Mindy Kaling Wore the Same Peekaboo Dress in Two Colors at the 2023 Oscars: One to Walk, One to Present

Mindy Kaling made quite the statement on the Oscars 2023 red carpet.

The Mindy Project star wowed in white, rocking a custom Vera Wang gown to the awards show. The 43-year-old wore a structured white gown with visible boning in the otherwise transparent bodice and a structured peplum ruffle on the hip. The dress also featured delicate spaghetti straps and detached flared sleeves.

The look was originally supposed to be black and white, but Kaling asked that the dress stay all white, according to Zanna Roberts Rassi on E!'s preshow. She also requested that the boning, which was originally nude, to also stay white.

Kaling's reasoning for the all-white look? "Who does a white gown better than Vera Wang?" she reportedly said, according to the E! Broadcast.

The Ocean's Eight star wore her long wavy hair down, with the front pulled up in a small messy knot at the crown of her head. She finished the look with a drawn-out smokey eye, a gazillion lashes and a brick-red lip, plus Boucheron jewels.

She had one more surprise in store, though: When it came time to present Best Original Score, she appeared onstage in the same dress in black, with a change of earrings and brighter red lip.

On Sunday afternoon, Kaling gave a sneak peek of her Oscars beauty-prep routine on her Instagram stories. The photo showed the actress sitting in front of makeup brushes and an old school Hollywood mirror with bulbs lining the sides and a Moscow mule sitting on her dressing table in front of her.

The multi-hyphenate has been seen in pale hues quite a bit lately, despite being often associated with her love of bright, bold color. She donned a baby-pink and silver saree by Falguni Shane Peacock to a dinner honoring South Asian Oscar nominees she co-hosted ahead of the main event:

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And she turned heads in a keyhole-cutout minidress earlier this year.

"I never wear winter white!" Kaling wrote in her caption. Her all-white look included a $1,765 strapless satin cutout dress and $2,045 sleek tuxedo blazer both by Magda Butrym. "I was always so worried about it not being flattering and also about dropping food on it," she said, adding that she instead "loved" the look. "No red wine stains anywhere! Here's to trying more new fashion risks this year!"

The Oscars air live on ABC on Sunday, March 12, at 8 p.m. ET.