Editor’s note
If you’re anything like me, you’ll love seeing stars walk the red carpet. There’s a part of me that thinks it’s terribly shallow and we should only worship celebrities for the amazing work they do – but I still go gaga seeing Hollywood A-listers dressed up to the nines as they sashay for the cameras.
The red carpet has been synonymous with Hollywood glitz and glamour since the 1920s. Apparently, when late showman Sid Grauman opened the Egyptian Theatre for the first-ever movie premiere, he rolled out a red carpet – a big “ta-da!” for show business – and the rest is history.
These days, the most famous red carpet has to be before the Academy Awards, but my favourite is the Met Gala, when the stars take all sorts of sartorial risks. I’m lucky enough to have gone to Los Angeles to see a couple of Golden Globes red carpets – and the star-spotting was off the charts! But to be honest, the cameras and our glossy magazine pages add all sorts of magic to the moment.
You only have to think back to January to realise the power of the red carpet, when all of Hollywood’s leading ladies turned up in black as a mark of solidarity to champion the #MeToo and Time’s Up campaigns. Truly unforgettable.
We still have to wait a few weeks for the next big red-carpet season to kick off, but in the meantime, our Style Director Leigh Matheson – who critiques stars’ fashion choices for our frocks pages every week of the year – has collated our annual Best Dressed of 2018 bonus magazine. There are 150 looks to drool over – the good, the bad and the ugly. Enjoy!