Shania Twain eliminated subtlety in a glittering strapless panther dress at the 2026 ACM Awards.
The country icon, 60, appeared on the red carpet ahead of her hosting duties wearing a silver dress with black leopard embroidery and a floor-length bow.
She wore her brunette locks over her shoulders and accentuated her look with soft bangs.
Twain accessorized with dramatic leather opera gloves studded with sparkling buttons, a modest necklace and pendant earrings, and a diamond-encrusted ring on each pinky finger.
At one point, she was seen posing for photographers with Academy of Country Music CEO Damon Whiteside.
Fans of the first-time Academy of Country Music Awards host went wild over the look on social media, with one person exclaiming: “That’s her mother!”
“The perfect queen of the whole shebang! 💅🏼👏🏼🤠🩵,” another social media user gushed in the comments thread of a joint Instagram post with the ACM Awards. A third called her the “Queen of Country Music”!
This isn’t the first time the “Forever and Always” hitmaker has made a big cat comment on the red carpet.
At the 2022 People’s Choice Awards, Twain brought back her iconic hooded leopard look (from the 1998 “That Don’t Impress Me Much” music video) in a similarly sheer style.
But the Grammy Award-winning artist’s bold looks on the red carpet aren’t always widely accepted.
After facing online trolls for wearing two daring looks at the 2023 CMT Awards, where she wore a black-and-white spotted suit and a dramatic red wig topped with a giant hat, she defended her fashion choices at the 2023 Grammy Awards.
“For me, fashion is a powerful tool that helps me convey my individuality and express my creativity. Besides spending the night with friends, attending award shows is one of my favorite things to do,” she explained at the time in an Instagram post featuring a photo of her accepting the CMT Award.
“Life is too short to wear boring clothes!!😘,” she continued. “Thank you to the team behind my @cmt #CMTAwards looks ❤️🔥”
During her Come On Over residency in Las Vegas in 2024, she revealed that she enjoyed seeing what her fans were wearing.
“I enjoy fashion. I enjoy seeing the audience wear it,” she told People magazine at the time, adding that it was “really fun.”
“I see people wearing things, even just recently,” she continued. “They come in with color in their hair, and it makes me smile and make me feel happy, because they’re good in spirit. So especially in a room like this, we all have one spirit. It’s very close. It’s casual, and it’s really comfortable.”
