How Hollywood reclaimed the red carpet

The dress code might have been lifted for the Oscars, here’s how Hollywood reclaimed the red carpet, says Bethan Holt

Wrapping up an awards season where the red carpets have all been about wearing one colour – black – it was back to business-as-usual at the Oscars on Sunday night. Well, as usual as things can be after actresses have found ways to use their style choices – one of their most powerful platforms – to make a unified visual stand against inequality.

As the women arrived at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles in their rainbow of vibrant colours and glamorous sparkles, you couldn’t help but look at everything through a post-black prism. The Oscars has always been the place of fairytaleworthy dresses, but – right now, at least – everything seems to have a political edge and beg the question: what does it mean?

The all-black dress code for actresses attending the Golden Globes had been criticised for demanding conformity, but at the Academy Awards there was no such concern. Women were free to veer off in a glorious mishmash of directions that showcased, albeit subtly, their stances on the Me

Too and Time’s Up debates, as well as their personal predilections. From some, such as Meryl Streep and Emma Stone, there was a sense that their outfits had been selected to continue the more restrained, meaningful tone of this awards season; that they wouldn’t be back to playing the game just because the dress code had been lifted. For others – see Emily Blunt – it was about reclaiming the red carpet with unashamed femininity, celebrating the uniquely woman-centric opportunity it offers to indulge and dress up.

“I think it’s important something feels like the ultimate dream dress for the Oscars,” says Kate Young, the stylist responsible for carrying one of the night’s most chicest stars, Margot Robbie, through awards season. By the time the I, Tonya star stepped on to the red carpet, news that her dream dress (which required 550 hours of work and seven people to complete) would be Chanel was no secret, after the French fashion house announced she was to become an ambassador for the maison. Robbie is the perfect player of the game. Frances Mcdormand, meanwhile, rallies against it. In their own ways, she and Robbie were two of the night’s best-dressed. Here are the eight ways that Hollywood went to the Oscars in posttime’s Up style…