{"id":20548,"date":"2021-04-25T20:12:07","date_gmt":"2021-04-25T10:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/?post_type=articles&p=192011"},"modified":"2021-04-26T12:21:27","modified_gmt":"2021-04-26T12:21:27","slug":"in-defence-of-not-too-formal-oscars-style","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/in-defence-of-not-too-formal-oscars-style\/","title":{"rendered":"In Defence Of Not-Too-Formal Oscars Style"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Courtney Love at the Shrine Auditorium for the 69th Academy Awards. Photo: Iris Schneider\/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images (Photo by Iris Schneider\/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the 93rd Academy Awards tomorrow, guests have been pre-advised via email to fuse \u201cInspirational and Aspirational.\u201d It\u2019s a push for sartorial formality but, if these adjectives were a touch too ethereal for some to understand, the email continues with: \u201cFormal is totally cool if you want to go there, but casual is really not.\u201d According to The Cut<\/a>, it was sent by the Oscars producers to all nominees.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s event will, of course, be different again from pre-COVID years. The red carpet won\u2019t be the usual hullabaloo and there\u2019ll be no designer questions or major interviews. There will be no official after party and the actual event will be reworked. There will be no host, but rather a slew of presenters taking part in what cinema director and this year\u2019s broadcast MD Steven Soderbergh says will be shot as though “it’s a film itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps the producer’s email warning is in anticipation of our COVID brainwash. That not only the rest of us, but Hollywood elite, could have fallen victim to exclusively wearing stretchy waistbands and second-skin tees. With all the dialing in and lack of emphasis on the red carpet, perhaps some could have erred on the side of fleece, rendering the year\u2019s global order of taffeta and chiffon wasted – destined to be wrapped up and passed on to Dancing With The Stars<\/em>. Or, perhaps it’s in reaction to Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet\u2019s Prada athleisure last year – a kind of kindergarten-esque precedence fear. Whereby if they let one get away with it the rest might follow.<\/p>\n

However, there\u2019s something to be said for formality that dips a little too close to the casual edge. Personally, I think when a look is given freedom, away from the constriction of ten-point rules, it finds a way to become particularly memorable. The limitation of floor length gowns, or a stitched up tux seems, just, very un-2021. How beige and bygone to demand such stringency. Of course, there\u2019s risk involved. With creative minds given sartorial freedom we might summon a repurposed wedding dress that makes an ironic statement against the patriarchy, or a jazzed up kitchen apron that banners the rights of cooking show contestants.<\/p>\n

It wouldn’t be perfect, but wow it would make it more interesting.<\/p>\n

Surely those nominated tomorrow should be free to express their persona through couture as they wish. Add a jacket! Mix up the footwear! Belt a skirt! The overt observance of toeing the high fashion line isn\u2019t particularly progressive. Macro skirts and matching bags. Extreme couture or ubiquitous formal frocks. After all, if we\u2019re simply being served a roll-call of well known people in something stylists told them to wear, then the chance of a beguiling Oscars moment is near impossible.<\/p>\n

We should be celebrating the wacky, the weird and the moderne, because this is how identity is born. Without it, we\u2019d never know the true risk-takers, the chic-makers, the swan-wearers. Runway-to-red-carpet is only sensible if the piece is reflective of the actor beneath (thank you Lupita, Cate, Natalie). While many A-listers sell an Oscars look with devastating perfection, so many others are swallowed whole. Strangling a smile for the cameras while inside they scream I\u2019m desperate to get home and rip this jail-dress off for all eternity.<\/p>\n

So, this awards season, let’s pray to Tilda Swinton that we see attendees take creative license and<\/em> their foot off the style-minutiae pedal. May they let the fashion breathe and revel in the party of it all rather than the stipulation. While it’s a moment to exit the COVID fashion stalemate, we’re mostly here to applaud the films and their contributors.<\/p>\n

With less on the line perhaps we’ll see more of these pared-back, super-chic ensembles that rise as muse once again. Martha Plimpton on the arm of River Phoenix in 1989. Gwyneth Paltrow circa Brad Pitt wearing Calvin Klein and a radiant (pre-GOOP!) smile. Vintage Lauren Hutton and Geena Davis in forever-cool Halston. Courtney Love in breezy Versace in 1997. Claire Danes pairing a Narciso Rodriguez pale blue two-piece with a pixie cut. And special mention to Laura Dern, the Billy Bob years, in 90s formal-goth oddness.<\/p>\n

Off-the-cuff and kick-back-relaxed…and referenced for years to come.<\/p>\n

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Actress Martha Plimpton and actor River Phoenix attend the 61st Annual Academy Awards on March 29, 1989 at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd\/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Pitt (Photo by Terry McGinnis\/WireImage)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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LOS ANGELES,CA – APRIL 8,1975: Actress Lauren Hutton and Record producer Lou Adler arrive at the 47th Academy Awards at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles,California. (Photo by Michael Montfort\/Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Actress Geena Davis (in Halston) arrives at the 1998 Academy Awards. (Photo by Frank Trapper\/Corbis via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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ACADEMY AWARDS: ARRIVALS 03\/21\/99 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA THE 1999 ACADEMY AWARDS “THE OSCARS” ARRIVALS – Nominee for Best Supporting Actor Billy Bob Thornton with girlfriend Laura Dern Photo: Evan Agostini\/ImageDirect<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Claire Danes during The 69th Annual Academy Awards – Arrivals at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, United States. (Photo by Ke.Mazur\/WireImage)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 09: Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet attends the 92nd Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood and Highland on February 09, 2020 in Hollywood, California.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"author":294,"featured_media":20549,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[23,16],"yoast_head":"\nIs Casual Cooler When It Comes To The Oscars Red Carpet?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tomorrow's Academy Award nominees have been reminded to keep things formal, but is Casual Cooler When It Comes To The Oscars Red Carpet?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/in-defence-of-not-too-formal-oscars-style\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In Defence Of Not-Too-Formal Oscars Style\" 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