We all have those pieces we turn to time and again: that comfy pair of jeans you could wear seven days a week, the cozy sweater you layer repeatedly throughout winter, those go-with-everything sneakers you inevitably wear into the ground. Good ol’ closet staples that can simplify a hurried morning—and ground those trendier items you bought on a whim—can feel pretty essential.
While they can be perceived as boring or safe (we’re the first to admit the dullness of a white blouse sans nuance), a thoughtful selection of basics guarantees smart style no matter the occasion. No one knows this better than the celebrity stylists responsible for the A-lister outfits we routinely look to for inspiration.
“I believe that you should dress to fit your needs,” says Cristina Ehrlich, who styles Laura Dern, Tina Fey, and Mandy Moore, among others. “If you’re someone who lives by the rules of a uniform, you probably have it down. For the trend lover, just remember that your wardrobe will never be complete unless you have the foundation to carry it season to season.”
A fan of easy-to-try trends like the current hair accessory resurgence, Sarah Slutsky, who’s worked with Debra Messing and Aisha Dee, says basics help curb shopping impulses: “I try to stick to classics and then invest in a few hero pieces that pair well with my forever pieces. I find this the best way to get the most out of my wardrobe and also prevents impulsive purchasing.” She also sticks to “shopping tests” when acquiring new pieces. (“I’m a believer that anything you buy should pair with a white button down or classic pumps and be a great evening option,” she says.) “When I get a bit creative or feel the need for something [that makes] more of a statement, I always apply the denim test: If it’s a top, would I wear it with jeans? [For] a bottom, would I pop on a denim shirt [with it]? If it’s a dress, does it go with a jean jacket? This keeps me honest about the wearability and keeps me true to my personal style.”
Jason Bolden, stylist to Camila Mendes, Yara Shahidi, Mindy Kaling, and more, lives by a “less is always best” moto: “The idea of leisure is luxury to me. Simple pieces get you there—it’s about constantly re-thinking [them]. Nothing is chicer than showing up to a dinner in a black hoodie with jeans, a pair of heels, and amazing jewelry.” He endorses the “take the last thing off that you put on” rule, where you “keep it simple and buy what you like. It’s more about building a uniform. I’m not into the trends of it all.”
To spur a more creative approach to wardrobe staples, we sought the advice of these three experts. And they shared the 15 pieces they can’t live without, to inspire your own 2019 shopping. Their insights, ahead.
The red carpet might last an hour before an awards show, but those perfectly done-up, put-together looks are the result of weeks, sometimes months, of preparation. The day of an event, a celebrity and her glam team might spend hours making sure every eyelash, zipper, and button is where it’s supposed to be. You see some of it on the ‘gram: of celebrities idly waiting in their cars for their turn on the red carpet, laying fully horizontal to not crease their clothes (Naomi Harris at the 2017 Golden Globes); of them arriving in large vans to accommodate chiffon trains (J.Lo at the premiere of Second Act); of them carefully layering shapewear underneath it all (Rachel Bloom and her “Sexy Golden Globey Song.”) A lot of these moments are specific to the red carpet, but there are plenty of hacks that Hollywood stylists employ to get celebrities ready for any big event: A special lotion to make heels less uncomfortable, on-the-fly solutions to zippers that will not budge… They’ve got all the answers.
“I like to MacGyver a situation,” says stylist Erica Cloud, whose clients include Sophia Bush, Kacey Musgraves, and Christina Ricci. “You’ve gotta Project Runway it—I have A, B, and C, let’s figure out how it will be good.”
“Most people will have two or three hours [getting ready]—that’s the hair, makeup, manicure, everything,” says Sophie Lopez, Kate Hudson’s longtime stylist who’s now working with Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira, the stars of Roma. “That always runs late, and the stylist gets 15 minutes.”
Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira.
Sure, these professionals come prepared. They’ll pre-spray the chiffon and silk with Static Guard, or bring invisible thread in case a zipper malfunction requires them to sew someone into a dress (that’s happened to Lopez). But even so, they have to be ready for a wrench to be thrown into the plan.
Allison Janey.
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin
Tara Swennen styles Allison Janney, who she describes as “almost six feet one inches—she’s a very, very tall drink of water.” For high-profile events, they lean on custom garments, like the off-the-shoulder Christian Siriano gown Janney wore to the Golden Globes. “Christian posted it on his Instagram—I literally sent the screenshot to him and his team and was like, ‘What is this? I’m done. Hold it for me,’” she remembers.
For the accessories, “I wanted a little something unique,” especially given the turquoise shade of the fabric. “We found that David Webb piece and just thought it was divine—but then, I was on vacation with my family and David Webb called me and was like, ‘We hate to do this but we sold the necklace.’ I asked kindly, because obviously this was a very expensive piece, if, you know, that person would want [their necklace] to be worn by the current Oscar holder. And she replied, so it was really, really nice.”
D’arcy Carden.
VALERIE MACON
Sometimes, these decisions happen mere hours before celebrities are set to walk a carpet. Cloud didn’t finalize D’Arcy Carden’s Golden Globes look until 1 A.M. the day of the event, after a flight delay pushed their final fitting: “I had pre-pulled jewelry because I knew it was going to be a tight turnaround—and of course it was a Sunday and nobody is open on Sunday. I just had to guesstimate.”
It was The Good Place star’s first Globes, and she walked the carpet in a bold, tiered Rosie Assoulin gown, an Edie Parker box clutch in a matching shade of orange, and contrasting green hoop earrings from Irene Neuwirth. “To me, it felt really fresh and different,” says Cloud. “On the whole, I think we all are kind of looking to be inspired.”
These might be #HollywoodProblems, but there are certain issues that come up simply because you’re a person wearing a piece of clothing: The neckline is slipping, the strap sits uncomfortably, that sweat stain under your arm only keeps growing… Over time, a lot of the insider must-haves in case of an emergency—like the fashion tape and sweat protectors that stylists carry in their kits—have become available to the public, thanks to brands like Hollywood Fashion Secrets. But stylists have a few more tricks to solve common fashion woes.
Kristen Stewart and Allison Janney.
Cloud, Lopez, and Swennen shared the secrets that can make getting dressed that much easier—whether you have the golden ticket to the Oscars or not.
Try CBD to ease the pain of uncomfortable shoes. The CBD beauty trend might be the best thing that’s ever happened to red-carpet dressing. Cloud always brings Lord Jones’ High CBD Formula body lotion when she’s getting a client ready for an event, specifically for their feet.
“It’s a great thing to put on the ball of your foot or even your heel or the tops of your toes, [as] kind of numbing agent,” she says. “I usually do it about five minutes before we put the shoes on—not too early, so that it has the most lasting effect.” (Actress Laura Harrier swears by this one. “It works,” she told Glamour at the Critics’ Choice Awards. “And CBD won’t get you high just from your feet—can I say that?”)
A brand called PreHeels also makes a blister-prevention spray that serves that same purpose. Swennen’s a fan: “It’s almost like a band-aid, before even putting on the shoe. If you think it’s going to rub or it’s going to irritate you in any way, shape, or form, you literally have this clear film on your foot or ankle.”
Photograph yourself in the look ahead of time. When you put a lot of time and energy into planning an outfit, you don’t want to be surprised by how something looked after the fact when you check Instagram—or, in the case of celebrities, when a photo is published all over the Internet. That’s why stylists take photos of their clients fully dressed, from every angle, to make sure everything from the slouch of the sleeve to the fall of the skirt is how they pictured it (and that bright lights don’t turn a garment suddenly sheer). Swennen does this process twice: “Before they leave, so that you can really gauge what it’s going to look like,” and again with a Polaroid or another type of strong flash, which “gives you the best idea of what the light is going to be.”
Aparicio.
Steve Granitz
Check the zipper before you get dressed. Usually, stylists will have at least one fitting with a client ahead of a big event, where she’ll try on the garment and assess whether alterations need to be made. This is the time to troubleshoot any potential problem areas.
Swennen always looks at the zippers, specifically ones at the seams. “They’re the first things to give,” she says. “Our worst nightmare is someone sitting down and the zipper popping.” Once you’ve landed on what you’re wearing, check the zippers before putting it on, to avoid a rip or getting stuck. Speaking of…
Turn to soap to move a stubborn zipper. Normally, the zippers on formal wear are extremely delicate (you don’t want a big, plastic clasp visible on the back of a gown). The downside: That can make them hard to open and close. When they get stuck on a seam, the answer is never to pull harder. According to Lopez, this fix might be sitting by your sink. “When the zipper is really tight and you can’t get it over a seam, you can rub a bar of soap onto the area where the friction is,” she says. “It kind of lubricates it and then you can pull the zipper up.” Swennen notes that the wax of a crayon or a banana peel can help unjam a zipper, too.
Remember, there’s no disaster a black bodysuit can’t fix. So, you spilled something on yourself right before you have A Thing. It’s a situation that happens far too often—so much so that Swennen brings a plain black bodysuit in her kit, to swap for a blouse or wear as a camisole when disaster strikes. “Those actually really come in handy,” she says. “God forbid there’s an accident, like they get some avocado on their shirt during a press day, it’s an easy, quick switch.” They’re so versatile, you don’t have to worry about your Plan B clashing with your original outfit—a tell-tale sign that something happened. Swennen’s partial to Wolford’s styles.
Kacey Musgraves.
Pacific Press
Don’t be afraid to improvise with scissors. Getting a celebrity dressed for a red carpet is normally a race against the clock, but it forces stylists to get creative with problem-solving. Often, that leads to game-changing revelations, many of which are the direct result of having faith in your scissor-wielding skills. That’s how Cloud discovered that nipple covers make for good blister pads in a pinch.
“One time, the moleskin [of the foot pad] was too thick, and I need to figure out what to do—I had nipple covers and was like, ‘I’m cutting these up right now.’ They’re really thin, made of fabric, and have little paddings on it. Stick it either on yourself or on the shoe. It’s a great buffer.”
This kind of on-the-fly thinking also led Cloud to find a solution when looking for something Mickey Sumner could wear underneath the sheer, netted Rachel Comey top for a Golden Globes after party.
“We tried it with a white bandeau, which seemed to break up the look too much, so we went with nude—but I looked at the camisoles, and they’re all so sheer, not tight or transparent enough,” she says. She did like the look of a Commando slip dress they had tried on earlier, “so I just cut the bottom and turned it into a camisole.”
Mickey Sumner.
Swennen recalls once cutting up socks to fashion some sleeves for a client. “Let’s say a girl is wearing like a short-sleeve shirt and a jacket, but we wanted to sort of elongate the sleeve,” she says. “Maybe it was altered too short—we just cut the end of a sock and use it almost as if it were a sweater coming down.” Simple as that.
Use a scarf to avoid makeup stains—and for a satisfying reveal. Cloud keeps a scarf in her kit at all times, not for accessorizing, but to keep the garment makeup stain-free. “I put it over the person’s head when they put their dress on, so they don’t get makeup on it,” she says. It’s a practical, for preserving the glam and the clothes. But it’s also one that adds an element of surprise to that final moment. Once the look’s been zipped and buttoned, Cloud will pull off the scarf. “It’s like a reveal,” she says.
Follow the two-tug rule. Lopez sees her clients off with a list of reminders (“They’re usually forgotten by the time they arrive,” she says)—one of which is applicable to anyone who might be sitting down in between getting dressed and arriving to their final destination: “When they get out of the car, I tell them to do two strong tugs down,” she explains. This will help move any fabric that’s moved upwards in the seat back where it’s supposed to, which smooths out a skirt. Voilà.
Ana Colón is a fashion editor at Glamour. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @anavcolon.
Amandla Stenberg knows firsthand how the right haircut can change more than just your outward appearance. In a new essay for InStyle, Stenberg discusses how the actor’s relationship with hair has changed over the years. It turns out Stenberg’s recent decision to chop off hair for an upcoming movie was a game changer.
In the essay Amandla describes the recent decision to shorten, little by little, the afro that had become “a symbol of my self-acceptance” and a profession of “loving my blackness.” “As soon as I got tired of that [look] being my identity, I cut my hair shorter,” Stenberg writes. “I was curious how that might affect people’s perception of my gender too, so I kept cutting it shorter and shorter. I wanted a hairstyle that felt less feminine.” So when the director of upcoming film Where Hands Touch told Stenberg to chop off hair to play a biracial teen in Nazi Germany, it was sink-or-swim. “I wanted to truly connect with my character, and that meant understanding firsthand what it was like to live without hair,” the actor wrote.
The cut, however, ended up bringing enriching Amandla’s personally. “Shaving my head was wild. I felt a sense of complete neutrality. It was so freeing. This summer I came out as gay, and I must say, having no hair made me feel even more comfortable with my gender and sexuality,” Stenberg explained. “My hair is still short, but I let it grow out a bit to give myself more options. Sometimes it’ll be a more masculine look with little-boy curls, or I’ll part it in the middle and slick it down to look more feminine. The best part: It’s totally up to me.”
PHOTO: John Sciulli/Getty Images
Stenberg, who stars next in The Hate U Give, also writes about accepting natural hair. “As a kid I was endlessly frustrated by my hair,” Stenberg said. It didn’t help that the stylists on the set of The Hunger Games, one of Stenberg’s very first films, had no idea how to style natural hair. “They also openly expressed frustration about how it was too challenging. I wasn’t all that self-conscious, but I remember very clearly feeling that my hair wasn’t acceptable, that something was wrong with it,” the actor recalled.
Once again, it was a haircut that changed everything. “When I hit 16, though, I got my hair cut by someone who knew black hair and black curl patterns. That haircut changed the game for me. It brought out my curls in a beautiful way. I learned to appreciate my natural hair texture, and I realized that it was really special if I let it do its thing,” Stenberg wrote. Since then, Amandla has learned the power and significance of natural hair.
“Black hair carries the weight of our ancestors and our tradition. Almost all black women grow up sitting with their moms, whether it’s once a day or once a week, having their hair combed through and then getting it twisted or braided or whatever it may be,” Stenberg wrote. “There’s something so beautiful about that act. It carries all the love, tenderness, strength, and uniqueness about where we’re from. It’s something most black women share, even if every person’s curl pattern is different.”
“Red-carpet hair“once meant long, straight, and shiny—no matter what your natural texture. But as Hollywood (finally!) grows more diverse, and stars like Janelle Monáe and Kerry Washington make it a point to show off creative styles that run the gamut from jewel-encrusted waves to teased-out Afros and intricate braids, we’re seeing individual flair become the norm rather than the exception. Meet four top hairstylists who have been instrumental in bringing about that major change.
PHOTO: Design by Aimee Sy.
Lacy Redway, 32, is one of the few women—not just women of color—in what is traditionally the boys’ club of high-fashion hairstylists. Having started out assisting runway and editorial greats like Guido Palau and Eugene Souleiman, she’s now outpacing them as the A-lister for everything from magazine covers to awards shows. “I like to do untraditional hairstyles on untraditional textures,” she says. “For example, doing a Marcel wave on natural hair, the way I did with Uzo Aduba [at the 2018 SAG Awards]. I love being able to educate everyone on black culture through my work and making people feel their most beautiful.”
She knew early on this was her dream job. “I was the girl in middle school braiding everyone’s hair for $10. That’s how I got my start: practicing on friends, doing zigzag cornrows and other designs. Braiding has always been a core part of my foundation, so it still comes up a lot in my work.”
The hair conversation is changing. “With there being so many more roles opening for actors of color and women, everyone has become more comfortable embracing what makes them their most authentic self. One day you can wear natural hair and one day a wig, and that’s OK. It’s more about celebrating who you are and not being put in a box.”
But there’s still work to be done. “I’m often the only person of color on set for a major photo shoot, so I try to make it my business to help other women of color. We’re still the minority. I hope that will change so we are able to feel like we belong on these sets.”
Her kit essential:Nexxus Comb Thru Volume Finishing Mist ($14, ulta.com). “This is my go-to hairspray for all textures. When I’m on a shoot where I have eight different styles to do, it’s light enough that I can easily brush it out and transition the look.”
Tennessee-born Nai’vasha Johnson’s breakthrough moment was styling Zendaya’s pixie for the 2015 Grammys. Now her versatile touch with everything from voluminous curls to box braids has made the 40-year-old one of the busiest stylists in showbiz. She’s a student of all things hair: Her home is scattered with mannequins that are subject to her every styling whim, and she spends days researching historical references and consulting runway reports for inspiration. “I continuously study trends and shapes,” she says. “Studying and practicing are the most important tools to sharpen my skills.”
It’s good to stick up for what you want. “Clients are starting to put their foot down and say, ‘Listen, if you want me on your runway, then I need someone who understands my hair and my journey to be accessible to me—period.’”
Homework always pays off. “A lot of times I look to older celebs, like Diana Ross or Eartha Kitt. I really reach back and try to go from there. Opening up your books—I mean encyclopedias, not Google—makes you open up your mind and learn a thing or two.”
Don’t let others define you. “I’m known for doing really funky colors on textured hair. The color is as bright as it would be on straight hair, and the hair maintains its texture without damage. But I don’t want to be boxed in as a black hairdresser. I want to be known as a phenomenal hairdresser who knows her craft and artistry and happens to do a great job on African and African American hair.”
Her kit essential:Hicks Edges Pomade ($14, walmart.com). “I use it on the hairline for a clean look and also for super-tight ponytails. It gives maximum hold without feeling heavy.”
Just like the musicians she styles, Nikki Nelms has got range—you’ll see her create everything from Bardot-inspired bouffants to Afro puffs adorned with rolling googly eyes on her clients. Safety pins, earrings, foliage, and pom-poms are all fair game for her hair art. And whether it’s seashell-adorned braids on Solange Knowles or a platinum blond pixie on Zoë Kravitz, Nelms’ looks are always eye-catchingly cool, and her influence trickles down to the masses. “Celebrities should lead the way and make people at home think, I want to do that,” she says.
Think outside the box. “Using things that have nothing to do with hair make [any style] more interesting. I’m always pushing myself to be unconventional. Sometimes I don’t even have things in my kit because it forces me to get more creative on-site.”
A hair statement isn’t always a political statement. “It’s not a movement when someone decides to be themselves. When you go on a red carpet as a celebrity and choose to be your natural self and people consider that a movement or a protest, I think that says more about the interpreter than the interpreted. What is the big deal with me wearing what I was born with?”
She’s on a mission for the next gen. “I want to show little black girls how amazing we are without needing to be cosigned. We don’t need to be imitated to know our worth.”
Her kit essential:Sebastian Shaper Plus Hairspray ($19, ulta.com). “I like to spray this on my rattail comb, then run it over the hair to smooth down flyaways.”
Takisha Sturdivant-Drew, 42, has always been focused: She got her cosmetology license, landed a job in a Manhattan salon, and moved out on her own all before the age of 20. It was that same salon job that led to her first celebrity client, Kerry Washington, with whom she still works more than a decade later. And while she’s not afraid to tease coils to the max (google Washington’s Met Gala Afro) or play with butt-grazing platinum wigs (she has her own extensions line called TSD Hair), she also encourages her clients to maintain optimum hair health so they can effortlessly embrace their natural texture when they want to. “I’m always telling people things like: Put this product in your hair because it doesn’t have that much alcohol, use conditioner, or don’t use the flatiron every day,” she says. “I educate them along the way.”
It takes one person to start changing what’s “normal.” “When we walk in with natural hair, [people are] like, ‘This hair is so difficult. How do you do it? Can I touch it?’ The first thing they want to do is blow it out. Kerry was one of the first to have natural hair on the red carpet. Now natural hair is just a look.”
Add some wow factor. “I love using my extensions and wigs in a creative way. Cynthia Erivo’s hair is super-short—maybe two to three inches—but when I gave her two braids past her butt, it was the biggest hit because [it captured] her edgy personality.”
She gets her ideas by steering clear of trends. “I like to be different. If everyone is straight, I want to go big and curly.I look at Instagram to see what people are doing, then I change it up. Like for the Met Gala, I knew everyone was going to have a crown. So when it came to styling Kerry, we went with the Lorraine Schwartz jewelry sitting in the hair instead.”
“I think people are aware, now, of a power imbalance, and it’s something that leads to abuse,” Meryl Streep, dressed in custom black Vera Wang, explained to E!’s Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet at last night’s Golden Globes. “It’s led to abuse in our own industry, and it’s led to abuse across the domestic workers’ field of work. It’s in the military, it’s in Congress, it’s everywhere. And we want to fix that. And we feel sort of emboldened in this particular moment to stand together in a thick black line dividing then from now.”
And so went last night’s red carpet: Glamorous actresses in glamorous black gowns, explaining why they were all wearing the same color to one of the most glamorous events of the year.
It’s a plot point that’s been developing since December, when rumors began circulating of an unofficial dress suggestion that was later revealed as a full-fledged “let’s all wear black” protest last week, with the announcement of the antiharassment legal defense fund Time’s Up, backed by hundreds of actresses including Eva Longoria and Kerry Washington. And public opinion on the fashion-minded protest was mixed from the outset: Some dismissed the black dress code as a lazy form of protest—after all, how many times have celebrities worn pins on the red carpet to bring attention to one cause or another, and what has it really done?—while others hailed stars for not just planning to show up to the red carpet as if everything was normal. Plus, in the age of slogan T-shirts, it’s a form of activism that’s grown to be expected.
PHOTO: Christopher Polk/NBC
As these conversations played out publicly—in the press, on social media, among celebrities themselves—there was a different commotion happening behind the scenes. With just a few weeks to go, Hollywood stylists and designers were in full-on panic mode, given that most red-carpet gowns are custom-made and planned well in advance.
Christian Siriano, who dressed a number of stars for last night’s Globes (including Christina Hendricks, America Ferrera, and Kelly Clarkson) tells Glamour of the last-minute scramble: “We did one finished piece that was in a bright fuchsia that we completed and had to change.”
Still, this type of down-to-the-wire switch isn’t something completely foreign to designers who design for the red carpet. (Lest we forget: Just last year Siriano made not one but two dresses for This Is Us‘ Chrissy Metz to choose from for the Golden Globes, and she ended up wearing neither.) “I have learned in this business that sadly things change last-minute all the time, so it didn’t bother us,” he says.
Designing gowns for the 2018 Golden Globes did prove to be a tight rope to walk for Siriano, though. The women he dressed “still want[ed] to be exciting, glamorous, but just in this solidarity way, where they’ll all making one powerful statement.”
For some of the brands represented on the red carpet, there was an understanding that the blackout protest was more involved than lending out all their black samples. Prabal Gurung, who dressed Kerry Washington and Issa Rae for the Globes, published a touching letter on his website hours before the Globes, writing: “The 2018 Golden Globe Awards has significant potential to alter the course of this historic movement. It is a moment where these admirable, strong, and brave actresses have decided to use fashion as a means of protest. We—the fashion industry—should be proud to help amplify and visually communicate such a powerful agenda.” What’s more, he, along with Calvin Klein, Sachin & Babi, and other brands who dressed celebrities for the event, also stepped up to donate money to Time’s Up’s legal fund. Because of that, this year, the celebrity and fashion brand relationship proved just how powerful it could be.
Meanwhile, in the days leading up to the Globes, top Hollywood stylists, from Micaela Erlanger to Karla Welch, posted photos of racks of black clothing, hinting at what was to come on the red carpet—all while rumors abounded that there was a shortage of black gowns, and behind-the-scenes fighting about which actresses were getting the best black dresses, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Celebrities were taking the dress code very seriously.
Welch—who dressed Elisabeth Moss, Sarah Paulson, Tracee Ellis Ross, America Ferrera, and Amy Poehler for the Golden Globes—was quick to call the night a success: “I think anything that encourages and brings women to use their very powerful platforms is big,” she tells Glamour. “Symbolism is one of the most potent forms of dissent.”
Though celebrities appeared eager to discuss their reasons for wearing black to the Golden Globes, the time-honored red-carpet interview proved to be one of the trickiest parts of the evening. One could argue it would be a tough dynamic from the get-go: The aesthetics and glitz weren’t supposed to be the centerpiece of the evening, and yet actresses had collaborated with top designers on gowns that took hours of handwork and thousands of dollars to make. On the ground, correspondents seemed to skirt the “Who are you wearing?” question altogether—and when it was brought up, it almost felt taboo.
PHOTO: Frazer Harrison
“The red-carpet interviewers on E! and NBC struggled a bit with how to handle a red carpet turned over to a singular color and message,” Tom Fitzgerald, who publishes the blog Tom + Lorenzo with his husband, Lorenzo Marquez, tells Glamour. But according to many experts and fashion enthusiasts, simply avoiding the topic altogether is a disservice: “Those looks were put together by a bunch of people who worked hard behind the scenes,” Fitzgerald says. “It’s not wrong or frivolous to expect a red-carpet event to have a focus on fashion, and indeed, almost all of the attendees stuck to high-glamour, high-end looks from major houses, as per the usual.”
There’s a symbiotic relationship between fashion brands and actresses whereby designers lend, gift, and sometimes even pay for their creations to be worn on the red carpet, for the huge exposure it generates. It might not make it into the preshow broadcast beyond the “Who are you wearing?” question, but it’s an economy in and of itself—and one that’s highly valuable to both parties. By deeming these conversations frivolous or even contrary to the cause, you’re glossing over the work of largely women-led teams of stylists, designers, and seamstresses working to make these red-carpet looks happen. Not to mention: Fashion is a revenue stream that by in large favors female celebrities. (Not many can compete with the reported $15 million Jennifer Lawrence was reportedly paid for her endorsement deal with Dior, for instance.) Why get rid of it?
Fitzgerald’s suggestion is to find another way to incorporate fashion into the red carpet, without making actresses feel like their dresses are the only thing they will be asked to talk about. “Someone could secure that info before they step on camera and just put it up on screen while they’re talking,” he says. “‘Nicole Kidman is wearing a Dior Couture gown’ at the bottom of the screen takes nothing…away from the interview.”
PHOTO: Christopher Polk/NBC
The red-carpet missteps didn’t end there, though, according to some. Heather Cocks, who publishes the blog Go Fug Yourself along with Jessica Morgan, wonders why men, who by in large also participated in last night’s fashion protest wearing all black and Time’s Up pins, weren’t asked about the protest on the red carpet, as if saying the fight to end Hollywood’s sexual abuse and harassment problem was just a women’s thing. “It was disappointing how few men were called on the carpet about the state of affairs and what they intend to contribute,” she explains. “Women can do it alone if we have to, because we’re awesome, but we shouldn’t have to.”
In spite all of this, what turned out to be the biggest surprise of the night for spectators was how successful of a fashion night it ultimately was: Tracee Ellis Ross wowed in a Marc Jacobs gown and turban custom made in black, Claire Foy looked utterly chic in a Stella McCartney tuxedo, and Millie Bobby Brown in a futuristic Calvin Klein minidress earned her place on best-dressed-of-all-time lists. As cliché as it is to say, women last night made black their own, and red-carpet fashion didn’t suffer for it—if anything, it made it one of the most interesting red carpets in years.
As for what the fashion-minded protest from last night’s awards will end up meaning, it’s not exactly clear. And maybe that’s besides the point. Time’s Up has already raised almost $16 million and counting. And it’s hard to ignore that last night’s blackout got a conversation going.
“Within the constraints of a televised awards show that actors are attending, I think it was quite substantial,” Welch said. “Society has told us to instinctually say, ‘Oh, that’s not good enough’ before we actually digest it.”
