It was not yesterday that the celebrity began to use clothes as a way of speaking. Suffice it to recall the appearance of Jane Fonda at the Oscars in a strict black Yves Saint Laurent suit as a refusal to dress up in “dark times”, namely at the height of the Vietnam War. Or the outlets of Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman and Daryl Hannah with red ribbons on dresses and jackets - a symbol of AIDS awareness. However, if earlier such ways to talk with the audience about urgent problems were rare, today not a single red carpet can do without them. And not only the track: models, actors, directors, bloggers and music performers carefully think over their images before each public appearance.
Harassment
This behavior was largely inspired by the 2018 Golden Globes, in fact the first major Hollywood event since Harvey Weinstein's sexual assault was exposed. Guests of the award, including Angelina Jolie, who figured in the scandal, agreed to dress exclusively in black dresses and suits, attaching badges with the words "Time's Up" to the lapels and cuffs. It is the name of the anti-sexual harassment movement founded a few days before the Golden Globes in response to the #MeToo campaign that spread on social media. Members of the movement urge not to hush up the harassment, and also collect money in support of its victims.
© RACHEL MURRAY / STRINGER / GETTY IMAGES
Black here had the same meaning that Jane Fonda had given it in due time. “Let me say that now is not the time to stand out,” wrote stylist Ilaria Urbinati before the award, who in support of women dressed all black and men, her clients Armie Hammer, Nikolai Coster-Waldau and Dwayne Johnson. In turn, Harper's Bazaar magazine concluded that such fashion activism is a powerful demonstration of nursing solidarity, as well as a way to oppose the exploitation and objectification of women's appearance.
Overconsumption
Hollywood celebrities still take to the red carpet with "Time's Up" badges, as well as dresses with loud protest slogans against Donald Trump's policies. Just as often can be seen suits, shoes and bags with the rainbow flag, the international symbol of the LGBT community. But there are images, the meaning of which can only be unraveled by fashion chroniclers.
Only those who closely follow the evolution of film awards or specific celebrities will be able to understand that the black Armani Prive dress worn by Laura Dern at the Oscar afterparty in 2020, she already wore to parties in 2013 and 1995. Or discover in the recent look of costume designer Arianna Phillips the outfit she first selected for the 2012 Oscars and expertly reworked by designer Jeremy Scott.
Thus, actresses, including Cate Blanchett, Rita Moreno, Helena Bonham Carter, Keira Knightley and Elizabeth Banks, draw attention to the problem of overuse. For the Hollywood film industry, with dozens of evening events a year, it is especially relevant: choosing an outfit from the new collection of a world designer to advertise it among their fans, or ordering custom tailoring from a friendly designer was recently considered a good (and only acceptable) tone.
Joaquin Phoenix also hammered the nail into the coffin of the protocol dress code and Hollywood conventions this year. Realizing that he is the main contender for the Best Actor Awards, which means that he unwittingly attracts all the attention of the press, the actor began to go to every ceremony in the same Stella McCartney costume. Stella McCartney herself told about this on her Twitter: “He [Joaquin Phoenix] made a choice in favor of the future of our planet, deciding to reduce the negative impact of overproduction of clothing on the environment. I am proud that we have joined our forces."
Recently, the proposal to wear the same thing several times has been coming not only from celebrities and designers, but also from event organizers. For example, the guests of the BAFTA 2020 ceremony, which was held under the auspices of "zero carbon balance", were asked to choose sustainable looks for the red carpet - vintage, not worn for the first time or rented. But in addition to Joaquin Phoenix, the dress code was followed only by Charlize Theron in a vintage Chirstian Dior dress and Kate Middleton in an "oriental" dress by Alexander McQueen, in which she had previously appeared in public.
Demolition of houses and forest fires
Sandy Powell, the creator of images for the films Aviator, Young Victoria, The Favorite and The Irishman, also wore the same costume to all the events. However, with the aim not so much to call on the public to conscious consumption, but to raise funds to save the historic cottage of the artist, director and activist Derek Jarman, which was under threat of demolition. In order to sell the suit at a bargain price after the red carpet season and help out the amount necessary to save the house, Sandy Powell asked her celebrity friends to sign it. By February, the suit was fully autographed by Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Elton John, Scarlett Johansson and Renee Zellweger, and went under the hammer at Phillips for £ 16,000.
1 of 3 Sandy Powell in her own design, signed by Hollywood celebrities © phillips.com Sandy Powell in her own design, signed by Hollywood celebrities © phillips.com Sandy Powell, in her own design, signed by Hollywood celebrities © phillips.com
Screenwriter and actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge did not collect autographs, but the handprints of people who hugged her at the Golden Globes, congratulating her on the statuette for her role in Trash. The costume from Ralph & Russo, which was touched by Jodie Comer, Tom Hanks, Elton John, Olivia Colman, Ana de Armas and other actors, she sold on Ebay for $ 40 thousand. The money was sent to several organizations (for example, the Red Cross) that helped in fighting bushfires in Australia.
Abuses of women's rights
Especially in recent years, celebrities have made speeches about gender inequality in the film industry. For example, at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018, the Women's March was held, where 82 participants, including Cate Blanchett, Salma Hayek, Lea Seydoux, Jane Fonda, Agnes Varda, Marion Cotillard and Kristen Stewart, condemned the involvement of the competition program. For the entire existence of the film festival and at the time of the march, 82 films directed by women directors became its nominees, while 1645 films were shot by men. In the same year, actress Frances McDormand spoke out about the need to be inclusive. She dedicated her Oscar for the lead role in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri to all women in Hollywood: directors, cameramen, screenwriters, composers, and costume designers.
Much less often, actresses show their attitude to this topic not in word, but in image. One of the few precedents associated with the appearance of Olivia Coleman at the Golden Globes in 2020. The winner of the award for the leading role in the third season of the TV series "Crown" has matched a red dress with voluminous sleeves with a massive ring with the slogan "Equal representation for actresses" and the badge "50:50". They are symbols of the British movement ERA5050, which monitors gender balance in national cinema. In addition to Olivia Coleman and her Crown partner Tobias Menzies, who appeared on the Golden Globes with a similar badge, the 50:50 idea is supported by Emma Watson, Emma Thompson, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Claire Foy.
Natalie Portman protested even more gracefully: the craftswomen of the Christian Dior brand embroidered on her cape the names of women directors who, according to the actress, were worthy of an Oscar nomination, but were not nominated. These are, for example, Greta Gerwig ("Little Women"), Lulu Wang ("Farewell"), Mati Diop ("Atlantic") and Loreen Skafaria ("Strippers"). The list of the American Film Academy included only men: Bong Joon-ho ("Parasites"), Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood), Todd Phillips ("Joker"), Martin Scorsese ("Irishman") and Sam Mendes ("1917") …
1 of 3 Natalie Portman at the Oscars © instagram.com/dior Natalie Portman at the Oscars © instagram.com/dior Natalie Portman at the Oscars © instagram.com/dior
However, not everyone found Natalie Portman's gesture touching, beautiful and important. The day after the ceremony, actress, director and women's rights activist Rose McGowan accused her colleague of hypocrisy. “Natalie, you have worked with two female directors during your very long career - one of them is you. You have a production company that has hired exactly one female director - you. […] False support for other women is a problem,”she wrote on her Facebook page.
Natalie Portman promptly responded to the accusations: “It is true that during my long career I only got a chance to work with female directors a few times: I starred in short films, commercials, music videos and films with Maria Cohen, Mira Nair, Rebecca Zlotowski, Anna Rose Holmer, Sofia Coppola, Shirin Neshat and in her own too. Sadly, the unfinished films I've tried to make are ghost stories. […] I had experience helping women directors get jobs, which they then had to leave. […] Even when such films come out, women face difficulties at festivals, at the box office and during the awards season. But I tried to help them and I will continue to try."
Toxic masculinity
While women are fighting for the rights to make films and participate in competitive programs with them, men are fighting for the opportunity to dress not as they should, but as they want. Weapons include a velvet dress, in which Billy Porter breathed new life into the Oscar gossip, an ethnic-style jacket expertly matched by Ezra Miller in lipstick color, a sheer blouse that Harry Styles mixed with pearl earrings, and a jar of sparkles that Ansel Elgort regularly adorns her face with. Against this background, so far unusual for conservative men, high-heeled shoes, in which Sam Smith until recently walked not only along the red carpet, but also along the streets of his beloved London, seem modest, harmless and quite applicable to everyday life. At least it's the shoes that start slowlybut sure to enter the men's wardrobe.
1 of 5 Ezra Miller at the premiere of the second part of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them © PASCAL LE SEGRETAIN / GETTY IMAGES Timothy Chalamet at the premiere of Handsome Boy in London © TIM P. WHITBY / TIM P. WHITBY / GETTY IMAGES FOR BFI Billy Porter at the Oscars, 2019 © JEFF KRAVITZ / FILMMAGIC Ansel Elgort at the Golden Globes, 2019 © press service
In an interview with journalist Karen Shahinyan, Billy Porter, who was one of the first to appear on the red carpet in eccentric feminine looks, said that such clothes for him are a way to be honest with himself in the first place. “In the storytelling tradition, we have an archetype. The karmic archetype of a straight man in a dress. Whether in "Jazz Only Girls", "Tootsie" or "Mrs. Doubtfire." When you have a straight man in your dress, society is calm. Because it's a clown, it's funny. And everyone knows that this man will come home, have sex with his wife, they have children. And when a person in this dress is gay, that's a completely different conversation. This is what I fought for. […] To be honest, even if it means to be rejected,”Billy Porter commented on his approach to fashion.
Coronavirus
Celebrities also speak out on the most relevant topic of recent months, but mostly with calls to wear masks and dress up exclusively for walking around the house (designer Marc Jacobs was especially successful in this matter). However, Naomi Campbell drew attention to the scale of the problem in an eccentric way she was used to: after a flight from Los Angeles to New York, she threw away a $ 4,190 Burberry Cape.
The journey was fully documented: the model explained to fans how important it is to disinfect the area around her, as well as wearing a protective suit, rubber gloves and a disposable mask. Seeing a cape on Campbell in addition to a protective suit, singer Azilia Banks commented on the report: “My God, I hope this is not an airplane blanket, but your cape. Airlines don't always wash and disinfect them after the flight.” "This is my. And he's already in the trash can,”said Naomi Campbell.
The main thing behind the fashion manifestos of the stars is a call to solve world problems without reminding. Provide support to people facing harassment, use creativity where fate can be saved, get rid of gender stereotypes that interfere with self-expression, and not throw away your favorite dress, but return to it again and again. But the most important thing today is to stay at home. Perhaps, after isolation, our habits, thoughts and actions will change by themselves.>