Sharon Stone Steals the Show in Leather at WIF Honors as Salma Hayek Takes Home Jane Fonda Award

Some nights in Hollywood feel less like an awards show and more like a group photo that belongs in a museum. Thursday at the Beverly Hilton was one of them. The 2026 Women in Film Honors crammed a ballroom full of the kind of star power that usually takes three separate premieres to pull together — and by the end of the night, two women had quietly walked off with the whole evening. Sharon Stone, in head-to-toe black leather. And Salma Hayek, accepting an award named after the woman handing it to her.

Every table had a story. Jane Fonda was in the room. Kerry Washington, Olivia Munn, Emmy Rossum — all there. Women who’ve spent entire careers prying open doors that were never built to open for them. The event celebrates women making an impact in entertainment, in front of the camera and behind it, and this year’s edition had a particular charge to it. Part celebration, part reunion, part reminder.

But the entrance first. Because Sharon Stone, 68 years old, walked into the Beverly Hilton dressed like she had somewhere far more dangerous to be afterwards — and the photographers went nuts for it.

Sharon Stone’s Leather Moment

Stone hit the red carpet in a belted black leather trench-style dress, cinched at the waist, the kind of outfit that does exactly what great red carpet fashion is supposed to do: it makes everyone else in the room look like they’re trying too hard. Sheer black tights. Pointed heels. Oversized statement earrings. Blonde hair swept back off her face, makeup soft and understated. The dress did the talking. She didn’t need to add a thing.

And honestly? There’s something deeply satisfying about watching Sharon Stone own a red carpet in 2026. This is a woman who’s been doing this since before half the night’s guests were born — I mean that as a compliment, not a dig. She went global with Basic Instinct back in 1992, then proved she was way more than one iconic role with her Golden Globe-winning, Oscar-nominated turn in Martin Scorsese’s Casino three years later. She’s survived the parts of Hollywood that chew people up. Reinvented herself more than once. And come out the other side with her sense of humour still intact, which is rarer than you’d think.

On Thursday she looked like she was having an absolute blast. Posing for photos in high spirits, laughing and chatting her way down the carpet — and when she ran into Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham, the two of them lit up like old friends who hadn’t seen each other in years. Warm embrace. Laughing together for the cameras. At one point Hannah flashed a playful rock ‘n’ roll hand gesture and then just burst out laughing next to her.

Small moment. Unscripted. The kind that never makes the official programme but ends up being the thing people actually remember. Two women at the top of their game, clearly delighted to be in each other’s company. Hollywood could use a lot more of that — and a lot less of the stiff, over-rehearsed posing.

Stone wasn’t just there to look fabulous, by the way. Though she managed that too. She had a job to do on stage, and it turned into one of the sweetest moments of the night.

Hannah Waddingham’s Crystal Award

Hannah Waddingham, 52, showed up looking every bit the star herself. Plunging turquoise satin gown — daring V-neckline, open back, flowing skirt — the sort of dress that photographs beautifully from every single angle. Chunky gold earrings, black heels, a big voluminous blonde updo. If Sharon Stone owned the edgy end of the carpet, Waddingham owned the glamorous one. Simple as that.

It was a big night for her. Waddingham picked up the Crystal Award for Advocacy in Television, and the person handing it over was none other than Sharon Stone. The award recognised her for using her platform to speak up for women and the LGBTQ+ community — work she’s talked about openly and consistently, long after the applause for Ted Lasso faded.

If you only know her as Rebecca Welton — the sharp-tongued football club owner with the secretly soft heart — the advocacy stuff might surprise you. It really shouldn’t. Waddingham spent decades on the West End stage before TV made her a household name, and she’s never been shy about saying exactly what she thinks. The Crystal Award is the kind of honour that recognises the person, not just the performance. And she looked genuinely moved to get it.

The two of them posing together afterwards — Stone in leather, Waddingham in turquoise satin, both laughing — was one of the night’s best pictures. It had the energy of a torch being passed, except nobody was passing anything. They’re both still holding theirs, thanks very much.

Salma Hayek’s Full-Circle Moment With Jane Fonda

Then came the moment that gave the whole evening its emotional centre. Salma Hayek, 60, took home the Jane Fonda Humanitarian Award. And the woman presenting it? Jane Fonda herself.

Just sit with that for a second. An award named after a living legend, presented by that living legend, to a woman whose whole career has been defined by exactly the kind of boundary-breaking the award celebrates. Fonda, 88 now, has spent decades as both an actress and an activist. She picked Hayek for this honour. That choice tells you a lot about both of them.

Hayek turned up at the Beverly Hilton in a body-hugging Bottega Veneta dress — all curves and confidence — and took the award from her longtime friend and mentor. These two go back years, and the warmth between them on stage was impossible to miss. Fonda’s been in Hayek’s corner for a long time. The feeling is clearly mutual.

Hayek’s story is Hollywood legend by now, and it never gets old. She landed in Los Angeles from Mexico in the early 1990s — thick accent, famous face from Mexican TV, and a mountain of people telling her she’d never make it in American movies. She made it anyway. Desperado put her on the map. Frida, which she produced as well as starred in, earned her an Oscar nomination and proved she was a force behind the camera too. Since then she’s built a career that jumps between blockbusters, indie films, prestige TV, and producing — seemingly without ever slowing down. The woman does not stop.

But the Humanitarian Award isn’t about box office. It honours the work Hayek’s done off screen: speaking up for women’s rights, campaigning against gender-based violence, standing up for immigrant communities. She’s been loud about all of it for years — not just when there’s a camera in her face. The award carries Fonda’s name for a reason. It goes to people who treat their platform like a responsibility, not a perk.

Watching the two of them up there together — nearly thirty years apart in age, united by the same stubborn refusal to stay quiet — was a reminder of what this event is actually for. It’s not really about the dresses. Gorgeous as they were. It’s about the chain. One generation of women reaching back to pull the next one forward.

The Night’s Other Honorees

Hayek and Waddingham weren’t the only ones being celebrated, not by a long shot. Adria Arjona — one of the most in-demand young actresses in Hollywood right now — picked up the WIF Max Mara Face of the Future Award. It’s a prize with a habit of choosing winners right before they explode. Arjona’s got a big year coming, including a role in next year’s hotly anticipated The Thomas Crown Affair, and the award felt like the whole industry saying at once: we see you, and we’re watching.

Former Warner Bros. co-chair and CEO Pamela Abdy took home the inaugural Vanguard Award, presented by filmmaker Nancy Meyers. Fitting pairing, when you think about it — two women who’ve spent their careers proving that women can run studios and direct hit comedies with equal authority. Abdy’s recent exit from Warner Bros. has been one of the industry’s most talked-about stories, and her standing on that stage, accepting an award for leadership, said plenty all on its own. She didn’t need to spell it out.

The Crystal Award for Advocacy in Film went to filmmaker Beth de Araújo and actress Gemma Chan, honoured for their work together on the film Josephine. Chan couldn’t be there in person, but de Araújo accepted on their behalf. It’s the kind of recognition that means the world to independent filmmakers — the people doing their most important work miles away from the spotlight.

And then there was the room itself. Kerry Washington, always one of the best-dressed people wherever she goes. Olivia Munn. Emmy Rossum. Brittany Snow. Natasha Rothwell. A ballroom full of women who have, between them, starred in just about everything, directed plenty, produced even more, and spent years shoving at an industry that doesn’t always want to be shoved.

Women In Film has been at this a long time. The organisation has been honouring the industry’s most accomplished women since 1977, and the gala directly funds its advocacy, research, and career programmes — the unglamorous, essential work of making sure the next generation of women in Hollywood has an easier road than the last one did. As WIF CEO Kirsten Schaffer put it when this year’s honorees were announced, they stand for what the organisation is about: vision, fierce community, and lifting up the next generation.

That last bit is the one that sticks with me. Forget the leather and the satin and the Bottega Veneta for a minute — the 2026 WIF Honors was really about something simpler, and a lot harder to photograph. Women showing up for each other. In public. On the record. Year after year. Sharon Stone handing an award to Hannah Waddingham. Jane Fonda giving her namesake honour to Salma Hayek. Nancy Meyers celebrating Pamela Abdy. None of that happens by accident. It’s a choice, made over and over, by women who remember exactly what it felt like when nobody showed up for them.

The dresses will be forgotten by next week. The photos will disappear into the endless scroll. But the chain? That’s the part that lasts.

Source: Hello Magazine