We begin at the beginning: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, with Ziyi in the red gown and a glittering Michelle Yeoh in orange on the end. Both are wearing MAJOR necklaces, something Ziyi will, I promise you, do again.

2001 Golden Globes

This is a very pretty dress indeed -- it would totally work today if she brought it out of the archive.

Oscars 2001

This stunner is always going to be hard to top. It's BEAUTIFUL. I finally found a credit that says it's Escada, a line we really NEVER hear about anymore.

2001 MTV Movie Awards

This is a nice version of My Top Is A Hanky With Straps, but... her top is still hanky with straps.

with Liza

And here we have an excellent cameo by a legend. Everyone here is serving.

2005 Cannes

Is this our first real WOMP WOMP of the slideshow? It looks sort of like a melted mantis.

with Michelle Yeoh again

This is at the Memoirs of a Geisha premiere, and once again I couldn't resist the glory of seeing these two women in one frame.

2006 Golden Globes

I love this, with the ONE mild exception of wishing the bodice went straight across.

2006 SAGs

I wonder if this is by the same designer as the Cannes Womp-Womp dress -- there's something similar in the style of overlay. This one is much nicer.

Oscars 2006 in Armani

I found some super mean articles in the Hong Kong press about how much they hated this, which I think is extreme. The skirt is very intricate; it maybe just needed to come up a little higher.

2006 Cannes Film Festival

This didn't seem to get the Cannes Stairs Moment that you would expect, but I also think the train would've needed to be little longer for it to be super effective. It's nice, though! The shoes seem a bit clunky with it.

2006 Venice Film Festival

So here we're at her lone Venice appearance, as far as I can tell. Those pleats are delicate and lovely and the color is great.

2007 Oscar party

This looks like an intense lemon cake. I do LIKE lemon cake, at least. But in my stomach more than on my body.

Cannes 2007

I LOVE this on her, though?!? It's got so much character.

2008 Shanghai Film Fest

Whereas this looks like a gauzy tongue unfurling down her front.

2009 Cannes

She likes these pinchy sweetheart bodices. She ALSO, as we noted before, can get with a big statement necklace. This looks more like a crown of tinsel that slid down.

Cannes 2010

This is so delicate. It's truly beautiful.

And it has a VERY sexy back.

2011 Rome Film Fest

I was all triumphant about how I correctly pegged this as Elie Saab, but whatever source I found was LIES and it's Dior! BOOOOO except I still like it, and this isn't about me, so it doesn't really matter.

Cannes 2013 in Carolina Herrera

I mean, if you're at the premiere of something called The Bling Ring, you might as well wear a MAJOR ring of bling, even though the movie is actually about robberies.

This is like... a gorgeous fungus.

2013 Cannes

That's a bit of a scrolldown for me. I think it would have been better if it was all sleek, and missing the extra tulle.

2013 Cannes

This feels a little like Forever 21 Does Couture.

2013 Cannes

Another Elie Saab; another one you probably guessed before I said it.

in Dior

This is one of my favorites on her. The neon and the pink are so fun.

2013 Chinese Film Festival

This is like a wacky cocoon, and I am into it.

2013

GORGEOUS, and I am also pleased to say that I correctly pegged it as Giambattista Valli. I don't get it right that often, so this is very exciting for me.

The 50th Golden Horse Awards

This sort of looks like a very glamorous tire mark.

2014 Cannes

This dress freaks out my eyes every time. It's not a trick of the wind; there just is a random curled ruffle in the middle of it. The top is NOT in conversation with the bottom.

2016 TIFF, in Elie Saab

This always looked like a cool depiction of a city, to me.

2017

I am not sure what went wrong here, other than everything.

2018

This might've needed a red lip?

in Alex Perry, 2019

I definitely like this. It's so well-tailored on her.

Cannes 2019

I kind of wish this had kept going the way it began.

2019 Cannes

This is a little witchier than her normal vibe. The top is also a tiny bit busy.

Cannes 2019

And then this is SUCH a swerve. One is wicked, one is Glinda.

2019

Major jewels again, but this dress seems too big on her, no.

2020

This is like the chartreuse cousin of that black dress from a few slides ago. I like this one better.

Cannes 2024

This is darkly elegant; I like it a LOT.

And THIS feels like, honestly, an Isabelle Huppert phase -- which is apt because Isabelle is the head of the Venice jury on which Ziyi will sit. Full circle! Or... not a circle, but... I got us from A to B, or something. Sure.

Zhang Ziyi Is a Venice Juror This Year; Here Are Some Career Fashion Highlights

About 40 or so.