and fashion crowd over the next few months.

Perhaps the greatest takeaway from Kravitz’s style is that she herself doesn’t concern herself with fashion trends or care about what social media deems cool or not. Rather, the actress stays true to herself, to the same pared-back, slightly offbeat aesthetic she’s worn for decades.

So, yes, take inspiration from the styles she co-signs. But if you want to reach that coveted It girl status that Kravitz has, it’s best to focus on what you want to wear. And from her 2026 Oscars after-party no-show, she clearly abides by the same do-what-I-want approach when organizing her social calendar. Respect.