Look of the Week: Emma Stone’s latest dress is made for sneaking snacks into the movies

The actor’s red halterneck Louis Vuitton dress housed two pockets filled to the brim with popcorn.

In a time of rising living costs, when celebrities are often lambasted for being out of touch with reality, it seems one A-lister has finally succeeded in relating to the everyman. On Sunday night, Emma Stone helped thousands of sneaky cinema snackers feel seen in a red halterneck dress that housed two pockets filled to the brim with medium-sized portions of popcorn. The moment of unity came during Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary celebration, where Stone appeared on the red carpet with her husband Dave McCary. As she tottered into the event, stray popcorn dropped from her hips onto the ground. The floor-length scarlet gown was a custom Louis Vuitton creation, though it is unclear whether the luxury house designed Stone’s deep pockets with the movie snack in mind. She completed her look not with a purse, but a candy-striped box of popcorn from which she, of course, ate. It was the kind of surprising irreverence you might expect from a Loewe runway — fashion being taken to its surrealist conclusion, straight out of the mind of JW Anderson (he gave us strappy sling-backs with birthday candles and nail polish bottles in lieu of heels, after all). Such sartorial playfulness has been steadily pushed out of the red carpet circuit, where gowns are taken so seriously some attendees decide to wear museum-grade artefacts. Stone’s look was a rare fusion of fashion and comedy. It also nodded to another, more functional flourish seldom seen in women’s fashion: Pockets. In the 17th century, while menswear had evolved to contain built-in, permanently sewed pockets, womenswear was trailing behind with external tie-on versions. Although both genders needed to carry key items, it took years for pockets to be added into the lining of dresses. In fact, the handbag was invented, experimented with and refined before women received pocket partiality. Even today, the clothing feature — or lack thereof — sparks discussion. For over a decade, a hashtag demanding the addition of practical built-in storage has been bubbling up on X. “I swear the biggest gender injustice is fake pockets,” wrote one user in 2020. “#WeWantPockets” was not only a digital battle cry but also a way for women to highlight the inequality that still permeates the clothing industry today. Still, there have been a number of key advancements for the female pocket. Elsa Schiaparelli designed a Second World War-era dinner jacket with pockets deep enough for the wearer to carry a gas mask. In 2019, the late Queen Elizabeth II was photographed, rather casually, with her hands in the pockets of her white tweed dress — causing a stir amongst royalists for her laissez-faire body language. Now, another footnote has been added: Stone and her snack stash.