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Red Carpet Rundown

Red Carpet Rundown: Met Costume Institute Gala 2014

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Last night, the murky power plays of the fashion world and the transparent power plays of the film and television world came together for the Met’s Costume Institute Gala, a single gloriously awkward night of designer patronage in every sense of the word. This year’s honoree was Charles James, perhaps the master of midcentury American formalwear. Unsurprisingly, the dress code meant this was a red carpet filled with references to his work, which was overall a lot easier for most people to handle than last year, when the Costume Institute announced “punk couture” like it was a fart in an elevator and then ran away cackling. (Weirdly, the history of this particular red carpet suggests the more focused the exhibit, the easier it is to dress to theme.) It helps that Charles James was as adept with a striking pencil-skirt cocktail dress or slinky draped silk as he was at a showstopper ballgown, which means everyone could more or less please themselves and probably still be nodding at James somehow. This event has gotten bigger… Read more »

Red Carpet Rundown: Oscars 2014

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Last night’s Oscars was, as it usually is for red carpet season, the culmination of months of careful image planning, runway-sample scheming, and signing of insurance forms for rental earrings that cost so much they require a red-carpet pass for the security guard specifically assigned to make sure the earrings are all right. Today, members of the Stylist Guild rest quietly in their intentionally-shabby loft apartments, surveying what they have done. And I’m assuming they’re all plotting revenge, because after a season of being at war with the necklace-makers, nearly all of them made a last-second deal. Necklaces everywhere! Someone will PAY. (…the invoices of the many additional jewelry security guards required.) Given the dedication to red-carpet excellence that Lupita Nyong’o has evinced all season, I’m not sure there was ever going to be another contender for Look of the Night. However, my first glimpse of this dress was a still photo, and I thought, “It’s lovely, but is it magic?” Then she moved, and proved it was. This is, as it happens, one of… Read more »

Red Carpet Rundown: BAFTAs 2014

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Red-carpet season continues across the pond, as London hosted the BAFTAs on Sunday! They’re always interesting, with a mixture of UK actors and Hollywood celebs and such a wide range of outfits that I feel as if the Stylists’ Guild classifies BAFTA as a free-for-all and just does whatever. We’ll be making quick work of it – it’s a rising red-carpet presence, so the photos tend not to be of a Golden Globes density yet. It’s still red-carpet, of course, but I feel like this is something of a testing ground for looks that aren’t the standard. Let’s find out why! LOOKIN’ GREAT DIVISION Naomie Harris, look of the night. Clean lines, unusual color, amazing sleeves, and her styling is minimal and clean and totally eye-catching. The sort of gown described as “confident” or “strong.” In a Bedknobs and Broomsticks situation, this gown would be flying on its own to fight Nazis. Lupita Nyong’o, who has gracefully knocked aside the competition to be this year’s consistently best-dressed, and manages to make this quasi-mermaid ballgown, which… Read more »

Red Carpet Rundown: SAG Awards 2014

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Ah, the SAG Awards, where people momentarily stop pretending they’re here for anyone but the actors! Hilariously, that takes less acting than normal for them. Life is complicated. This year’s SAGs also got the memo about No Necklaces, which saved it from an awkward social situation in which the SAGs show up at a garden party and the Golden Globes and the Oscars suddenly pretend they have eye ache from the sun and disappear inside without even saying hello. This time, there’s no look of the night because it would be a four-way tie and this is more a super-congratulatory dinner party Oscar preview than a heavy-duty red carpet, so let’s just dive in. SO GREAT DIVISION Rita Moreno. I literally clapped at my desk when I saw this picture. Proceed, madam. Lupita Nyong’o, who is making this year’s red carpets for me. Fantastic color, simple cut, interesting but not overwhelming statement detail. I love it. (P.S. She won the well-deserved Best Supporting Actress award and I really hope that’s the tipoff for Oscar gold… Read more »

Red Carpet Rundown: Golden Globes 2014

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Even for an awards show where show-business people are intentionally plied with alcohol for several hours and then given microphones that are broadcasting nationally and told to improvise under pressure, last night’s Golden Globes were weird. And discounting the actual show, the results were enough to give you heartburn. (Some of this red carpet rundown ended up kind of editorial.) The good news is, thanks to the engine of publicity that drives Hollywood into a living parody of itself, everybody dressed up! Some of it was lovely! Some of it, we’ll talk about. Let’s get this out of the way: Look of the night: Lupita Nyong’o, who was completely robbed of her Best Supporting Actress award. Jennifer Lawrence is talented, but there is absolutely no comparison between the two performances. At least Lupita looks flat-out stunning in this. Whoever decided to keep accessories to a minimum made an excellent call (and, as it turns out, was on trend for the night). Hope she wears something just as striking to the Oscars, which she’d better win,… Read more »

Red Carpet Rundown: 2013 Emmys

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(Melissa Leo, winner for Guest Star in a Comedy, in a really interesting take on a tux, plus a tiny yet bulky blue scarf that stylists probably had to restrain themselves from yanking off her whenever she passed by.) The Emmys were last night! I watched the whole thing so I could help The A.V. Club livetweet it, and it turns out it was terrible, with the possible brief exception of the So You Think You Can Dance team breaking rank by putting effort into something. I do not regret the minutes I spent checking the quality of light on last night’s Boardwalk Empire instead. (They’re still in their early-season sowing, but as always, their actors are almost universally interesting, and there’s already enough looming disaster that the payoff should be really interesting.) But of course, the real interest was outside the Emmys, where stylist teams and harried makeup artists were brandishing platform heels and eyeshadow brushes to herald the beginning of red carpet season, where their brand loyalty will be pushed to the limit,… Read more »
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