Vera Wang and Brad Goreski Talk About Mom-to-Be Kaley Cuoco’s Golden Globes Look (Exclusive)

In her red-carpet style, Kaley Cuoco loves to blend high-end fashion with a sense of fun, as well as a touch of fearlessness.

Her look for the 2023 Golden Globes is no exception. Says star stylist Brad Goreski, “Kaley has such a chic, modern sensibility, but she’s also always willing to take a risk. What we put together for her is a reflection of all of that, but also that she’s in a really happy place and smiling all the time. It’s a really happy, beautiful gown.”

A Golden Globes best television actress (musical or comedy) nominee for HBO Max series The Flight Attendant‘s second season, Cuoco is wearing a custom design by Vera Wang Haute, a lavender silk chiffon empire-waist gown with a hand-pleated bodice, bow accents on the straps and hand-embroidered crystal embellishments. Over the years, Wang, Goreski and Cuoco have teamed up on several of the actress’ looks, including a fluorescent gown she wore to the 2021 Emmy Awards.

“Kaley wears clothes with such a nonchalance; it’s never too studied or too formal,” Wang tells The Hollywood Reporter. “There’s such a wonderful ease to the way she wears clothes, so no matter what you’ve designed, she’s able to carry it off.”

Of course, there’s a key difference about how the actress and her stylist approached this year’s red-carpet strategy: Cuoco is seven months pregnant with her first child, a daughter, as she announced on Instagram in October. With that in mind, Goreski put a plan in place before nominations were announced on Dec. 12.

“I was in New York for Thanksgiving and at the Polo Bar, and at the next table was my friend, Priya Shukla, who’s head of Vera’s PR team,” Goreski says. “That felt like kismet. We talked about how perfect it would be for Vera to do Kaley’s dress for the Globes, and from there I went back to Kaley. I pitched the idea early because we’ve worked with Vera and had so much success with her; the neon fluorescent gown Kaley wore to the Emmys was a huge hit. But also because she’s pregnant, I wanted to work with someone Kaley knows and feels comfortable with, to ensure there was no added stress.”

Cuoco and Goreski started with the color, a lavender hue that the stylist says is in keeping with the actress’s love of pastels. “She really favors macaron colors, and we have done a lot of pink in the past, because Kaley really is very girly and feminine,” he says. “This lavender is something new, but it’s so lovely on her. It brings out the purple and blue in her eyes.”

From there, Wang submitted a selection of sketches and is thrilled that Cuoco chose the empire-waist design. “It’s got that romantic, Napoleon and Josephine look to it, which I always adore,” Wang says. “The shape and the volume accommodate her stage of pregnancy, because comfort was a major factor for her, but with its flow and the slight train, it’s also just really ethereal and beautiful.”

Adds Goreski, “It’s feminine, ethereal and chic, a mix-up of all the things Kaley likes to be on the red carpet.”

Thin straps (each adorned with a bow detail) and emerald-cut crystal beading that’s also repeated under the hand-pleated bodice enhance the feminine vibe Cuoco prefers, notes Goreski. “Kaley is wearing her hair up because she loves the bows on the straps and doesn’t want them to get lost,” he says.

Goreski noted that jewelry and an evening bag would be last-minute decisions once Cuoco was getting ready on Tuesday afternoon, but that she would wear low-heeled Roger Vivier sandals on the red carpet before changing into a blingier Gianvito Rossi style once arriving inside the Beverly Hilton, where the Golden Globes are again taking place. The final choices: diamond earrings and rings by Los Angeles-based Rahaminov Diamonds and Norman Silverman, as well as a silver evening clutch by Jimmy Choo.

“Kaley doesn’t love major statement jewelry, because she always wants to look cool and fresh,” Goreski says. “I’m looking for something that mimics the beading, definitely white diamonds, a good earring and a ring, and maybe a bracelet if she really loves it.”

If Goreski has learned anything from his years of working with Cuoco, it’s that she knows what she wants. “Kaley loves clothes and she loves the process, but she’s also quite busy, so she doesn’t want to spend three hours in my studio trying on clothes,” he says. “So when she likes it, that’s it and she doesn’t waver. And the funny thing is, even being seven months pregnant, nothing has changed. She selected the sketch she loved, tried on the dress for the first fitting before I even got there, and it’s perfect. But if you know Kaley, that shouldn’t be surprising; she’s not only beautiful and talented, but also very confident about her decisions. She’s one in a million.”

Wang agrees. “There’s always something joyful and happy about my experiences of dressing Kaley, and tonight is going to be no different.”