We are in the middle of awards season and on Sunday the world will find out who will win this year’s Oscar statuettes. Just as exciting is who will win the red carpet. The awards season is a billion-dollar business for fashion houses, and for the right star, the road from the limousines to the logo wall can be a million-dollar income.
Aside from the Met Gala in May, there’s no bigger platform than the Oscars to showcase luxury fashion brands. But this is a unique year in the competition – not because of the nightmarish strike that lasted well into autumn, but rather because most of the Best Actress nominees don’t have long-term contracts with major luxury brands, writes Lauren Sherman, about the red carpet war on the Puck website.
Doja Cat as Karl Lagerfeld’s cat Choupette, at the Met Gala 2023.
So far, the deals have given the biggest fashion houses – those with the ability to design, construct and customize a bespoke dress – an opportunity to benefit from exposure for a whole year, and sometimes for decades. Who doesn’t remember Nicole Kidman’s chartreuse Dior dress from 1997, Gwyneth Paltrow’s pink princess pouf, designed by Ralph Lauren and worn in 1999 or Björk’s swan dress complete with eggs being dropped on the carpet as she walked along – from 2001??
Historic: Björk’s swan dress designed by Marjan Pejoski from 2001. Photo: London Design Museum
Following the images from award season after award season, its pretty obvious which stars have the biggest brand deals. Emma Stone has a long-term contract with Louis Vuitton and mostly only wears Louis Vuitton. Jennifer Lawrence has a similar collaboration with Dior. Ryan Gosling has a long-standing collaboration with Gucci. These are long-term contracts that include both PR campaigns and red-carpet appearances, which for an actor can mean millions a year in extra income. There are also jewelry contracts. Emily Blunt has just landed a Tiffany contract, so this spring her entire styling will revolve around jewelry.
Emily Blunt collaborates with Tiffany and focuses on jewels. (facksimile)
According to Lauren Sherman Emma Stone is the only nominee for Best Actress this year who has a long-term contract with a fashion house. Meanwhile, Sandra Hüller from “Anatomy of a Fall” and star of the new Phoebe Philo campaign is rumored to have signed some kind of deal with a major luxury house, as is Carey Mulligan from “Maestro”. And Best Supporting Actress-nominee, America Ferrera from “Barbie” collaborates with super stylist Karla Welch, who has a knack for creating magic for the stars. Recently Ferrera was spotted wearing a pretty Dior dress which gave her lots of attention on social media. Could there be a Dior collaboration in store there, perhaps?
Emma Stone poses in one of Louis Vuitton’s many campaigns. (facsimile)
When Sherman was asked by Matt Belloni on the podcast The Town to name the most interesting fashion profile among actors right now she chose Greta Lee, known from “Russian Doll” and “The Morning Show”. Lee is styled by Daniel Goldberg, and so far this year she has been award season’s biggest red carpet star. According to Sherman, Lee has a collaboration with fashion house Loewe, a Spanish brand owned by LVMH, the world’s largest luxury group. Loewe is a fairly small brand within the group, but they have spent a lot of money investing in red-carpet outfits and rising stars like Greta Lee. It’s been mutually beneficial because as her star has risen, Loewe’s profile has increased with all the exposure.
It also happens that stars don’t get contracts with a particular fashion house. Lauren Sherman says that if someone turns up in a vintage outfit, or picks something themselves from a smaller brand name, it usually means they haven’t got a contract.
Greta Lee poses for Loewe. (facsimile)
No matter how much designer stuff is thrown at you, it doesn’t always work well. Recently, Love Island UK presenter Maya Jama was named one of the Brit Awards’ worst dressed for the outfits she wore from Harris Reed & Roberto Cavalli by WWD. Dua Lipa’s Schiaparelli Couture gown that she wore to the Golden Globes also received scathing criticism from Red Carpet Fashion Awards. Why? A dress can be as beautiful and exclusive as you like, but it’s still no guarantee of success. It has to flatter a person’s look and align with her image. Hence, stylists and PR agents
are actively working to spin the star’s narrative. The right outfit at the right time can be just the boost an actor needs to increase their popularity. A brilliant example is Margot Robbie. She previously collaborated with Chanel, and despite being both beautiful and popular, Robbie was always criticized by fashion journalists for the wrong choice of dress. But during the promo tour for the Barbie film, that changed. The collaboration with a new stylist, Andrew McClellan, who also styles Care Mulligan and Zoe Kravitz, was noticeably
fresher and much better suited to Robbie’s hyper-glamorous look.
Usually, the stylist and star have a bit of leeway when it comes to choosing a creation, but it all depends on the contract. Fashion houses can’t refuse a celebrity to wear an outfit from another designer, but they may put a clause in the contract that says they can’t mention it or post about it on social media. Legally binding? Hardly. But the industry is about friendship and loyalty. If you break unwritten rules once, you may be penalized by not getting a contract the next time.
