Nicole Kidman Looks That Were Surprisingly Outdated

Nicole Kidman's decades-spanning career on the big screen has seen her go from erotic Christmas thrillers like 1999's "Eyes Wide Shut" to, well, erotic Christmas thrillers in 2024's "Babygirl." Meanwhile, her star power has elevated her to Gen Z meme status, thanks to her iconic AMC advert played in theaters across the U.S. All the while, she has demonstrated an eye for style and makes no secret of her love for European designers like Dior and Yves Saint Laurent. 

Though the "Big Little Lies" star is without question a style legend — look no further than that instantly iconic backless Balenciaga dress she strutted out in at the 2025 Golden Globes — her style choices haven't all been winners. And her beloved late mother would be the first to let her know. As Kidman told W magazine in 2025, "My mama thought I had many bad red carpet looks. I remember wearing a headdress once to the Golden Globes. I didn't know what I was doing. Got to have a few train wrecks!" While she didn't specify which year, she presumably was referring to the gold headband she sported at the 2004 Globes. 

On the red carpet for the 2024 series "The Perfect Couple," Kidman told Access Hollywood that she would do "anything for fashion" — and occasionally, that could be anything from donning a headdress to selecting arguably outdated outfits. Hey, you can't always get it right. To paraphrase her aforementioned AMC advert, her style has not just entertained, but she has baffled. Yes, even someone as fashion-forward as her has made a few passé sartorial moves.

The term "peacocking" refers to wearing an obnoxious outfit for attention, it's a technique favored by other celebrities such as Harry Styles with his on-stage looks or Lady Gaga's ever-chameleonic looks. However, Nicole Kidman took that phrase more literally. She wore a frock with actual birds sewn onto each shoulder, which drew attention for all the wrong reasons. At the 2017 Screen Actors Guild Awards, she donned a green-sequined gown with two giant feathered parrot heads floating by her collarbone. It was sadly more of a miss than a hit. The Gucci dress created a hoopla online, with one commenter exclaiming on the Daily Mail, "Nicole has always had bizarre taste. Very bizarre."

Alessandro Michele, Gucci's creative director at the time, was known for his maximalist aesthetic and this dress was certainly in that vein. His designs were often seen as so out there that they looked like vintage garments. Kidman's dress did indeed look vintage and therefore out of date, it was a dress that looked fit for a Gatsby-esque party in the roaring '20s (read: it looks very costume-y). It isn't the best look for someone who spends most of their life in a costume anyway. Her husband, country music star Keith Urban, wore a more timeless tuxedo, and Kidman should have taken a leaf out of his book. "The Northman" star's look wasn't timeless — it was about a hundred years off-trend.

In the '90s, Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise were fixtures of celebrity magazines far and wide. They were the Hollywood power couple du jour after all. But at the 1993 U.S. Open, Kidman wore a throwback outfit that suggested she was more a trad housewife than a movie star in her own right.  

Kidman wore a sleeveless floral-print dress over a puff sleeve white collared blouse, and atop her head she sported a wide-brimmed straw hat. Her hair, which was done in a single loose plait, was adorned with a coral ribbon. While long floral dresses and wide-brimmed headwear were certainly en vogue at that time, she almost looked like she was wearing a "Little House on the Prairie" or "Anne of Green Gables" costume. 

What's more, the fashion world was getting ready to welcome in the digital age — one only has to look at Thierry Mugler's fall/winter 1995 prêt-à-porter collection — so Kidman in her floaty dress and straw hat certainly didn't feel cutting edge. Although a version of this outfit wouldn't look out of place in a cottagecore enthusiast's "get ready with me TikTok in the 2020s, Kidman's iteration felt like something out of the late 19th century.

Nicole Kidman rocked another gown from Alessandro Michele's Gucci era at another Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards — this time in 2016. But she was about ten years late to the boho trend. Boho, a term connoting free-spirited and unrestricted tailoring, was a trend that first emerged in the '70s. In the early 2000s, the aesthetic came back with a vengeance. Actor Kate Hudson, who played boho chic icon Penny Lane in "Almost Famous," would later tell Harper's Bazaar that she believed the boho renaissance worked because it was organic. "The early '00s were pre-social media, and it was right at the boom of the paparazzi blogs. It was an accessible world you could be involved in, versus just looking at a magazine," she said. "I think at that moment, boho was a vibe, but I don't think it had anything to do with 'Almost Famous.'"

While boho has certainly gone in and out of style multiple times since the 2000s, this particular dress didn't feel like the 2016 version of boho. At that point, the trend had gone all in on the kitschy knits, neutral hues, flowing silhouettes, and Wild West influences. The glitter, the fluttery sleeves and hemline, and the pastel stripes all screamed aughts boho — think Sienna Miller in tiered ombré maxi skirts and Mischa Barton's whimsical print dresses.

When wearing Chanel it is nearly impossible not to give timeless glamour. However, between the structure, the flares, and the messy hair, Nicole Kidman looked like she fell asleep in 1973 and woke up in 2023 at the Academy of Country Music Awards. The look was a deconstruction of the classic Chanel two-piece in a deep terracotta, Kidman's looser iteration of the outfit robbed it of its most classic feature: its structured silhouette. In 2023, both the polished preppy look and Gen Z minimalism were seriously en vogue — suffice it to say, Kidman's outfit didn't exactly fit either of those categories. 

As previously noted, the boho aesthetic has indeed been in and out of fashion magazines for decades; by 2019, bell-bottoms and huge sunglasses were firmly back in. By all accounts, '70s style may never go away for good. As Dr. Rebecca Arnold, a fashion historian at the Courtauld Institute of Art, told The New York Times in 2015, "Certain elements of the period — the garish prints and weird color combinations — keep repeating." 

Even though many of the fashions of the '70s regularly come back with a vengeance, they don't always stick the landing. But hey, timing is everything. If Kidman had waited a few years, maybe this sparkly tweed boho pajama look would've felt right as rain.

Whether it's the horizontal and vertical patterning or the unflattering silhouette of this Erdem dress, there is something quintessentially untrendy about this look Nicole Kidman wore to the 2015 Women of the Year Awards. Although the dress carries many hallmarks of the boho trend — lace, quaint florals, and distinct lack of structure — it is the maximalism of the print that lets the look down and makes it appear out of date. 2015 was the year that athleisure took the world by storm and leather jackets were all the rage on Tumblr in the aftermath of zeitgeist-capturing albums from The 1975 and the Arctic Monkeys. With this 'fit, Kidman was trying to be extravagant in a time that was all about minimalism.

Despite Erdem dresses retailing for over $2,000, the dress looks like something you'd find in the 70% off sales rail at Anthropologie. The labyrinthine pattern, assortment of colors (lilac, yellow, black, white, and grey), and, not to mention, the lace detailing makes it feel like it is overcompensating for a lack of intricate design in the structure and silhouette. The overall result gives the sense that this is just another bold Kidman experiment that failed. We've got to give her props for trying though — she certainly never dresses down. Alas, this dress was both too much and too late.

Nicole Kidman rocks a gown like no other, but as anyone who's watched her AMC promos knows, she is a force to be reckoned with in a pantsuit, too. "I'm also partial to a tie and a suit. My natural way of dressing would be far more pants, tie, suit, and a jacket," she told W in 2025. "My first purchase when I'd saved all my per diem money was an Alaïa suit. I wish I kept it. It cost a fortune."

When Kidman attended the premiere of her then-husband's iconic action movie "Mission: Impossible" in 1996, she showed up in a version of a pantsuit, but she inadvertently looked like one half of another power couple: the Clintons. Kidman wore Colgate-white slacks and a shell reminiscent of Hillary Clinton's signature style; at any time in history, politicians haven't exactly been known for being the most fashionable of folk.

A suit, of course, can be fashion-forward and edgy. As the Metropolitan Museum of Art's website said of a Schiaparelli pantsuit from the late 1930s, "Only the most unconventional designer would offer a straightforward pantsuit, and only a fearless woman would wear it." It's also a look that is subliminally political, as women could be arrested for wearing the garment as early as the 1900s. Alas, Kidman's thigh-length sleeveless sheath top, the tapered trousers, and the stark white heels felt political in the wrong way. It looked like something an elected official would wear when moonlighting as a lab tech.

Being out of date in fashion is one thing, but being out of date and not dressed for the occasion is another. That's exactly what Nicole Kidman did at the 1988 Logie Awards in her native Australia. Her ensemble was entirely blue, from the dress to the accessories. Her tight blue dress had garish ruffles across the bust and skirt with a lycra-tight bodice, blue tights, and... you guessed it, blue stilettos.

Kidman was only 21 when she wore this monochromatic look, so she can be forgiven on account of her naïveté. However, by '88, the tectonic plates of red carpet fashion had shifted from the big shoulders and the over-the-top look of the early '80s, and in its place came more minimal and polished 'fits. Kidman's Logie Awards look might've been right at home at a high school formal, but it felt a little too juvenile — and not to mention passé — for an industry event.

Unlike some of Kidman's other dresses, this is not one that she should or should have kept in her closet for future use. As although the long floaty, boho-style, ruffle dress has re-entered fashion's good graces, its tight, short, iteration certainly hasn't. The type of dress that Kidman wore has, thankfully, been consigned to the dustbin of history. We're not sure it's one even she'd want to see again let alone wear.

Even when Nicole Kidman outfits miss the mark, there's usually an attempt at chic. But this time, she looked like she was trying to revive the novelty tuxedo t-shirt trend. This black and white Kidman look at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in 2010 was a short dress that reminds us of something a waiter or magician's assistant would wear in the 1920s. Not the best look in the 21st century at the ACM Awards.

It was also reminiscent of the novelty tuxedo T-shirt that has been popular for stag-dos and '00s indie-rock bands the world over. The ironic T-shirt look, in general, has been in and out of the fashion zeitgeist. The "Birthday Girl" actor was caught in a no man's land between being in-date and being out of date: In 2022, the ironic T-shirt came back into style, in a big way — as with many trends, it was thanks to TikTok and brands like Online Ceramics.

Kidman was not quite wearing an ironic T-shirt but it bore a striking resemblance. The look was felt bizarrely out of time, stuck in a nether zone between the 1920s and the 2000s. If a look cannot be dated, it is perpetually out of date.

When she appeared on "The Kelly and Ryan Show" in December 2021 to promote "Being the Ricardos," Nicole Kidman sported an ensemble that could've worked with a few choice edits. On this occasion, she wore a mint green double-breasted blazer with a pair of relaxed-fit olive slacks and a white turtleneck. She finished off the look with some metallic silver shoes, which offered a festive pop of holiday cheer.

Kidman's updated take on the pantsuit, in the sense of the silhouette and cut, was arguably bang on-trend. The slightly oversized look became extremely popular in the wake of the pandemic, as many swapped their uncomfortable tight trousers for airy, baggier cuts after a long period inside. So what makes this look feel outdated? Frankly, the color choice.

Indeed, one of Pantone's 2021 colors of the year was "Ultimate Grey," and the other was "Illuminating," a sunny yellow shade). It was a year all about soft hues and warmth, and more neutral tones even remain popular in trends like corp-core. What's more, while the color may have had a comeback in 2023, this mint green blazer feels very 2010s. This might've landed better had she gone with a blazer that actually matched the olive pants. 

The great and the good of Hollywood are known to pull out all the sartorial stops when attending a premiere, not least Nicole Kidman. But this 2003 look was a little too costume-y. It's one thing being outdated with fashion, it's another thing to look like you are dressed for the 1500s. That's exactly what the "Big Little Lies" star did. Her gold ruff was giving Queen Elizabeth I, a comparison that was not helped by the fact that she also pushed back her red hair like the royal.

During the Elizabethan era, the height of beauty standards included skin that looked like it'd never been exposed to sunlight, lips the color of crimson, and fair hair. The "Eyes Wide Shut" actor ticks all of those boxes here. However, Kidman's look was probably far more friendly to her skin, as back in the day they used white lead and vinegar as foundation — ouch. These ingredients took their toll, often leaving skin grey and shriveled.

It is a bizarre outfit to wear on the red carpet, although, to give her the benefit of the doubt she may have been a pioneer of "method dressing." This is when film stars pay homage to the character they are playing by taking sartorial cues from their fictional self, you only have to look as far as Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo's red carpet looks for Wicked premieres. That said, she did wear this ruff for the UK premiere of "Cold Mountain," a film set in the American Civil War, so it seems she was out of date by around 500 years.