Entertainment

$150K Dress Worn by Lupita Nyong’o at Oscars Reported Stolen

Published

11 years ago

February 27, 2015

In this Feb. 22, 2015 file photo, actress Lupita Nyong’o arrives at the Oscars wearing a dress made of pearls at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Los Angeles sheriff’s detectives are investigating the theft of the $150,000 custom Calvin Klein dress worn by Nyong’o at the 2015 Academy Awards. The dress was reported stolen from Nyong’o’s West Hollywood hotel room late on Wednesday Feb. 25, 2015. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

ANTHONY McCARTNEY, AP Entertainment Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The theft of a $150,000 pearl-covered gown worn by Lupita Nyong’o at the Oscars doesn’t surprise Hollywood stylists who have personally experienced the seedy side of red carpet fashion.

Style expert and fashion commentator Mary Alice Stephenson has for years heard stories about similar stolen celebrity items.

“It’s not shocking to me that this would be taken out of her hotel room,” said Stephenson, who once had a nabbed Fendi bag held for ransom.

A dress like the custom ivory one designed by Francisco Costa for the Calvin Klein Collection could fetch a lot of money on the black market, Stephenson said.

“There are a lot of collectors out there who are very private and have private collections of stolen merchandise,” she said. “Some of these dresses have global fame as big as any Van Gogh.”

However, Los Angeles Auction House director Bryan Abbott noted that the black market would be problematic for fetching top dollar in this case.

“Celebrity-related material has additional value because it’s related to the celebrity,” he said. “If this was stolen, you wouldn’t be able to realize that additional value.”

“I can’t think of a harder thing to sell than a high-profile Oscar dress by a famous manufacturer that’s associated with a famous personality. You’d have to bury it for a hundred years,” he added.

The 6,000 disconnected pearls wouldn’t even be worth much on their own, Abbott said.

“Most pearls don’t have much of a resale value to start with, unless they’re from a famous manufacturer such as Mikimoto,” he said. “If the dress were made of Mikimoto pearls, it would be millions of dollars.”

Sheriff’s deputies responded to call late Wednesday from a West Hollywood hotel after the custom dress was reported missing from the hotel room of the actress, sheriff’s Sgt. Richard Bowman said.

Nyong’o was present when deputies took the report, but she wasn’t in her room when the elaborate gown was taken, Bowman said. Her publicists said they would not comment on the theft.

Representatives for the actress reported the theft. Detectives suspect the garment was taken sometime between 8 and 9 p.m. Wednesday, sheriff’s Lt. William Nash said.

Detectives were at the hotel Thursday looking for clues, including surveillance video that might reveal what happened.

Nyong’o won an Oscar in 2014 for her role in “Twelve Years a Slave” and was a presenter at Sunday’s ceremony.

The 31-year-old actress has become a darling of Hollywood’s red carpets in the past two years, with commenters and fans praising her fashion choices. She accessorized the dress with Chopard diamond drop earrings and three Chopard diamond rings.

Before the awards ceremony, Nyong’o told The Associated Press on the red carpet, “I’m just wearing my diamonds and pearls. My homage to Prince,” referring to a popular song by the musician.

Nyong’o told a reporter for Yahoo Style that she was involved in the design of the dress.

“We talked about it being fluid and liquid,” she told the site. “I wanted it to be an homage to the sea.”

A representative for Calvin Klein declined to comment. But late Thursday night, the fashion house did tweet a close-up photo of the dress, writing “have you seen this dress?” with the hashtag “freethepearls.”

___

Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP. Associated Press writers Leanne Italie and Alicia Rancilio in New York, and Lindsey Bahr and Derrik J. Lang in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of January 28, 2025 – February 3, 2026

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The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of January 21 – 27, 2026

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OP-ED: AB 1349 Puts Corporate Power Over Community

Since Ticketmaster and Live Nation merged in 2010, ticket prices have jumped more than 150 percent. Activities that once fit a family’s budget now take significant disposable income that most working families simply don’t have. The problem is compounded by a system that has tilted access toward the wealthy and white-collar workers. If you have a fancy credit card, you get “presale access,” and if you work in an office instead of a warehouse, you might be able to wait in an online queue to buy a ticket. Access now means privilege.

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1 month ago

January 9, 2026

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Bishop Joseph Simmons, Senior Pastor, Greater St. Paul Baptist Church, Oakland

By Bishop Joseph Simmons, Senior Pastor, Greater St. Paul Baptist Church, Oakland

As a pastor, I believe in the power that a sense of community can have on improving people’s lives. Live events are one of the few places where people from different backgrounds and ages can share the same space and experience – where construction workers sit next to lawyers at a concert, and teenagers enjoy a basketball game with their grandparents. Yet, over the past decade, I’ve witnessed these experiences – the concerts, games, and cultural events where we gather – become increasingly unaffordable, and it is a shame.

These moments of connection matter as they form part of the fabric that holds communities together. But that fabric is fraying because of Ticketmaster/Live Nation’s unchecked control over access to live events. Unfortunately, AB 1349 would only further entrench their corporate power over our spaces.

Power over live events is concentrated in a single corporate entity, and this regime operates without transparency or accountability – much like a dictator. Ticketmaster controls 80 percent of first-sale tickets and nearly a third of resale tickets, but they still want more. More power, more control for Ticketmaster means higher prices and less access for consumers. It’s the agenda they are pushing nationally, with the help of former Trump political operatives, who are quietly trying to undo the antitrust lawsuit launched against Ticketmaster/Live Nation under President Biden’s DOJ.

That’s why I’m deeply concerned about AB 1349 in its current form. Rather than reining in Ticketmaster’s power, the bill risks strengthening it, aligning with Trump. AB 1349 gives Ticketmaster the ability to control a consumer’s ticket forever by granting Ticketmaster’s regime new powers in state law to prevent consumers from reselling or giving away their tickets. It also creates new pathways for Ticketmaster to discriminate and retaliate against consumers who choose to shop around for the best service and fees on resale platforms that aren’t yet controlled by Ticketmaster. These provisions are anti-consumer and anti-democratic.

California has an opportunity to stand with consumers, to demand transparency, and to restore genuine competition in this industry. But that requires legislation developed with input from the community and faith leaders, not proposals backed by the very company causing the harm.

Will our laws reflect fairness, inclusion, and accountability? Or will we let corporate interests tighten their grip on spaces that should belong to everyone? I, for one, support the former and encourage the California Legislature to reject AB 1349 outright or amend it to remove any provisions that expand Ticketmaster’s control. I also urge community members to contact their representatives and advocate for accessible, inclusive live events for all Californians. Let’s work together to ensure these gathering spaces remain open and welcoming to everyone, regardless of income or background.