Why Oscars fashion is about so much more than the frock
As Hollywood prepares for the Oscars tonight, Caroline Leaper explains why the stakes have never been higher
Many of the actresses attending tonight’s Oscars will have known what they would be wearing, months before they even knew if they had been nominated for a statuette.
The relentless nature of the red carpet industry these days means that there is no such thing as a lastminute shopping panic. The dress will have been commissioned back in October, if bespoke, or reserved if it appeared in a designer’s ready-towear catwalk show, to avoid another celebrity and their stylist staking claims on it for one of the myriad other ceremonies that have taken place in the past month.
Of course, the Oscars is the big one: the finale of the film industry’s annual “awards season”. As such, it’s the night for which a celebrity and their stylist will save their best dress; the Golden Globes, SAGs and Baftas have all, in hindsight, been a warm-up.
What exactly constitutes the “best dress”, though, is a matter of great debate. Does the star want to use this publicity platform to transform their career, and position themselves as a trendsetter? Wearing something vintage or eco-friendly might make them seem in touch with climate causes, while wearing something by a cool new label might make them seem like they are in-the-know among high fashion circles.
One thing is certain: it’s never just a dress, it’s a personal branding exercise, and stakes are high for the teams behind the scenes.
“I’ve been thinking about what Saoirse might wear to the Oscars since I first saw months before the rest of the world,” Elizabeth Saltzman, the stylist to Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan, as well as Gwyneth Paltrow and Jodie Comer, recently told me. “She never, ever would think [in advance that she might be nominated for an Oscar] but I have to consider it because it’s so fast and furious that I don’t want to be scrambling for a dress. With any client, it’s a strategy, it’s a business plan. The publicists are in on it, the agents, the film directors… a whole team gets together to try to move somebody’s image forward.”
The red carpet is now an industry in its own right, employing hundreds of stylists, photographers and hair and make-up artists, with publicists working together to maximise what is essentially an advertising opportunity for attendees.
“[It] is its own micro-economy,” says Zanna Roberts Rassi, red carpet commentator for E! News and co-founder of Milk Makeup. “It’s much more complex than simply putting on a fabulous dress and being the best-looking version of yourself. Stars have to align with brands that represent their personal values. An authentic and strategic alignment is worth more than any advert and can be a major win-win for the celebrity, the team and the brand.”
The negotiations happening behind the scenes are intense, and lucrative for all involved.
From make-up to jewellery, shoes to handbags, every element of a star’s image can be sponsored.
“The cost of [giving someone a free dress] pales in comparison with the money exchanged through carefully negotiated brand deals and sponsorships that surround the red carpet,” explains Roberts Rassi. “The rise of this is a direct result of the rise in social media, and the influence of the people behind the scenes – make-up artists, hair stylists, nail technicians, trainers, dermatologists, nutritionists. Until recent years, stylists were somewhat in the background and uncelebrated. Now they are the gatekeeper of the celebrity’s image; they are image architects.”
When Margot Robbie attended the 2018 Oscars wearing Chanel, her team used the opportunity to announce that she was a new ambassador for the brand; the pinnacle of fashion-celebrity deals. Her stylist, Kate Young, had worked throughout the preceding season to strategise her image, dressing her in perfectly pitched designer looks until she had transformed the former actress into the toast of Hollywood.
Robbie is now committed via an advertising deal to wear Chanel for a certain number of appearances each year. Indeed, she has worn the label to almost every awards show she has attended so far this season. Michelle Williams does the same with Louis Vuitton, Zoë Kravitz with Saint Laurent, Charlize Theron with Dior… these are very common arrangements for women – and, increasingly, for men, too. Rami Malek works consistently with Saint Laurent, Jared Leto with Gucci and Leonardo DiCaprio with Giorgio Armani.
Newcomer actors and less famous stars will discover that, on the other side of the fence, however, brands can be incredibly strict about who they will and will not dress. A popular choice, couture gown designer Giambattista Valli recently told me of his “yes” and “no” lists. The aim of the exercise isn’t to be exclusive, but rather to protect his brand identity when a wrong alignment could ruin him: “I have a larger list of the people that I don’t mind not to dress,” he said, elegantly. “But it’s not from a snobbish point of view, it’s more that it doesn’t work for either of us.” Equally, the bigger a star becomes, the more clout they have. The red carpet industry will often price out smaller brands from even getting a look in on a big night like the Oscars. One small British jewellery brand, which had previously lent a rising star actress a sample pair of earrings to wear for a red carpet film premiere, was amazed to be slapped with a request for a £200,000 fee for the same “privilege” as soon as said starlet received an Oscar nomination.
At the Baftas last Sunday, organisers had tried to arrange a “green” dress code, inviting attendees to wear something with “eco” credentials – whether a new dress or suit made by a sustainable fashion brand, a vintage outfit, or simply something which they had worn before. In the event, most celebrities on the night didn’t partake; likely because they already had agreed to wear certain brands, and a week and-a-half ’s notice was too little to undo their business arrangements. Saoirse Ronan, in a Gucci gown made from offcut materials, was one of the only stars to give it a go.
With big money deals clashing with eco principles, sex appeal and glamour jarring with high fashion credibility, and established megabrands tussling with hot up-andcoming names, it has never been more complicated for a star to decide what to wear. For red carpet reporters like Roberts Rassi, the question is no longer the age-old “who are you wearing?” – but “why?”
‘IIt’s mumuch more complex compl than simplyimply putting on a fabulous fabu frock’