The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - The Telegraph Magazine
Winning looks
It’s the biggest night of the year in Hollywood, but at the Oscars the films aren’t the only things in the spotlight: since the early days of the ceremony, frocks have been under scrutiny too. And a right – or wrong – step can have a lasting impact on a d
With the Academy Awards almost upon us, Kate Finnigan considers the nominations for best-dressed in the business
Amovie star, some diamonds, a beautiful dress an dared carpet. It’ sanol dfashioned combination that works even better in the digital age, when the power of the image is everything.
Which is one of the reasons why, in the past decade, scrubbing up for the red carpet has become a serious business. As a nominee it is very much not the case that you can do as Jodie Foster did at the Oscars in 1989 and pull a blue ruched satin number off the rack, throw it on with a pair of nylons and add any old black shoe. Or do a Julia Roberts at the 1990 Golden Globes and saunter in wearing an ill-fitting man’s suit (and a big grin) to collect her prize for Steel Magnolias.
Now the rewards are too big not to make an effort. A stunning appearance can lead to an unknown becoming a known or a known winning a lucrative fashion or beauty advertising contract. Your clothes can help deliver a message, challenge a stereotype, surprise, delight and wow. It can be a chance to change tack, reinvent or resur rect a career. This could be the opportunity for a million Instag ram followers to see you in a different light. Because an appearance on the red carpet does not mean you’ve arrived, my dear, but that you’ve only just begun.
This takes work. It takes a village. You’ll need an excellent stylist, for starters. One with the best contacts both at the top fashion houses and with those interesting desig ners at the fringes of the industry. You’ll also need a long view, because this awards business is not about one night only. An actress nominated or likely to be nominated for awards will usually hire
a stylist for the whole campaign season – which can start in August at the Venice Film Festival, running through October when the smaller awards ceremonies start, right through to the Golden Globes, the Baftas and the grand finale at the Oscars in February.
‘It can be 16 events, maybe 30,’ says Elizabeth Saltzman, the former Vanity Fair fashion director, who now styles leading actresses such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Saiorse Ronan and Gemma Arter ton. ‘ You need a mood board, a stor y. Because of my background, I look at the whole season like a magazine: have we covered new designers, have we moved fashion for ward, have we helped a jeweller out, a fashion house out?’ Ultimately, though, the focus has to be on the needs of the client. ‘Because if it doesn’t work on her I don’t give a damn,’ says Saltzman. ‘It could be the coolest brand or the most fabulous dress but if it doesn’t look good on her, it’s not worth the wrath of the media.’
Ah, the bad press. That’s what you don’t want (see reference to Angelina’s Right Leg, over the page). Indeed, Saltzman says she ‘got together’ wit h Palt row a f ter t he act ress ‘ had been slammed in the press’ for some of the event dresses she’d been wearing. But by the time of the 2012 Oscars, Paltrow was on top of her game again. Saltzman secured a white, caped Tom Ford dress that the designer had recently
Your look can help deliver a message, challenge a stereotype, surprise, delight and wow. It can be a chance to change tack, reinvent or resurrect a career
presented at a ‘top secret’ unveiling of his new collection. It was a bold move and Saltzman momentarily had cold feet about it. ‘I saw the potential headlines: “The ice queen cometh!”, “Caped cr usader!”’ she shudders. But t hat didn’t happen.
Worn with a sleek ponytail and minimal makeup, it was both elegant and fashionable, and is of ten included in line-ups of the most successful red-carpet outfits of recent times.
Last year, Saltzman dressed the then 21-yearold Irish actress Saoirse Ronan from the early festivals in September right through to her bestactress nomination for Brooklyn at the Oscars, for which she wore a custom-made green Calvin Klein Collection dress that nodded to her heritage. Vogue noted that Ronan’s ‘red-carpet style has had a winning streak, thanks in no small part to Elizabeth Saltzman’.
‘What you want a red-carpet look to do is land in the press over and over,’ says Saltzman. ‘It’s the same thing any advert can do. It can lead to people searching that person’s name or the designer’s name. It could encourage people start to buying clothes by that designer. It could move beauty and fragrance products. It could lead to more people being employed at a fashion house. Or it might just make someone t hink, I don’t know t hat act ress but, hey, I really like her.’