Is the Gown Dead? An Awards-Season Debate

An Uphill Battle: Finding a Modern Gown

Floor-length dresses give a lot of women the heebie jeebies, prompting fears of looking matronly. That’s changing, if innovative brands like Valentino and the Row have anything to do with it

WITH THE Super Bowl safely behind us, we armchair commentators can turn to the real winter sport—the perilous procession of gowns down the red carpet. Come awards seasons, elite coaches armed with double-sided tape prep competitors like Lady Gaga and Emma Stone to face the cameras and the harping critics. The rest of us can lazily pass judgment, but would we dare to wear such gowns ourselves? Would we even want to in an era when the legendary stylist Grace Coddington dressed down in pajamas for the Met Gala?

We asked Kelly...