Sydney Sweeney’s appearance at Variety’s 2025 Power of Women gala has drawn a strikingly consistent reaction across social platforms, with thousands of viewers posting near-identical praise that she looked “like a goddess” in a sheer, silver crystal gown as she arrived at the Beverly Hills Hotel on Wednesday, 29 October. Images and red-carpet clips circulating from the event show the 28-year-old actor in a floor-length, see-through dress by Christian Cowan in collaboration with Elias Matso, styled with a short blonde bob and minimal jewellery; within hours, comment threads beneath widely shared posts filled with single-word superlatives and variations on the same refrain, including “goddess,” “queen,” and “otherworldly,” while fans debated the intent of the look and its fit with an evening dedicated to women’s achievements. The visual details are well documented in high-resolution photographs published from the arrivals line—crystal mesh, a scoop neckline, mid-length sleeves, a twisted waist and a lace-up, open back—paired with nude underpinnings and no bra, a combination that ensured the dress read as daring under flash and stage light alike. Those close-ups align with eyewitness video and captioned photo sets that identify the piece as a Spring/Summer 2026 design by Cowan and Matso, part of the label’s recent run of red-carpet chain-mail silhouettes.
The near-uniform “goddess” language was not confined to a single platform. Under carpet clips posted by entertainment accounts on Instagram and to short-form feeds on other services, users repeated the term as the first or only word in their reactions, often accompanied by heart or star-sparkle emojis, with several variations emphasising the same idea—“actual goddess,” “Greek goddess,” “a literal goddess”—as fans shared screenshots of the gown’s intricate crystal lattice under flash. One summary of fan responses noted that commenters had explicitly used “Goddess” in describing the look, a shorthand that captured how the clip travelled beyond fashion-watchers into general celebrity feeds. While there was dissent—some users questioned the choice at a philanthropy-centred event—the dominant sentiment, visible at a glance beneath the most-viewed posts, was that the look achieved a kind of archetypal glamour that justified the hyperbole.
Context inside the ballroom underscored why Sweeney was present. She was among the evening’s honourees and later took the stage to speak about former world champion boxer Christy Martin, whom she portrays in the upcoming film Christy. In short clips from the ceremony and official uploads of her acceptance, Sweeney highlighted Martin’s resilience and framed the tribute as central to her appearance, aligning with the gala’s brief to spotlight women whose work and advocacy have tangible impact. The sequence—head-turning entrance, viral reaction to the dress, and a speech pivoting attention to another woman’s story—repeated a pattern seen at past Power of Women editions, but this time amplified by unusually concentrated audience language about the look itself.
On the carpet, Sweeney’s brief exchanges with fellow attendees added to the night’s momentum. A widely shared moment showed Jamie Lee Curtis clocking the outfit with an animated grin before greeting Sweeney, a clipped sequence that viewers interpreted as an on-site endorsement from a veteran known for cheerleading peers’ risk-taking. That wordless interaction was consistent with Curtis’s public persona and helped steer casual observers toward reading the outfit as celebratory rather than transgressive, a framing that dovetailed with the “goddess” throughline in comments.