There’s no question that, fashion-wise, clavicles were the stars of the show on the Oscars 2024 red carpet on Sunday, where strapless silhouettes ruled the night. One of the most talked-about ensembles of the night also didn’t benefit from the support of straps, because they were floating inches above best supporting actress nominee Emily Blunt’s shoulders.

Blunt may not have won her category, but she made our best-dressed list of the night for her beaded champagne-color Schiaparelli gown with floating shoulders and an eye-catching midsection embellishment, a passel of Tiffany & Co. platinum necklaces with more than 100 carats of diamonds, and 6-carat diamond earrings. Stylist Jessica Paster, who has worked with Blunt for 18 years, told Vanity Fair that the final gown decision was made from three contenders after a last try-on on Sunday morning.

“I think when you decide what you want to wear, I think something happens,” she said. “It depends on your mood. One was colorful, one was diaphanous, one was white, and there was this little girl.”

And, as she called the embellishment on the dress, which she said the design house has now renamed “The Emily” in Blunt’s honor, “the little underwear.” She knew this one would be talked about, and that’s fine with her.

“Sometimes we don't play it safe. At this point of years of being with Emily, we can go have fun with fashion,” she said. “Did I know that people were going to talk about the shoulder? Absolutely. Do I care what anybody else has to say? Absolutely not. Me? I think that people that know fashion, like fashion, like things that are interesting, were going to like it and I know the people that like some things that are very classic were not going to like it. At the end of the day, she looked absolutely beautiful. It was such a beautiful dress.”

As for that much-talked-about floating shoulder element, Paster predicts that we’ll be seeing more of it in the future. She did admit, however, that she was shocked to see another gravity-defying shoulder strap detail on Blunt’s Oppenheimer co-star Florence Pugh’s own silver Del Core look on the carpet.

“I thought [Blunt] was gonna be the first one to wear it … and then I saw that the beautiful Florence Pugh also had a very similar shoulder,” she said.

And for those audience members who theorized that the two women coordinated their looks or were trying to reflect some kind of scientific theme from the movie, which tells the story of the invention of the atomic bomb? “People are reading into it too much,” she said with a laugh. “I'm sorry. I pick a beautiful dress because it's a beautiful dress. Trust me, there's nothing about this dress that says Oppenheimer. For me, this was a dress for a beautiful, gorgeous Oscar nominee, winner, and that's why I love this dress.”

As for Blunt’s thoughts on the daring dress?

“She loved it,” Paster said. “This is the one that spoke to her.”

For even more stars, stories, and fashion from the Oscars 2024, take in our gallery of all the looks from the night’s red carpet, and the best-dressed stars of the Oscars 2024.