Miley Cyrus’s Gothic Showgirl Fits Deserve Their Flowers

Lady Gaga! Cher! Lauryn Hill! Snoop Dogg! Miley Cyrus! All the stars comprised a megawatt line-up of performances for yesterday evening’s celebrations for Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary. But it was Miley Cyrus’s showgirl looks with a very Miley Cyrus-y twist that snatched our hearts.

The evening at the historic Radio City Music Hall in New York kicked off a weekend of festivities for show creator Lorne Michael’s cultural institution SNL. Ayo Edebiri, Anya Taylor-Joy, Amy Poehler, Jenna Ortega, Emily Ratajkowski, Chris Pine, Christine Baranski, Pete Davidson, and many others stepped out for the evening—the crowd was glitzy and very glam.

Cyrus was among those performing, bringing her powerhouse vocals and trademark breezy, assured attitude. She sang her Grammy award-winning hit “Flowers” and gave playful shout out to all her buddies in the crowd: “I love you Paul Rudd!” Cyrus exclaimed. The camera panned to Rudd blowing a kiss. “Are y’all doing that Grammys thing where you guys are famous and shit and you don’t sing along…Excuse my language?” Anya Taylor-Joy and Pedro Pascal put that to bed, shown enthusiastically singing and dancing along. Cyrus also performed a cover of Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” with Brittany Howard.

Photo: Getty Images

The musician first took to the red carpet, wearing an all-black Roberto Cavalli gown. The leather dress had layers of winged cut-outs and a floatier tulle train that extended into a mermaid tail. It’s from the Italian house’s spring summer 2025 collection by Fausto Puglisi, and which Eva Herzigova wore on the runway. Cyrus styled it with Paris Texas lace-up black stilettos, and kept her brown and blonde highlighted hair tousled. She walked the carpet with mother Tish Cyrus and boyfriend Maxx Morando.

Later for her performance, Cyrus once again opted for close-fitting, cut-out dominant Cavalli—but this time, it was an archive piece from the brand’s spring summer 2004 collection. The black dress fit close to her form, with diamond cut-outs and a feathered, sparkling skirt that gave her the showgirl dynamism necessary on stage. She commanded the show, with every shimmy, vocal swoop, and feather shake.

Photo: Getty Images

Cyrus worked with her go-to regular stylist, Bradley Kenneth, for the affair. Kenneth has been dressing Cyrus in a succession of sultry, monochrome gowns by way of custom Yves Saint Laurent and Alaïa, Celine and Schiaparelli.

Elsewhere across the evening, Gaga performed “Shallow” with Andy Samberg, and did a funny bit to botch the song, before performing “Dick in a Box”—their 2009 SNL parody banger. Gaga, in a velvet black dress, stood with a zany giftbox taped to her waist—three guesses as to what they’re insinuating is inside. Cher also performed “If I Could Turn Back Time,” well as Bad Bunny, Post Malone, The Backstreet Boys, The B-52’s, and Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer (who did their own hilarious versions of songs like Doechii’s “Denial is a River.”

A fantastical evening, built around Cyrus’s super special performances and gothic showgirl wonder outfits—flowers for Miley!