Elsa Hosk’s Gilded Gown Brought The Drama To The 2025 CFDA Awards

Each year, the fashion industry’s most talented players gather for the CFDA Awards, where designers, models, and fashion icons are given their due. This year’s exclusive fête, which was held on Monday, Nov. 3, at the American Museum of Natural History, awarded the likes of Ralph Lauren, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Donatella Versace, and A$AP Rocky.

As expected, even those who weren’t nominated or designated presenters showed out in their chicest ensembles. One such attendee was Elsa Hosk, who utterly dazzled in a gold number as she hiked up the museum’s stairs.

Elsa’s Archival Dress

Though Hosk owns a ready-to-wear label (Helsa Studio) and has a trove of clothes to choose from, with the help of stylist Dani Michelle, the supermodel looked to the past for a knockout ensemble, particularly the 2004 archives of Elie Saab — and it was ethereal.

Gilded and sequined, it featured a deep plunging twisted halter neckline that skidded down her navel. The skirt was embroidered with darker gold sequins across the middle and lighter ones down the floor-length dress. It also opened into inverse pleats of flowy chiffon, practically assuring that it billowed with every step.

Her Y2K-Inspired Accessory

Remember the early 2000s, when fashion was chaotic and celebrities loved adding a skinny scarf to their ensembles, coordination be damned? Well, the neck accessory has been cropping up again, seen on style stars like Timotheé Chalamet and Millie Bobby Brown.

While the skinny add-on tends to be nostalgically tacky, at best, Hosk elevated the piece to red carpet status. Hosk threw on a matching skinny scarf, also awash in gold sequins, and wore it over her nape, down her shoulders, and wrapped it around each wrist for dainty yet dramatic movement.

She’s So “Lucky”

While the look, replete with her messy curly updo, seems reminiscent of a Greek goddess, the former Victoria’s Secret Angel was apparently inspired by Britney Spears’ “Lucky” music video (she posted a clip with Spears’ song in an Instagram Story). While Spears did wear a sparkly gold slip in the 2000 classic, it’s her makeup that had a similar glisten. Like Spears in the MV, Hosk also rocked glittery eyeshadow and the glossiest lips.

Queens acknowledging queens.