Hollywood is famously a liberal city, but it's starting to look more and more conservative. Or so it looked at the Golden Globes, the year's first official red carpet and collaborative fashion competition. So, in theory, it's a pacesetter for 2025, or at least the 2025 awards season.
The biggest trend of the night wasn't the usual stars dressing like statuettes (hello, Ashi Studio's Mindy Kaling and Bottega Veneta's Mikey Madison), but rather stars dressing like statues on the carpet. Dressed (see Dakota Fanning, Tony Ward and Emma Stone in Louis Vuitton). Rather, the most notable trend was a retro classicism that made the event look like an old tinsel town cosplay convention. Forget Thursday's review. Please consider sending it on Sunday.
Ariana Grande set the tone by doing her best Audrey Hepburn impression in a buttery silk 1966 Givenchy Couture column (the 1960s were the height of Hepburn and Hubert's fashion partnership).
Then there was Selena Gomez, channeling Jackie Kennedy in an icy blue Prada and stylized bob. Nicole Kidman and Margaret Qualley complement their Balenciaga and Chanel dresses with Catherine Deneuve's huge bouffant ponytails. And Elle Fanning and Monica Barbaro are wearing new Balmain and Dior versions of old 1950s ball gowns. Not to mention Pamela Anderson's Madame X Oscar de la Renta look and matching black opera gloves, opera gloves were one of the most popular accessories of the night.
Usually one of the most adventurous dressers on any carpet, Zendaya wore a matching strapless satin Louis Vuitton column gown that paid homage to 1950s black artist Joyce Bryant. By the time she showed up wearing an overskirt, it was clear something was going on…well, there was a nostalgic vibe. Above. And that's not even counting the sea of traditional tuxedos in the room.
Admittedly, this was born last century when Joan Rivers unleashed her inner Chihuahua on the denizens of the red carpet, worst-dressed lists surfaced, and the stylist became a new stylist. There is ample evidence that it has something to do with Hollywood neurosis. A power broker in the fashion film industry complex.
Despite the fact that there are currently a large number of brand ambassadorships that connect celebrities and fashion designers, most designers still create works according to the wishes of stylists, whose main goal is to provide comfort to their customers. And what could be more comfortable than eschewing your own preferences and role-playing like a Pinterest board collaged with style stars from the past?If Zendaya hadn't officially become the face of the brand, Zendaya dress would never have been recognized as Louis Vuitton.
But part of this trend probably also has to do with the current mood and the promises (and fears) of the incoming presidential administration. It's a bombastic, celluloid homage to a bygone era when America and Hollywood ruled the world and men. Women wore ties, women wore pointy bras and (yes) gloves. Well, it's happening politically. Why not in terms of clothing? Moreover, when you don't know what's going to happen next, it's safest to return to the certainty of the past, especially when you're basking in the soft-focus glow of your dream machine.
The problem is, these women and men all made various best-dressed lists, so while they looked very attractive, they didn't look contemporary. She didn't seem to enjoy fashion that much either. There was nothing in these styles that challenged established norms of dress or created new ones.
Maybe the red carpet isn't the place for that. Maybe that's what the runway does. But given the ever-increasing interdependence between fashion and film (this time, Emilia Perez, who not only produced but also dressed stars Zoe Saldaña and Carla Sofia Gascon) (as embodied by Saint Laurent), that increasingly seems like a false dichotomy. Part of the red carpet's job is to translate the interesting bits of the runway into semi-real life.
With the exception of a few experimentalists, Ayo Edebiri looked delighted in his Loewe pantsuit and extra-long golden feather tie. Wearing shredded red Balenciaga, Ali Wong wears her hair down and her signature dark-framed glasses. Jeremy Strong looked like a big leprechaun in his jade-colored Loro Piana suit with matching bucket hat and glasses, but that's not the case.
Indeed, its appearance was strange. But they weren't retro at all, they were memorable, like earworms that wiggled into the cerebral cortex, soaked in for a while, and then began to have a huge impact on fashion as a whole. They had the courage to stand up for their beliefs.
The biggest awards of the night were the indie and edgy “Emilia Perez” and “The Brutalist,” as well as Demi Moore's “The Globes,” which won Best Actress and Best Actor. . “Substance” and Sebastian Stan's “A Different Man” reflect everything: the power and value that comes from daring to be different and pursuing a unique vision.
As the rest of the red carpet rolls out leading up to the Oscars, we're hoping people will start dressing accordingly.
