‘The Last Sunrise’ Star Eva Longoria’s Glamorous Academy Museum Gala Look Wasn’t a Hit With Everyone

Awards season openers always come with a certain pressure, and few stars understand the assignment quite like Eva Longoria. The actress has spent the better part of 2025 treating nearly every red carpet, from Cannes to LACMA’s Opening Gala, as a runway of its own.

So when the invitations went out for one of Hollywood’s most star-studded fall fundraisers, expectations for her look were already running high. Longoria has built a reputation this year for bold, body-conscious silhouettes, and this event was never going to be the exception.

Eva Longoria stepped out at the Fifth Annual Academy Museum Gala on October 18, 2025, held at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, wearing a shimmering pink and white sequin gown from Elie Saab. The Haute Couture piece hugged her figure closely, and she completed the look with diamond jewelry from Carrera y Carrera.

The dress immediately became one of the more talked-about looks of the night, though not entirely for the reasons a designer might hope. Several outlets covering the event highlighted just how tightly the gown fit her frame, with the style drawing comparisons to a glittering second skin rather than a traditional couture silhouette.

Reactions to the look have been notably divided. Some coverage framed the gown as pure sparkle and glamour, fitting neatly into Longoria’s 2025 run of showstopping, hourglass-hugging designs that have become something of a signature this year.

Eva Longoria at the Academy Museum Gala pic.twitter.com/odGVMZmlK6
— Deadline (@DEADLINE) October 19, 2025

Not every review was as kind. One red carpet critique bluntly called the look “so bad, so very bad,” arguing the gown looked cheap for a couture house like Elie Saab and suggesting it explained why the label has appeared less frequently on major carpets in recent seasons, according to Red Carpet Fashion Awards.

That kind of split reaction has become part of the fun of tracking Longoria’s style choices this year. Where some see confident, curve-forward glamour, others see a fit that missed the mark, and this gown landed squarely in that gray zone for fashion watchers parsing the night’s best and worst dressed lists.

Eva Longoria x Academy Museum Gala.

Photo Credit: Sami Drasin
Set Design: Bette Adams pic.twitter.com/NcVB5PG8JX
— Academy Museum of Motion Pictures (@AcademyMuseum) October 19, 2025

Longoria was far from the only name turning heads at the gala. The red carpet also featured Rachel Zegler in a Barbiecore-inspired number, along with dramatic looks from Elle Fanning and Hilary Duff, making the evening one of the more visually memorable stops of the fall gala circuit.

Jennifer Hudson also stood out in a Sergio Hudson design built around velvet, sequins, and a dramatic stole, giving the carpet a distinctly old-Hollywood, diva-adjacent energy that critics singled out as a highlight of the night.

Against that backdrop, Longoria’s gown had plenty of competition for attention, yet it still managed to spark its own pocket of debate. That is arguably the point of an event like this one, where the fashion conversation often ends up just as prominent as the museum’s own program for the evening.

eva longoria at the academy museum gala
is her gown elie saab, I’m obsessed with this look pic.twitter.com/3dbtcaeqJH
— lunika (@fashionitgirl) October 19, 2025

This appearance also fits into a broader pattern that has defined Longoria’s year. From a beaded Tamara Ralph gown at Cannes to a light purple sequin dress at LACMA’s Opening Gala in the spring, 2025 has largely been about embracing sculpted, attention-grabbing silhouettes rather than playing it safe.