On Oscar Gowns

Kids, please just click on all the images here to see the larger versions. Thanks! – PB

This post was prompted by a colleague of mine who wanted to know what I thought of this article, which celebratesOscar-winning costume designer Jenny Beavan for refusing to dress up like a “Disney Princess” at the Oscars.

It’s an incredibly ignorant article, actually, and not even feminist.

First of all, I do agree that Jenny Beavan rocked in her faux leather M & S jacket and comfortable pants and shoes. She’s a well-respected costume designer and her outfit connected perfectly to “Mad Max’s” post-apocalyptic vision and Australian biker aesthetic. She doesn’t feel like wearing make-up or doing her hair – good for her.

But to compare her over/against actresses in couture gowns (ie, “Princess Gowns”) is divisive and stupid.

Actors make their living by their appearance. Costume designers do not.
How do people not get this?

And there is much more to consider for those who like to poo-poo the Red Carpet frenzy: it’s an entire industry now and there is a lot of money to be made by making Oscar night headlines whether one is nominated or not.

Let’s have a little history lesson.

When the Oscars began, nominees walked into the building amid popping flashcubes or whatever it was photographers were using in the 1930’s. There wasn’t any “360 Cam” that would allow viewers at home to instantly examine a gown from all conceivable angles because the show wasn’t filmed.

At some point, the Academy Awards became televised, and stars dressed to promote their image as glamorous or wholesome or wacky originals (Cher, we still miss you!).

Then Miss Joan Rivers came on the scene with her acid barbs and her irresistible scrutinizing of the rich and famous, and the viewing public ate it up, launching all sorts of red carpet coverage for the Oscars and most other major award shows (eg, the Grammys, the Emmys, the Golden Globes). Think about all the magazine, internet and cable coverage of just celebrity award red carpets. Cha-ching. Big, big dollars for producers, on-air talent, advertisers, techies, production assistants, limo drivers, paparazzi, opinionated bloviators like Giuliana Rancic and Kelly Osbourne! This is major money.

Stars finally figured out that they didn’t look enjoy being dished by Mr. Blackwell or Joan or other commentators, so they started hiring stylists. Voila! Rachel Zoe was born, and the several reality TV shows about Rachel Zoe and other people like Rachel Zoe.

More $$$$$ for everyone.

In the 1990’s, the brilliant editor of Vogue, Anna Wintour (whatever you may think of her, she is undeniably brilliant) started bringing actors and designers together for Vogue editorials and photoshoots, and greatly influenced the trend that still drives the Oscars Red Carpet: stars wearing borrowed designer gowns as a way to promote their own brand and the designer brand. In some cases, such as the relationship between actress Renee Zellweger and designer Caroline Herrera, the partnership was artistic. Zellweger looks fantastic in Herrera’s clothes and often chose to wear them to awards ceremonies. Let’s have a look. This first gown absolutely MADE THE FRONT PAGES in 2001. Zellweger wasn’t nominated for anything — she had just released “Bridget Jones Diary,” but she snatched the headlines from the winners. It was a huge moment for Zellweger and Herrera both [click to enlarge]. These gowns are the work of a woman designer, feminists:

Here are a couple of other times Zellweger knocked it out of the park in a Herrera design. These appearances are important! They make an impression on industry insiders. They can lead to jobs for WOMEN:

Perfect partnership.

It makes me so frustrated and angry when feminists dismiss dressing gorgeously as sexist oppression. Look, it’s fine if you have zero appreciation for the fashion as a form of art, but beauty is a transcendent value, not a political one. I find nothing but depressing ugliness in unkempt hair, the “natural” look, comfortable attire and shoes that exist merely to cover the foot or to support it in its daily task of getting the human body around from one place to the other.

Here’s another moment when an actress in a gown caused the public to get way up on its hind legs and notice someone. Nicole Kidman got a huge amount of favorable publicity after appearing in this chartreuse Dior gown designed by John Galliano and that’s good for an actor. They want and need that. Actors understand and appreciate costuming. They understand how important clothing is for their image. This isn’t oppression. It’s art and capitalism.
(By the way, Joan Rivers thought the gown was horrendous and made retching noises when she saw it. She didn’t get it at all, and the dress went on to make Best Ever Oscar lists).

Look at that embroidery. That is an ancient craft, okay?

Here’s Halle Berry in the drop-dead gorgeous Elie Saab gown she wore the night she won the Oscar for Best Actress. I mean, if you can’t appreciate the design, construction, fit, beauty of exquisite textile draped perfectly around stunning female form — !!

This combination of beautiful woman and breathtakingly original gown equaled headlines the next day that brought attention to the actress, the designer, the film industry, the film itself (“Monster’s Ball”), and the political issue of racism in Hollywood. The movie was hugely problematic, yes. But she made headlines and got millions of people talking about issues of representation.

You want to call these “princess dresses” any more?

Here she is again, because why not.

Oh, and P.S., the ring is the famous pumpkin diamond worth millions. Borrowed, of course.

And speaking of borrowed jewels on nominees, why do you think Fred Leighton puts all these ladystars in borrowed gems on Oscars Night? Because of the “male heteropatriarchal gaze?”

Hell, no!

Speaking strictly for myself, I have loved looking at stunning jewels since I was a wee tiny girl, way before I ever knew that I was oppressed by the patriarchy. Like many women, I am part raccoon and I love all the shiny things!
I will buy them and wear them and keep them in drawers in my own closet and feel great joy when I clip them into my ears or slip them onto my fingers or fasten them around my neck.

It’s a potent combination of art and capitalism and beauty and delight.
The entertainment industry is brilliant at selling it. We buy it. Or we borrow it. Unless we’re Liz. If we’re Liz, we OWN it.

La Liz in, like, $4 million bucks worth of rocks.

All of these talented women can afford their own jewels. Let’s not forget that. They are superstars with huge global recognition and power in the entertainment industry. Not paid as much as men, and not as powerful as men — yet. But calling the shots today in a way that no women in the industry have been able to yet in history. These are not Disney princesses. Stop it. Stop denigrating art and beauty as unfeminist.

Now, I encourage you to go back again and look at these women in these gowns and notice the amazing work being done under the dress by darts, tucks, hems, bodices, netting, petticoats, corsetry, bras, Spanx, and boob tape. I have at times been supported and shaped in costume by all of those magnificent achievements of engineering and I can tell you that I do not feel at all oppressed when I choose to wear them. I am glad that I don’t have to wear a corset every day. I am also happy to have a few in my lingerie drawer, because just like high heels, I have found these accoutrements of femininity delightful since way before I found out that boys like to look at girls in sexy underwear and heels.

Bringing this back full circle to Jenny Beavan, it is not accurate, fair or productive to set women against each other in this shallow way. Jenny Beavan is a behind-the-scenes artist whose livelihood is in creating the fantasy that actors will bring to life on screen. She is not even speaking the same sartorial vernacular as Charlize Theron on Oscar night, whose job it is to be a MOVIE STAR and to thrill billions of viewers across the globe with the spectacle of Hollywood glamour. Here she is, in a Dior gown with jewels by legendary Harry Winston, who has been decking ladystars in diamonds since before Marilyn was a pup.

I see from a news item that Miss Theron was styled by Leslie Fremar of Canada. Now the stylists get their own credit!

I understand that there are ethical and moral issues with Hollywood, with capitalism, with the diamond industry and with the unrealistic and materialist and plastic standards of beauty peddled by the entertainment industry. I’m with you 100% on that.

But we can critique all of those things and still appreciate the art of fashion, the history of costuming and the aesthetic power of stunning human beings in stunning clothing. We can fight the patriarchy without hating an industry that provides jobs for thousands and thousands of women, who have historically been the seamstresses,the beaders, the dressmakers and the lace-workers — and respect what they do and advocate for their fair treatment and visibility.

Acting is the art of illusion. Actors are artists who appreciate the artists who costume them. Once a year, they dress to the nines to play the roles of The Most Glamorous People On The Planet in order to indulge in self-congratulations and to promote their industry. It’s all ridiculous, but it is also an opportunity for us mere mortals to attend a real life fashion show and to see some amazing work by talented designers (and some really untalented ones!).

This spectacle can reveal interesting trends, treat us to some gorgeous art, and provide us with hours of bonding time around the water cooler of public opinion.

If actresses would like to shift the emphasis of the occasion from “who they’re wearing” to focus on their work on film, I would have no argument with that. But if they choose to do so, they should stop borrowing couture gowns from designers, let Fred Leighton and Harry Winston keep their diamonds, dispense with the stylists and the fawning red carpet personalities and host a pre-show interview. I’d watch that, too, with a great deal more interest if the content was actually substantive and not just promotional fluff. However, at this point in history the fashion industry and the entertainment industry are firmly joined at the hip and it will take effort and intention to separate them. No, I don’t want to hear actresses being grilled about their diets and skin care regimens, but when they’re decked out in some of the most exquisite clothing being produced today, I think it entirely appropriate to ask them, a la Joan Rivers, “Who are you wearing?”