Jenna Ortega stole the show at the annual Academy Museum Gala.
The Wednesday star, 23, attended the annual benefit on Saturday, October 18, slaying in a sculptural Grace Ling couture gown. The frock featured a chocolate-brown silk skirt that complemented a silver, leaf-shaped breastplate that showed off a tasteful amount of sideboob. Ortega completed her look with Tacori jewelry and a custom Hammitt handbag.
Ling debuted the gown, fittingly titled the Leaf Petal Couture Dress, during her brand’s spring/summer 2026 Fashion Week show last month.
“You are a true genius,” Ortega’s stylist, Enrique Melendez, told Ling in the comments of her Instagram post about the actress’ appearance this weekend.
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Ling subsequently responded to Melendez, writing, “Enrique, thank you so much for working your magic!! She looks so fab 🤩🤩🤩.”
For glam, Ortega wore her chocolate-brown locks in a tousled low ponytail with side bangs and had bleached her eyebrows. Ortega finished off her look with a smoky eye and a taupe-colored lip.
“Naturally, I gravitate toward a nude lip because it’s safe and consistent,” Ortega told Vogue in August of her affinity for neutral lip colors. “A red lip feels like armor. It’s a statement.”
According to Ortega, she started to experiment with her beauty preferences after starring in Netflix’s Wednesday series and the Tim Burton-directed film Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
“I’ve been on jobs where I’ve thought, ‘Oh, I really love this lip color.’ But when I try to wear it afterwards, I can’t because all I see is the character,” she told Vogue. “I am in a great phase of exploration in my life right now, and I don’t want to feel married to any one thing. When you have the opportunity to play, why don’t you?”
Ortega also sees her makeup as a way to embrace her natural appearance.
“When I was a kid, I was a tomboy who didn’t care for makeup. As I’ve gotten older, makeup has become less about dressing up and more about enhancing your natural beauty,” she told L’Officiel Vietnam in a profile published last month. “I love letting my skin ‘breathe,’ showing off my freckles and adding just a touch of bold lipstick.”
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She continued, “I think a bold statement [piece] really impacts how you express yourself. It’s about being able to see yourself in a new light and appreciate your beauty in a different way. That’s a beautiful gift that makeup can bring. Makeup not only allows you to see yourself differently, but it can also change the way you look.”
Ortega not only takes risks with her beauty routine, but in her outfits as well.
“It’s funny. I could dress better when I was younger, whereas now I feel like I could just stare in my closet forever and overthink everything,” she told Dazed in 2023. “I used to go to school in little plastic heels with feather boas and I was really into funky socks and sequined vests. Fashion made me feel like I was my own person.”
She concluded, “You gain a sense of self when you have the right outfit on.”
