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Angelina Jolie has never been somebody who's afraid of causing controversy, and she's a pro at being the center of attention, both on and off the camera. There have been plenty of Jolie looks that have caused a stir over the years — a slew of risqué outfits that helped add to her femme fatale mystique and edgy rocker creds — landing her a regular spot on both the best and worst dressed lists.
But it's not just her style choices that have made a splash. Jolie's personal life has hogged the headlines, too — often for all the wrong reasons, sadly. She's been front and center of many celebrity scandals that no one was expecting. And, of course, lest we forget, she was involved in one of the most scandalous love affairs in Hollywood history. However, she seemingly just shrugs it all off.
Jolie rarely puts a foot wrong these days, though. Since her messy split from Brad Pitt, she's been focused on their kids, her career, and activism work (and fighting with Pitt). Still, her wild child days may be over, but they're far from forgotten, as is the case with some of her red carpet outré outfits. We're looking at some of Jolie's risqué looks from over the years.
Angelina's gothic Girl, Interrupted Marc Bouwer gown
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Angelina Jolie ensured she was the center of attention at the 2000 Academy Awards. She tore up the red carpet rule book and plumped for a risqué goth outfit. With her long hair center-parted, dyed jet black, and matched with a full-length, long-sleeved Marc Bouwer gown, Jolie was full-on Morticia Addams. She added a little Hollywood sparkle with silver drop earrings and a cuff. Still, the look stood out from her fellow actors' floaty, more conventional couture.
Jolie took home the best supporting actress gold for her role in 1999's "Girl, Interrupted." However, the press was focused more on her strange interactions with James Haven than her acting achievements. "I'm in shock, and I'm so in love with my brother right now," Jolie announced as she clutched her Oscar. "He just held me and said he loved me." Haven was still holding her later when they smooched for the cameras.
Onlookers were shocked and stunned. Jolie and Haven just shrugged it off, though. "My parents really loved that moment, and that's what will always matter," Jolie told Entertainment Weekly a few months later. "I did not give Angie a French kiss. It was something simple and lovely. She was about to go off to Mexico to finish filming 'Original Sin' with Antonio Banderas," Haven told the Daily Mail in March 2007. "I congratulated her on the Oscar win and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. It was snapped and became a big thing."
Angelina's Tomb Raider leather look
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Angelina Jolie ditched the dress and opted for risqué skintight black leather pants and a belly-baring crop tank top for the June 2001 premiere of "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" at Mann Village Theatre in Los Angeles. Jolie accessorized the look with her stomach tattoos, studded belt, and black-heeled boots. Given her titular role in the movie, Jolie's badass rock chick look was fitting. Still, it was a drastically different outfit from the usual worn to a red carpet premiere.
Jolie was a pro at thumbing her nose at style norms, though. When she married her first husband, Jonny Lee Miller, in 1996, there wasn't any satin or lace in sight. Instead, Jolie plumped for black leather trousers and a white T-shirt with Miller's name scrawled across it in her blood. "It's your husband. You're about to marry him," she told The New York Times in August 1996. "You can sacrifice a little to make it really special."
Sadly, the blood was barely dry on the tee before things went downhill for the couple, who'd said "I do" after a whirlwind romance. "It was weird to immediately be married, and then you kind of lose your identity. You're suddenly somebody's wife. And you're like, 'Oh, I'm half of a couple now. I've lost me," she said.
Angelina's Mr. & Mrs. Smith vampy Versace
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Angelina Jolie was clad in a super vampy Versace dress for the "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" premiere in June 2005. The cleavage-baring leather gown was split to the thigh, making for a decidedly risqué outfit. However, it wasn't just Jolie's red carpet look that was unusual. Aside from a few group photos, Jolie and Brad Pitt weren't snapped posing together on the red carpet. Which, given that they co-starred in the flick, was unconventional, to say the least.
However, the move was understandable, given Pitt's recent split from his then-wife, Jennifer Aniston, and the reports of his rumored affair with Jolie. At the time, the couple had yet to go official with their relationship. When they finally did, they insisted things didn't take a romantic turn until after filming ended on "Mr. & Mrs. Smith."
Still, nobody was buying it, and there was zero shock when Jolie admitted things started way before the cameras stopped rolling. "Not a lot of people get to see a movie where their parents fell in love," she told The New York Times in October 2008 of watching "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" with her kids one day.
Angelina's sparkly Emporio Armani LBD
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The sparkly LBD that Angelina Jolie wore to the July 2010 premiere of "Salt" at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles was a change from her usual red carpet outfits. The strapless sequin Emporio Armani mini was super short, skimming her thighs and allowing her to show off her long, toned legs. Jolie accessorized her outfit with some nude-colored slingbacks and Brad Pitt.
The couple was peak Brangelina in 2010. Pitt had adopted Maddox and Zahara, Pax had joined the gang, and their bio-kids, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne, were growing up fast. The family had changed their name to Jolie-Pitt, and the couple was gushing about each other in the press.
"I always wanted a great love affair," Jolie told Parade of their relationship in July. "Something that feels big and full, really honest and enough. No moment should feel slight, false, or a little off. For me, it had to be everything." She said she and Pitt were barely ever apart and existed in their own little world. "We stay really connected. We actually don't go out much. It's funny. We're very homebound. We're very much Mommy and Daddy in our pajamas," Jolie shared.
Angelina's leg-thrusting Oscars Atelier Versace
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Angelina Jolie was putting her best foot forward — literally — at the 2012 Academy Awards. The actor was clad in a black velvet Atelier Versace dress that was slit to the thigh, allowing her to thrust out her right leg to achieve maximum Blue Steel. Jolie's risqué limb-baring look launched a thousand (plus) memes and is one of her most iconic outfits ever.
Jolie, hand on hip, had her leg on bizarre full thrust when she presented the award for best adapted screenplay. One of the recipients, Jim Rash, paid homage by mimicking the stance on stage, which resulted in him being accused of mocking Jolie. That was news to Rash, though.
"I was sort of surprised by what happened or how that was taken because, in your mind, it wasn't where I was," he told The Hollywood Reporter in a post-award interview. "When I was sitting there watching her, and she was up there, and she sort of worked that dress and rocked it and owned it, and sort of laughed, and so I thought it was very cool that she was sort of having fun."