Daily Times

Attention, class! Blake Lively is back on the red carpet, and she just provided another lesson on how to serve some serious style.

The Gossip Girl alum, 35, arrived at Barnard College’s Annual Gala in New York on April 24 in a colorful coat which she wore over an off-the-shoulder, floral print Carolina Herrera dress-finishing off her look with drop earrings, a sparkly pink ombré clutch, Manolo Blahnik pumps and a curly half-up, half-down ‘do.

During the event, Blake presented an award and recalled how early in her career she had “zero acting jobs” and decided to go back to college.

“Two weeks after that, the producers of Gossip Girl called me like an ex-boyfriend and they said, ‘Listen, will you please do this show? And if you do, we promise you can go to Columbia one day a week-as long as it doesn’t interfere with our seven-day-a-week shooting schedule,'” the actress said in her speech, per a video shared by Barnard College on its Instagram Stories. “Who doesn’t want to earn a bachelor’s degree in 77 years?”

She added, “So needless to say, I think I have to accept that tonight is the closest I’m going to get. So I’m just going to pretend that this is me graduating tonight. So thank you, thank you. I made it.” The occasion marked Blake’s first red carpet appearance since she and husband Ryan Reynolds welcomed their fourth child together. Her last red carpet outing was in November when the then-pregnant Simple Favor star honored the Deadpool actor at the American Cinematheque Awards. But in February, Blake-who also shares daughters James, 8; Inez, 6, and Betty, 3, with Ryan-revealed their newest family member had arrived by posting a picture of herself without a baby bump.

Still, the couple has attended a number of public events since welcoming their little one and enjoyed several NYC outings, including with Taylor Swift.