We all love watching the Red Carpet moments on the Oscars, even if we don’t watch the show. The gowns, the celebs, who wore what, the best dressed. But this year we noticed something that was missing from the Red Carpet Oscars 2019.
What was missing from the red carpet Oscars 2019? Brands like Gucci, Prada, and Burberry that are often heavily represented were either barely there, or were missing all together. Why you ask? Well, read on for more.
Why Were These Brands Missing
We can only speculate on the reasons as to why these brands were under represented or not there at all. Our opinion? With the amount of racial insensitivities many of these brands have been having as of late, it would be a PR nightmare for a major celeb to don one of their fashions. Additionally, many of the Oscar A-listers were poc (people of color).
It’s a fact that poc have a collective buying power of 1.2 trillion dollars (www.fortune.com raceAhead: A New Nielsen Report Puts Black Buying Power at $1.2 Trillion, 2/28/2018). It’s also a fact that poc are aware of our financial impact on companies and many of us don’t want to give money, representation, or exposure to brands that would exploit our culture, style and creativity only to make references or monkeys or noose’s on their products. Yes, both of these offenses happened about a month ago.
So What Brands Were Represented On The Oscar Red Carpet
Oscar winner Regina King opted for Oscar De La Renta. A look that was stunning on her. Traditionally, King’s stylist will opt for designers that the star “feels comfortable in”.
Regina King in Oscar de la Renta and Chopard jewelry. Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Imag
Constance Wu from Crazy Rich Asians,Opted for custom Versace.
Constance Wu in custom Versace and Atelier Swarovski jewelry. Photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage
Jennifer Lopez who is a huge fan of Gucci, opted for Tom Ford, the former designer of Gucci, so she got the fashion she loved, without the PR nightmare.
For the Grammy’s the star chose Ralph & Russo. Additionally, we haven’t been seeing Gucci on her instagram feed as much as we used to. It could be a coincidence, or not.
Jennifer Lopez in Tom Ford. Photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage
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Fashion Snobbery
The Politics
Fashion has an ugly side, known in some circles as fashion snobbery. For major red carpets there is a business. If you’re an A list celeb and smaller or sample size celebrity, you’re the alpha. As a result, you’ll get first pick of the best couture and runway pieces from all of the major brands. It’s a process, these fashions will be sent to your stylist, and you and your stylist, makeup artist, and hairstylist and any other person you trust with your image aka “your team”, have multiple fittings and try on everything to see what looks best on you. It’s a very political process and often times, what a celeb chooses to wear, or not wear makes a statement.
The Players
If you’re not the alpha or that smaller size, finding designers to dress you can be next to impossible. So much so, that some stars have had to buy their own gowns, and have even tweeted about how difficult it was to be dressed by major brands.
Jennifer Hudson has a unique perspective, before her weight loss, she had minimal options, and now that she has lost weight she told The Dialy Mail in a previous interview, “I had no idea what I was missing out on. It’s like a whole other world. Suddenly every designer wants to dress you. It’s like, ‘You look amazing! Please, choose a dress. Have a bag. And what about shoes?’ I mean, wow!’
Jennifer Hudson In Ellie Saab from the designers Spring 2019 runway.
It’s no coincidence that Oscar winner, Lady Gaga wore a Tiffany’s necklace only worn in public 3 times in its lifetime and was last worn by Audrey Hepburn for the opening of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. The necklace is reportedly worth $30 million dollars. The statement: A star was indeed born. This was intentional, monumental and will go down in red carpet fashion history.
Lady Gaga in Alexander McQueen and Tiffany & Co. jewelry. Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
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Turning The Tables
It would appear that a shift is beginning to happen, where the celebs are understanding their worth and making the decisions about who and what they will wear on the red carpet as opposed to being at the mercy of these high end designers that either don’t want to dress them or make insulting racial references every other month.
Gone are the days where the celebs are at the mercy of the major labels. If their stylist can’t get gowns for them, there are up and coming designers like Christian Siriano and Michael Costello that are happy to dress the curvier star and receive the exposure, without alienating and insulting an entire race of people.
Queen Latifiah in custom Michael Costello with Chopard jewels.
What Designers Did Celebs Wear
So we know who wasn’t getting a ton of love on the red carpet, but who were celebs wearing? Brands like Dior, Ellie Saab, Michael Costello, Aramani Prive, Heidi Slimane’s Celine, Rodarte, Tom Ford, Oscar De Le Renta, Thom Browne, and Versace just to name a few.
Hopefully these high end brands that have traditionally monopolized red carpets and celebs alike start to realize that as long as they alienate any customer, it can have a major impact. Kudos to the stars for making conscious choices, what ever the reason was.
What are your thoughts on the brands that were represented on the red carpet? Comment below or continue the conversation @tiesidesandscoops on the gram.
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