Golden Globes Glitz Returns in Post Writer & Performer Strike
After some time with my family, I am back. Correction: while I didn’t stop working to warrant a gone and thus back narrative, I did slow down, yes. And then the writer and actor strike keep me down from film work. Ooooooof. So when I say “back,” I mean back to the blog.
Hello fashion friends. Thanks for waiting patiently. Let’s get to it, shall we?
It’s that time again. As Moira Rose would eagerly retort to the question of what her favourite season is, “Awards” is the singular reply. I just love the return of awarding the elite in an industry that treats people like auction-worthy objects in outfits they didn’t have to pay for all while winning trophies for playing pretend. The sweet, sweet smell of synthetic realism.
Snarky comments aside, I really do love it. For me it helps ring in the new year with a party that isn’t attached to a religious dude. As a culture vulture, what’s not to love? There’s fashion, gossip, winners, losers, and snubs all in one night.
As Hollywood gathered Sunday, there was an extra bounce in folks step and wind in their hair (and Prada), no? I think the time away reminded many folks how special film really is. Watching shows let us escape for a little while. Be taken away from our lives and transported to perspectives and stories outside our own lives. The magic is making the escape feel real. But of course I’m biased as a union card carrying Costumer drinking the Kool-Aid of stanning film in general. Disclaimer aside, I’ll take a sartorial escape any day.
As a whipped through the galleries and videos of the talent donning their Award Sunday best, I was racking my brain trying to thinks of how to describe what I saw. Lot’s of formal wear, yep. But it’s more than that. As y’all know the fashion and glam are just scratching the surface. I like to dig into the potential deeper meaning of it.
Here’s where I landed: I think an interesting take on the 2024 awards are the choices of the talent. What they wore, the designer, styled by whom, and how they sold it on the red carpet. In short, what stories did they share about themselves visually? Letting it all soak in a bit, I started to sift out some themes.
Theme One: Column
Move over naked dress - except for those who didn’t get the memorandum, ahem Emily Blunt in the terribly placed applique and lank floof. Emma Stone and Kate Beckinsale are meh for me, too - it’s time to make room for the new silhouette: say hello to the column. She’s long, straight through the bottom half of the body but not quite body-oddy skimming, and all the ding dong way to the floor. She’s on Taylor Swift, Julia Garner, Hunter Schaffer, Issa Rae, Greta Gerwig, Quinta Brunson, Margot Robbie, Rachel Brosna, Rachel (I mean Jennifer Aniston), Amanda Seyfried, Natasha Lyonne, and Ayo Edebiri to name a few. After many years of over(?) exposure, the tall and stoic shape has taken over.
My favourite column: Natasha Lyonne in that Schiaparelli sculptural work of art made me gasp.
Theme Two: So Much Red
And red is still a thing, I see. Love it, I do, but I saw a lot of it. A lot, a lot. Getting critical and perhaps too strategic, maybe when there’s an obvious trend happening, back off it when you know your look is going to be immortalized on camera? No? Just me? Maybe I’m the captain of the poo poo booooo bummer team and we should just ride the trend wave? Let’s go then. Not ones to be out fashioned, fellas surfed on the crimson wave too. See Barry Keoghan and John Kransinki.
My favourite red: Leaning into his on-camera vampire persona, for me it’s Barry Keoghan in the Louis Vuitton separates but still works well together look. The earring was the icing on the cake.
Theme Three: Superfluous Volume in Sleeves
Never before can I remember so much boa or opera coat representation on one modern Hollywood night. Like it was extra, extra and I read all about it. Oversized florals and ruffles have walked the haute runways the past few showings so this I assume is the trickle-down effect? JLo, Margot Robbie (again because it came in both pink and black), Sheryl Ralph, Helen Mirren, Camila Morrone, Lily Gladstone, and Janelle James all showed up and showed out.
My standout: Let’s give this to Helen Mirren, shall we? The colour was a breath of fresh air and the jacket was giving. And while I wouldn’t consider the pinot noir Rodarte peplum that was bestowed upon Da’vine Joy Randolph’s figure superfluous, it surely was spectacular.
Theme Four: Classic Looks
I’m a sucker for a look that’s fitted for the-whatever-higher-power-you-believe-in and one that will stand the test of time. When I look back and say, “She (he) wore what in 2024?” I think these folks looks will not make any messy “what were they thinking?” list. Brie Larson, Greta Lee, Jennifer Lawrence, Hailee Steinfeld, Elle Fanning (the waist was off but I assume because it was borrowed and archival that tailoring was not an option?), Will Ferrell, Charles Metlon, Patrick J. Adams, and Simu Lui all kept it classy. Tuxes, tea length, and taffeta aplenty.
The classic look I can’t stop thinking about is Rosamund Pike in Dior and Philip Treacy. Murder on the screen, red carpet, and in those theatre seats come Sunday, ski accident and all.
Theme Five: YOLO
I sound hypocritical after going so hard for classic looks, but believe me when I say I like a colouring outside the lines look just as much – maybe even more – than towing a line. I see you Pedro Pascal with your no coat look. I see you Billie Ellish with oversize suiting and eyeglasses that rival my 12 year old self back in 1998. I see you men who went without a tie, you style scoundrels. I saw more male clevage Sunday than on an episode of Drag Race. And I see you ladies who strutted in pants. Hell yah. And I definitely saw you Lenny Kravitz with a waist cutout effect more snatched than half the nominees faces upon losing. (I refuse to compliment Tyler James Williams as he (and others: WTF Fantasia Barrino, Elizabeth Banks, and America Ferrera?) wore designers with a horrid past (Like, are we really okay with welcoming back racists on red carpets? Follow up question: If yes, why though?)).
Back to celebrating the great looks, I give my best YOLO to Coleman Domingo. While a more subtle deviation from a classic tux, don’t think I didn’t notice your custom suit, buttoned way, way up jacket paired with the slight flare in the pant leg. I know you know I know that I noticed the brooches too. Chef’s kiss, darling.
One final shoutout goes to Gillian Anderson’s seemingly simple creme gown. Do me - ha, more like you - a favour and zoom way in.
What about you? What person or look did I miss that was major? Tell me.
And don’t worry too much if I got it all wrong here. We have all season to dish and discuss more awards fashion.
